Day 1: Part 1 San Diego Zoo
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| Had to get a picture of Sydney in front of the restaurant called "Sydney's Hangout" |
Sydney was such a great sport during this vacation.
She just hung out in her stroller and was a very happy girl.
On our second visit to the panda exhibit, Gao Gao was nice and lazy after his lunch, and the mom and baby were settling down for a nap too. But we were lucky to see them moving around before they snuggled up for a snooze. Below is the baby walking down to his mom. I'd never seen a real panda before and it was really cool to see some in real life.
Kyrie and Daphne wore their matching 4th of July outfits because they were so excited to see each other and hang out for a couple days. I don't think Kyrie let Daphne get more than 12 inches away from her that whole first day!
Sydney and her daddy waiting for the sea lion show to start.
Day 1 part 2: The Beach
It was overcast and chilly all day, so we didn't put the kids in their swimsuits since we figured they'd just play in the sand and run around. But they didn't care about the cold one single bit, and got themselves plenty wet.
Arthur and Brian throwing the football.
Sand angels.
oh so messy.
Who can tell me where I've seen this hotel before? Isn't it famous for something?
I just love Hayden's face in this picture.
He buried himself in the sand.
He buried himself in the sand.
Day 2: Disneyland
This might be my favorite picture of Sydney to date. She has such a great smile!
Here she is all ready for our Disneyland adventure.
"The Magic Kingdom. "
When we walked through this entrance to Fantasyland, Sean was wondering how we got to see the rest of the castle. To his disappointment, it was just an entrance to part of the park, and not an actual castle.
Here are the kids waiting for their first ride at Disneyland,
which was, of course, . . .
DUMBO!
(gotta get that one out of the way before the line gets too long!)
Even Sydney got to get a picture with Dumbo.
I was holding Hayden during this parade, but when he saw Woody, he squirmed out of my arms and wiggled his way to the front so he could get a closer look. He was rewarded with a high five from Woody himself. That's his little head in front of Daphne's pigtail.
There was a really nice person who had been sitting right on the curbside with his little girl, but moved for us when he heard our kids struggling to see since he and his daughter had seen the parade three times already. I thought it was thoughtful of him to give up his spot for our kids. There were some other people there (adults, no less) who were actually pretty rude, so his kind gesture really stood out to me.
The secret of getting through a day at Disneyland with little ones is to keep the kids fueled.
A little sugar spike in the afternoon got them through until dinner. Hayden sure got sticky with that cotton candy!
Dallin had learned about this Jedi Training Academy show from the Disneyland website, and really wanted to go since they choose kids from the audience to learn the arts of the Jedi! Not one of my kids who were standing on the front row and jumping up and down to be chosen got picked. But cute Kyrie, who I'm not sure even knows what a Jedi is, got picked. So now she can pass on her knowledge to her cousins. :) Dallin was disappointed, but didn't let it ruin his day. The best part was when Darth Vader and Darth Maul made an appearance and the Jedi apprentices had to fight them. HilARIOUS! The Jedi commentator was the best.
What a fun day! We can't wait to go back and see all the stuff we didn't get to!
Day 3: Sea World
My good friend Windy met us at Sea World and spent the day with us. It was so fun to see her and catch up with her a bit! The cool thing about Windy is that even when we go for years without seeing each other, and with minimal correspondence, we just kind of pick up where we left off, and it's like no time has passed at all. We love you Windy!
Windy used to drive me and Natalie to school after seminary in her old red mustang.
What year was that mustang, Windy?
The "Believe" show--with Shamu.
It was pretty cold, so we opted to sit out of the soak zone, which put us pretty far back since we got there just a few minutes before the show started. Even from far back, those orcas are so impressive!
The kids liked this starfish pond. We got to put the starfish in our hands and feel them and watch them s-l-o-w-l-y turn over if we put them back upside down. Uncle Brian set a great example for the kids by turning upside-down as many as he could reach. Thanks Uncle Brian.
This actually might have been my favorite part of Sea World--They have this tank filled with bat rays and manta rays, and you can reach in and touch them. The kids loved when they would come up to the side where they could reach them--some of them reminded me of puppies when they came up--it seemed like they really enjoyed people "petting" their heads. Hayden said, "They're tho plippery!" (so slippery).
Another fun thing at Sea World was this Pet Show. It's a much smaller show than the killer whales or dolphin show. But so much fun. They have all kinds of domesticated animals-- dogs, cats, ducks and pigs doing fun little tricks. Daphne was in HEAVEN! Especially since afterward, you could go up to the stage and pet the stars of the show. This is a picture of one of the ugliest stars--I never caught a picture of Daphne with the cute little white dog that stole her heart.
Now no family vacation to several major theme parks would be complete without losing someone, right? And who do you think we lost? Yep. It was Sean. We lost him at Sea World (the least crowded place we went) at the Pet Show (the least crowded show at the park), both of which were blessings because we could find him faster. We had all found our seats for the show, and since he'd been right behind me when we came in, I just thought we were all there. We'd been in our seats awhile when another hometown friend that we met there said, "I thought you had five children." I said, "I do have five." She said, "Oh, did one of them not come?" "Nope, we're all here." Then I proceeded to count them, and my heart stopped when I realized only four were sitting with us! Arthur and Brian immediately left the bleachers to search for him. They spoke with a staff member who told them that they had found Sean and he was on his way with another staff member to the "Lost Child Office." Arthur caught up with them on their way and it was so great to see them both walking back to sit with us! That is such a sickening feeling when you are missing a child.
Later, I asked Sean what happened. Here's his account:
Sean: I was following you and then I turned my head and when I looked back, you weren't there anymore.
Me: What did you do then?
Sean: So I found the guy and asked him if he could help me find my family.
Me: Did you cry?
Sean: Nope.
Me: Was the guy a worker for Sea World?
Sean: Yeah. His name was Victor.
Victor told Arthur that Sean was really brave, and told him our names and what we looked like. But he couldn't remember what we were wearing. I thought about putting masking tape inside of all their clothes with their name, our names, and our cell phone just in case. Next time, I will DEFINITELY be doing that.
I am so grateful we got him back safe and sound and quickly too! This is the first time I'd been any of those places as a parent--It was so different from what I remember as a kid. The stress level is much higher when you're responsible for little people in a very crowded place. And it's funny because I felt like this whole vacation I was constantly counting heads. I was very diligent--I think I counted to five about a million times in three days. But all it took was a couple of minutes when I let down my guard to lose one.
That night when we got home, we had pizza, and soaked in Nat & Bri's "spool" In case you've never heard of one it's too small to be a pool but bigger than a spa, with water that heats up like a spa. Theirs also has a waterfall. Our kids been asking every day since the first night we soaked in the spool if we could go in again. That might have been their favorite thing! What a nice relaxing end to a non-stop-fun vacation.
We were thoroughly exhausted come Sunday, and of course we all thought our trip was too short! Thanks, Nat & Bri for letting us come invade your space! We love ya!
