California Trip 2012

We just got back from a very fun week-long vacation in Southern California. Telling the kids that we were going was a big part of the fun before-hand. Brad and I told the girls when we pretty much only had one week until the trip, and their reaction was so priceless! I'm so glad we caught it on video. They were so hyper and excited, and were ready to start packing their flip flops the second they knew! Here's how we told them: TELLING THE KIDS: We bought 3 for 1 passes through Costco for Sea World, San Diego Zoo, & the San Diego Safari Park. We also wanted to do one day at Disneyland since it was so fun last year. I made a puzzle for each of the 4 parks we were visiting, and put each puzzle in a separate numbered envelope. Brad hid each envelope around the house with a stuffed animal that seemed to coincide with the park (i.e. the stuffed cheetah was holding the Safari envelope). Here's one of the pictures of the girls putting the puzzle together, along with the finished puzzle:

SEA WORLD: Megan and Paige as Penguins:

I loved these trees in San Diego. We met up with Brad's cousin Kandice & family (who live there), and her daughter was telling me about how she loves to climb trees. I can see why she would. I think I'd love to climb a tree like this too!

Ashlie's ready for the 3-D movie!

A worker kindly took this photo for us in front of the whales. They were fascinating to look at up close!

One of our favorites was seeing the dolphins so close! I remember as a little girl wanting to be a dolphin trainer when I grew up. I'm thinking that I must have come up with that career idea after visiting this park!

Touching the sea stars!

SAN DIEGO ZOO: My cuties!

I could have stood and looked at these orangutans for a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG time. They are fascinating!

I think I finally know what pet Megan would like! She seriously loves looking at the birds. Below I have a picture of the bird I'd choose if I could.

These are always some of my most favorite photos:

This one (and the penguin picture above) prove that Megan is Brad's little girl!

A porcupine just going for a little stroll:

Some of my favorite animals of the day:

What a beautiful animal!

The girls thought this turtle was hilarious with it's super long neck:

My little girl is growing up!

SEA WORLD DAY #2: With the 3 for 1 passes we bought we could return to Sea World for another day....so we did! This day was pretty relaxing, and we just took our time looking at our favorite animals again. Plus, this time we did all the rides and the kids play land. We had a good laugh as we looked at one another in the silly mirrors:

The girls had tons of fun playing in the bounce house, and running through these punching bags:

Elmo's flying fish!

My favorite animal at Sea World:

We saw (and loved) the Shamu show twice!

SAFARI PARK:

A couple of pictures that I took during the tram ride around the Africa area:

We took these pictures just outside of the bat house:

My kids like sticking their heads in things (I'm sure you've realized that by now)! :)

We waited about 45 minutes to see this cheetah run. We had a perfect spot, thanks to a tip from Brad's cousin.

DISNEYLAND: I didn't take many pictures at Disneyland because we only had one day there, and we just hurried from ride to ride. We all loved this day of our trip! We walked and walked so much during this trip that these girls definitely deserved these ice cream cones during their lunch at McDonalds on our Disneyland day!

Paige loves Little Mermaid, and she was pretty excited to ride the new ride! It didn't disappoint either. The Ursula looked incredible.

Rapunzel!

California Adventure Backlot:

LA JOLLA BEACH:

The seals:

A giant wave crashed over Brad while he was holding Ashlie on the stairs going down to the beach. Ashlie's hair was full of sand, & she and Brad were soaked. I put my jacket on her, but she didn't want anyone to hold her regardless of how many times we asked if we could. She let Megan walk by her:

FUN WITH KANDICE, SHAWN, & KIDS: Brad's cousin Kandice lives in San Diego & they kindly had us over for a BBQ our first day of Sea World (and they joined us there for a couple of hours). The next day they brought cupcakes over to our hotel and lit a candle for Brad. It was so cute of them! In my rush to get ready for our trip I made the world's ugliest birthday cake for Brad the day before we left, so this was very fun.

Kandice took us to Delmar Beach on our way to Anaheim. The kids loved this beach because there was more sand for them to play in. Here's Megan with cute Gabby:

MORMON BATTALLION VISITOR'S CENTER: This was such a well done visitor's center! The kids loved panning for "gold" at the end:

I'm thankful for wonderful memories! What a great trip!