San Diego

We just got back from a week in San Diego! My brother-in-law and his wife and kids live there! We arrived on Sat and got settled. We stayed at my brother and sister-in-law's apt! As luck would have it, they were asked to house sit that that whole week!
On Sunday we went to church with them; Dom enjoyed going to class with cousin Lucy! After church we went over to Wendy's parent's! The kids had a blast playing together!

Monday we all went the New Children's Museum (a lot like Mobius but a better activities). The kids had so much fun there! There was a lot of neat stuff for them to do! (Pics to come)
After a couple hours in the museum our family headed to the zoo. We were kind of rushed there and would like to have an entire day there next time :) We did the bus tour first and then walked around. I wanted to see the Hippos, Panda's and Polor Bear's the most! Lily's favorite animals were the monkeys! I think Dom liked the Pandas :) (Pics to come)

Tuesday our family, Dave and Wendy's family and Papa all went to Legoland! What a neat place! you have to go if you're ever in San Diego! It has a water park (we didn't get to go to) and so many cool rides! There's a "miniland" within the park with lego displays of all the Star Wars movies, Las Vegas, WA DC, New York, New Orleans and many many more historical places! Everything in the display is made from legos! It's just incredible! (Pics to come)
The kids went on a bunch of rides and Dom and Lucy got to go on a big person roller coaster! They loved it! Lily wasn't tall enough :(
We saw a neat show about volunteer fire fighting and fire safety! Very comedic :)
Unfortunately the weather was deceiving and our family ended up getting really sunburned! (FYI I found out that Neosporin takes the itch away and helps prevent peeling! Who knew?)

Wednesday our family headed to Sea World! What a neat place!
The first place we happened upon was a new attraction called Sesame Street Bay of Play! It's the whole area of Sesame Street stuff! There are three great rides for kids, a big splash pad and play area. You can meet the characters and get your picture taken with them! This was the kids' favorite thing out of Sea World! Figures...
Anyway the kids went on some rides and before we went to the Shamu show : )
We saw 4 shows, the first being Shamu! I wanted to sit in the soak zone for the experience so we did. At the last minute I bought two ponchos (one for me and one for Sara). When they say soak zone, they mean SOAK ZONE! We were about the 10th row from the bottom, so pretty close! Dom was pretty traumatized by getting that wet and was not liking Shamu for a while! LOL. Sara ended up dry :)) I was mostly dry but still got wet! Shamu does not mess around when splashing the audience!
The 2nd show was the Blue Horizons Dolphin show! It's a story about a girl with a dream of swimming with Dolphins with acrobatics and all! The Dolphins were so pretty :) We sat just above the soak zone and stayed dry. Dom was so happy about that!
The 3rd show was Sea Lions LIVE! It was very comedic and they did their own version of popular shows from TV.
The last show was a Sesame Street show in 4-D with special effects (Sara and I got wet). By this time the park was close to closing. We wanted to let the kids go on some rides again. We passed the Sea Lions expo and they were all out!
We took the kids on the Sesame Street rides again which was a great way to end the day!

Thursday we all headed to the beach. It was the warmest day of the week so far, but when we got to the beach, it was sooooo windy and cold and we didn't last long. While were there though Vince tried boogie boarding and Dave joined him! The kids had a blast playing in the sand even though they were freezing! Ahhhh to be a kid again :))
After beach we went to a time share resort (Wendy's parents own a time share) where we got to use their facilities! The boys and kids went swimming in the heated pool although it was still cold. Then we all went to the family jacuzzi and had a blast and took lots of great pics!

Friday morning the boys started their trip back to Spokane. The girls and I went to a Peacock farm with Wendy & Kids, her mom and sister :) Lily LOVED the peacocks and again we took the opportunity for pictures! Then we ended up hanging out at Wendy's parents for the rest of the day! Lily and Lucy are so much alike (in their love for Disney princesses and dressing up). They watched Tangled and played to their hearts content!
After a wonderful dinner we roasted marshmellows and had smores!

Saturday it was off to the airport for me and the girls. We got there at 12pm and our flight left at 1:05. After checking our bags it was me the double stroller, two kids, Lily's carseat, diaper bag, lily's backpack, purse and another bag! Security check to a while cause I had so much stuff...we finally made it the gate and they were doing the family boarding. I had to get the stroller tagged, check Sara's carseat (the flight was full) and get my boarding pass and connecting flight passes.. The gal behind the desk was new. The first time she sent me to the gate I had to go back for connecting flight passes, went back to the gate again and was missing Lily's connecting flight pass...at this point I started to cry because we were going to be the last one's on the plane and the lady couldn't get it right! Finally we got everything and they made an announcement that a mother and baby and toddler were boarding and asked people to make room for two seats next to each other. People we very kind and helpful and I saw a lot of pity in their eyes. I boarded with Sara in the moby wrap, bags on each shoulder and Lily. The lady we sat next to was so kind and sweet :) I ended up having to nurse Sara on the plane (quite the experience) and she fell asleep in the moby wrap :)
We had a 2 hr layover in Oakland and that was nice! We got potty breaks and nursing done! The 2nd flight was not crowded so I was able to get an extra seat for Sara! That was nice! Again the flight attendants were so great and even strapped in the car seats for me! We ended up being in last row, but I didn't care! I was happy to be boarding with other families :) A nice family was sitting in front of us and they had an 11 week old and 23 month old little girl! Lily ended up sharing her mini princess and a pony with her :) We got excellent treatment on this flight!

We're home now and had the most amazing time in San Diego! We're looking forward to our Alaska trip in July!