San Diego–SeaWorld Day 1

SeaWorld!!

On our 1st day at SeaWorld, we saw the funny sea lion show, Seamore and Clyde.  I remember this show from when I was a kid!

Don’t be fooled, she kept her sunglasses on for all of 15 seconds.

After the sea lions, we headed straight over to the dolphin show.
Nat and I both thought there would be more dolphin tricks, but a lot of this show was Cirque du Soleil-type acrobatics with people.  Still cool, but we wanted more dolphins!

It was really sunny during the show and the stadium completely blocked the breeze, so by this point the kids were hungry and hot so we headed back to the car to eat the sandwiches and snacks we packed and then decided to head back to the hotel for naps.

After naps, we went back to SeaWorld and had a great time!  There was hardly anybody there, the weather was wonderful, and we could let Abby out of the stroller to run!!

We visited the dolphin tank…

Touched starfish…

And went inside the aquarium that was packed earlier in the day.  It was almost empty and Abby loved the fish!  She would sign ‘fish’ and say, ‘feee!’ and loved touching the glass.

We took the sky coaster out over Mission Bay…

And walked along the waterfront.

Our last stop of the night was the sea lion area.  We got a good laugh at the one on the rock.  He figured out how to stand out above the other barking sea lions by yelling in a high-pitched tone and waving his flipper.  There were many impersonations of this guy throughout the rest of our trip!  We even heard him while we were eating lunch at a nearby restaurant the second day we went!

 

Stay tuned for Day 2!

San Diego – Flight, Temple, and Mormon Battalion Site

We went on our very first family vacation (we’ve gone places with family, but not our own) to San Diego!  I’m going to break up the posts by activity so stay tuned for LOTS of posts and pictures!

Adam was SO excited about the plane ride.

He spent most of the flight playing the iPad.  Oh, how I love the iPad!!

Abigail did pretty well also and spent the flight climbing all over us, eating snacks, and also playing the iPad or Nat’s Xoom.

I don’t know if it shows up very well on here, but she has beautiful green eyes when she wears green!

Our first full day there was on a Sunday so we took a trip to see the San Diego Temple.  I was almost 10 years old in 1993 and living in Rancho Santa Margarita (Orange County) when the temple was dedicated.  My Dad sang in a stake choir in one of the dedication sessions so we were able to be in the Celestial Room for the dedication.  I remember how beautiful that room was with the staircase where the choir sang.

It was a cloudy, cold morning!

Adam got to touch the temple which has been one of our stake goals in recent years.

I love how you come up a hill on the freeway and all of a sudden see the temple.  It is VERY close to the freeway!

We walked around the grounds and the kids had fun running around and I had fun taking pictures of all the flowers of my “homeland”!
By the way, I lived in San Diego from about age 3-5 and Orange County from 5-10 so most of my young childhood was spent in California.

Poppies and Agapanthus
We had both of these in our backyard in California
There are more flower pics to come! :)

True to Coastal California, the sun came out in the afternoon and our next stop was the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.  A couple weeks before we left, a man in our ward bore his testimony about this place that he visited while on a business trip in San Diego.  I’m so grateful that he did because we wouldn’t have known about it and it was awesome!

They had a really neat interactive movie experience where we went to different rooms that were decorated like a campsite, army outfitter store, and old court house.  The Sister Missionaries were great and Nat and I really enjoyed the history.

Adam was our Mormon Battalion member fitted for duty.

At the end, they had a kiosk where you could search for any ancestors who were members of the Battalion.  My Mom reminded me before we left that my 5th Great Grandfather, Thomas Karren, served in the Mormon Battalion.  He got sick and stayed the winter in Pueblo, CO, and then went to the Salt Lake Valley, rather than continuing on to San Diego where the Battalion helped build homes and establish the city.  It was neat seeing his picture and biography there.
We had our picture taken as “Honorary Members of the Mormon Battalion”

Outside, they had a place to pan for gold (which many of the members did once they arrived in California).

Our big haul of gold!

Adam had a blast playing in the water

And Abby loved running around and building with bricks.

More flower pictures

Bougainvillea!
We also had this in our yard and I’ve always loved the hot pink color!
 

It was a great first day!

More posts to come….it might take me a few days to get everything posted.   Last week was filled with laundry, cleaning, errands, and a sick baby girl and I’m still playing catch-up on real life!

6 Years Ago Today….

I married my best friend!

It’s amazing how fast 6 years goes by!  I love the life Nat and I have created together, even with it’s ups and downs and daily stresses of kids, homemaking, work, school, and church callings.  I couldn’t ask for a better husband and I’m excited to see what the next year will bring!

We are spending our anniversary in a very romantic way.  Flying to San Diego with 2 kids, 3 bags, 3 carry-ons, 2 car seats, and a stroller, and then sharing my bed with a 3 year old.  I guess other than Nat, there isn’t any other guy I’d want next to me! :)

I love you honey!

Abby Elizabeth is 15 Months Old

Abby is now 15 months old and had her check-up today.  Here are her stats:

Height:  30 in. – 50%
Weight:  20 lbs. 2 oz. – 15%

She gained over 2 lbs. in 3 months!  Technically she is big enough to switch to a forward facing car seat (according to the old regulations) but I’m a little hesitant now that the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests they rear-face until 2 years old.  I couldn’t wait to switch Adam and he hit 20 lbs. right at 12 months so that is when we switched him.  He was so frustrated being back there alone but Abby doesn’t seem to mind since she has Adam to look at and interact with.  Her feet touch the back of the seat, but so far, she doesn’t really have to bend her legs, so she’ll stay in her infant carrier for a few more months and then we’ll probably buy a convertible car seat but keep her rear-facing for a while.  I’m not sure we’ll make it another 9 months though.  It seems strange to have an almost 2 year old rear-facing but if it’s the safest way to go…we’ll do it.  Anyway…..

My little Abigail is becoming so fun!  I wrote a lot about her last month so I’ll do a little recap.

She signs about 25 words and says probably the same amount.  Her doctor said she could be putting 2-word sentences together any day with how large her vocabulary is already.  My new favorite signs that I just taught her are “up” and “down”.  It’s SO much better to have her sign and say “uh!” when she wants up rather than just yelling about it.  Another favorite is “thank you”.  She signs it and says “tay-tee” (or something of that nature) whenever you give her something and even when she gives us something!

She now loves to build towers, but more often than not, she just takes the blocks out of the box and puts them in, out and in, out and in.  She likes to take them out and hand them to Adam while he’s building.

She LOVES cars!!  Every single time we get her out of her crib in the morning or after nap, she emphatically says, “cah, cah!” and we have to open her blinds and let her look at the cars driving by.  And every time we take her out of the car she has to yell and point to the cars around us.  She will also go to the corner where Adam’s big wheel of cars are and stand on it and yell, “cah!” until we open it for her.  She frequently sounds like a crow through out the day!! :)

She is still in love with her Wubby and also her lovey that she calls “dah-dah” (dog-dog).  I fear the day that the binky has to go bye-bye.  In fact, she recently found just a plain binky and walked around the house all morning with one in her mouth and the other in her hand, switching them back and forth constantly.

She is a fiesty little thing, but happy, and absolutely adores her Daddy.  Many mornings are spent standing at the front door crying for Daddy.  And the second she hears the door unlock at night she squeals “Da Da” and goes running for him.  There are many times when she refuses to come to me, in favor of Daddy.  Which is ok, because I have my Mama’s Boy to keep me company.
There really is something about Daddy’s Girls and Mama’s Boys.  It must be an opposite sex thing.

Only 3 more months until she gets to go to Nursery!!  I have a feeling it’s going to be a much more difficult transition than it was with Adam.  She is NOT a fan of strangers!