San Diego

We took the kids to San Diego for a fun vacation. We left after Steve got off of work and it rained until we got into California. For part of the drive there was this really thick fog. The kids slept most of the way so that was good. When we got to our hotel I realized it wasn't going to work for us. It basically was 2 beds and a TV & microwave. There wasn't really any place to walk after bringing in our luggage and setting up the pack & play. But it was late so we just went to bed. The next day we went to Legoland. It was cold and rained on us most of the day. The kids had a fun time for the most part. Karsen went on his first roller coaster ride. His face was classic as he came down one of the drops. Here are a few pictures from Legoland. They had fun statues made out of legos all around the park. There were even a few rides that Maeley could go on with an adult. They also had this one part of the park called Miniland where they had miniatures of things from around the world. My favorite was the presidential motorcade, and Mt. Rushmore.

And yes I did let my 13 month old eat suckers. It was usually the only thing that would calm her down when she couldn't get out of her stroller. On our way back to the hotel that night I called and asked if we could change to a bigger room. Just our luck they had one open and it was only $20 more per night so we moved rooms. It was the best decision we made. The kids had room to run around and they had their own TV to watch. And there was room for the pack & play. The next 2 days we took the kids to the Zoo and Sea World. We all got sun burnt at the zoo, and then some more at sea world, despite putting sun block on. Kensington seemed to have gotten the worst of it. Karsen went on some more roller coasters with Steve and had a fun time. Although I don't think he liked being wet most of the day. Seeing Shamu and the dolphins do what they do was awesome. We went to the day & night show of Shamu. We just sat and watched in unbelief at these animals. We were so pooped at the end of the day.

The next day we went to the beach and did some shopping. The shopping wasn't as good as I had hoped. There were a lot of people, and I'm sure the kids didn't help matters. The beach was fun but also pretty cold. Karsen loved going into the water with Steve. In fact they were so excited to go in that Steve forgot to empty his pockets first and our cell phone and car clicker were in there. Unfortunately, our cell phone did not survive. But luckily after airing out the clicker to the car was fine. Kensington did not like the sand at all and just cried and wanted to be held. And Maeley was fine once she went potty. This nice couple that was staying in a beach house right off the beach let us borrow their umbrella's while they went inside for a while. So that was nice to be in the shade for a bit. Here are some pictures from the beach.

We also drove by the San Diego Temple a few times and thought it was fun to see it. I can't believe how close it is to the freeway. Here is a picture of the blissful silence we had during the ride from the beach, and a picture of my little sunburned baby.

Our last day we went to the Wild Animal Park. All the animals in the park are from Africa. We took a little tram ride out into the "wild" and saw a bunch of animals in their natural habitat - except of course they don't put animals that prey on other animals in the same enclosure. After that ride the kids got to ride the carousel and then we left. On our way out to the car Karsen took off up one of the parking isles that we weren't parked in. We kept walking because he had been doing this at each park we visited and he usually came back when he realized he had gone too far. However, that did not happen this time and we had a few minutes of panic while looking for him in the parking lot. Steve happened to see him and yelled for him. He was scared and crying. But who knows if he learned his lesson. After leaving the animal park we left for home. It was a long drive and I wish that we would have left later so the kids could have slept on the ride. We had to stop many times for potty breaks, but we finally made it home safe & sound and with some really fun memories.