Best of the Bunch

This is hands down my favorite picture from vacation. Mickey took this while we were at Knott's Berry Farm. She was taking Marcus and Nathan on the ride you might now as the Sea Dragon or Boat. You know that one that kind of swings back and forth like a boat in the sky. Well apparently Marcus was not expecting how high the ride actually went. This picture was not staged, she was actually telling them to smile. Makes me laugh every time I see it.

One of my favorite parts

(Or at least the part I remember the best because I have about 26 favorite parts), was when we got to feed the Lorikeets at Wild Animal Park.

Basically how is works is you buy nectar, and then walk into the aviary, and wait for birds to land on you.

The boys were a little unnerved at first by the whole thing, but it didn't take long for them to warm up to the whole thing.

I was a little worried James would freak out when the birds landed on him, but I soon realized that worrying was pointless. I forgot James fears nothing.

While everyone was feeding the birds I had this uncontrollable desire to sing the "Feed the Birds" song in the movie Mary Poppins. I managed to control myself though and just hummed it a little.

Nathan did not particularly care for it when one of his Lorikeets squawked right in his ear.

So this was one more adventure we had on our awesome vacation. I am missing San Diego already.

extreme close ups

Nuff said.

Sea World

I believe at one point I was blogging about vacation? Sometimes life intervenes and throws me off my blogging schedule, but I'm back now so back to vacation. Sea World is what all of us adults were looking forward to the most out of everything on our week's itinerary.

I mean who doesn't want to see cute little penguins, Beluga Whales, and a big fat walrus up close and in person?
The walrus were my favorite I don't know why. I just love how the rolled their way in the water and when they finally did get in they just looked so graceful!

I am pretty sure I accompanied the most handsome men at the park that day.

We only saw two shows that day, one was Blue Horizons and we were not impressed. Umm okay so why is they a flying woman in a bird costume, some trapeze men, and divers at Sea World? Bring on the animals!!

I forgot the name of the second show but it was all about pets. I was sure this would be a hit with James since he is normally all about animals. They had lots of dogs, cats, birds, and even a pig. We made sure to get there extra early to get good seats.

Grandma waiting anxiously for the show to begin!
He liked it for about 10 minutes and then was ready to go. Sea World day just wasn't his happy day.

We all got to pet the rays which was slightly creepy and exhilarating all at the same time.

And Mike was the winner on the wall of ice. He held his hand on it the longest out of all of us without lifting it up. Of course all he won was bragging rights.

Marcus on the other hand one a real prize. He spent part of his allowance on this game that was similar to skeeball to get your fish the across the finish line first. He won on his first try! Oh boy was he beaming with pride when they handed him his prize. It was so cute.

James did find something he loved that day. There was this large circle that the little kids could jump around in and it was also filled with soft blocks. Grandma took him here while we were doing the crappy Blue Horizons show. She handed him a blue block and I guess he got it in his head that all the blue blocks were his because that is the only color ones he would touch after that.

We also managed to do some rides at Sea World too. We found the teacups so that was a must do for me.
Some of the lines were pretty long so we did some impromptu photo sessions.

And of course some staring contests.

James was so cute on this ride. He saw everyone else putting their hands in the air so he just had to follow suit. He is fearless!

That is all I have for our Sea World trip. We had a blast!

Monster Cones

A Belmont special.

You know you want one. Waffle cones made right before our eyes. Probably a pound of ice cream in each delicious cone.

Oh yeah, they were that good.

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a cute little boardwalk carnival right off Mission Beach. We came down here a couple of times during our trip to enjoy the rides that had practically no lines.


As soon as we got there Jason wanted to jump on the decrepit roller coaster that is probably 98 years old, and this ride called the chaos. Against my better judgement we did the roller coaster and just decided to ignore all the rust and creaks and clunking sounds.

After we got off and counted our limbs to make sure they were all still attached Jason quickly jumped on the chaos before watching to see what it actually does. After he got off the ride he said he was holding on for dear life when he realized the compartments actually flipped around as the ride was spinning and turning. He said he liked it but that was the only time he rode it on that day.

Meanwhile, James was busy picking the ugliest thing to sit on at the carousel. I think it was a cat eating a fish? After waiting twenty minutes for the carousel operator to get everyone's tickets and make sure everyone was buckled he was getting a little anxious, but once they got going he had lots of fun! Every time they came around he would try to find me and wave at me.

Grandma and Marcus rode on the crazy submarine. They are sitting in the back of the bus.

I must have rode the tilt a whirl at least twenty times that night. I love that ride and as long as my stomach permits I would ride it any time someone wanted to get on with me.

Marcus and I would always try to get faster spins than Jason and Nathan.

Bumper cars!
Oh man did this guy LOVE the boats. One time he road them ten times in a row! He just sat in there turning that steering wheel and dinging the bell. Mike kept trying to get him to yell AHOY! when he came around. Instead he kept saying ABOY! So cute!

As small as Belmont Park was we had a lot of fun here. There was something for everyone to do, and my favorite part, the waffle cones, were out of this world. I think that had a lot to do with why I liked it so much.

San Diego Zoo

We spent the first day in California at the San Diego Zoo. I'm going to be honest I have never been a big zoo person. Too much sun and exercise to see depressed looking animals but this zoo was nothing like that, well except for the exercise. This zoo is a lot like San Francisco with all of it's hills. Don't they know about grading?

I will spare you the 54 animal pictures I took. Some of our favorites were the komodo dragon, polar bears, monkeys, and reptiles.


I think the best way to see the zoo is on the tour bus.
No one told me San Diego would be cold. I had packed a suitcase full of shorts and tank tops and the high temp was in the 60's! I broke down and bought myself a souvenir jacket to get me through the rest of the trip.

Sometimes they do bug each other. Har har har!

James was so funny at the petting zoo. He knelt down to "his" goat and looked him right in the eye. Then he wouldn't stay away from "his" goat. When the goat would walk away James would follow him with one hand on his back. It was so cute.

"Hello goat, you are going to be mine."

One time he got mixed up and pet a little girl's head. Oops.

We took the express ride out to the exit at the end.

Marcus didn't realize quite how high it would go before we got on, and he hated it when I scooted to one side and our little boat in the air tilted a bit. We made it down and one piece and then he said he wasn't scared at all. Good thing I take a lot of pictures.

So in summary. Zoo, animals, exercise, cold, bus, petting, air ride. Fun day!

Day 1

Agenda: Drive.

We all piled into the van and off we went to San Diego. The older boys sat in the back watching movies, listening to music, and reading books. Mickey was in charge of entertaining James with books, cars, food, and anything else his little heart desired.

Our fearless leader blazed the trail for us. By doing a smidge under light speed most of the way he was able to get us there 20 minutes before navigation said we were supposed to. Woo hoo!

James even got to watch tv. I love technology!

Okay so day 1 wasn't so fun.


But we achieved our goal for the day of making it to the condo, stocking the fridge, and foraging for dinner. And we only came within 5 miles of running out of gas in the middle of nowhere once. I would call that a successful start!