San Diego

Whew! We are finally home from our trip and ready to share some pictures.

Sunday afternoon we left with Sydney and Ethan (Cole stayed at home with family) for St. George where we spent the night and all of the next day with family. While there, the kids got to go see Grandpa's truck. My dad started his own trucking company just recently and we are all so thrilled for him.

We also went to Jumpin' Jacks with grandma and the cousins for a couple of hours. I don't have any pix because we didn't take our camera in. So if Lisa ever blogs about it, I can steal her pictures. :) After that, we spent the evening swimming and hanging out at grandma's house. Sorry for those we couldn't visit - it was just a short stopover before heading out to San Diego on Tuesday.

We got up as early as we could and left for San Diego on Tuesday. The trip took about 8 hours or so! When you have kids, you have to make a few more stops...

When we got settled into our hotel in Del Mar (just a few miles north of San Diego), we headed out to the beach for a little while and then went out to eat at The Fish Market to experience some local fresh fish. yum.

The rest of these pictures are in no particular order. We were able to do Sea World for two days because they have a deal where adults get in for a child's price and then you can also come back a second day for free. There are plenty of things to see at Sea World. They even have a new Sesame Street playland with rides and splash fountains and a huge play area for kids. Sydney loved the "Pet's Rule" show and petting the bat rays and holding starfish. Ethan loved the play area the best and kept asking to go back to it. Both days were HORRIBLY crowded, but we made the best of it and had a great time anyway. We made it to every exhibit and every show.

Wendell and Ethan at Denny's.

The whole gang on the starfish ride - similar to the "teacup" spinning rides, except with shade.

The very first thing we did on our first day there: Wendell and Sydney did the "Journey to Atlantis" ride. And the very first thing the ride does is take them down a huge drop and drench them! Sydney is crying in the picture because she was freaked and soaked. lol. They are tiny, but they're the two in the front - Wendell is waving....

Shamu
Two cute little penguins we saw just outside the penguin exhibit.

chillin' and waiting for the "pet's rule" show to start
Ethan on the web crawl.

ethan pouty

elmo flying fish ride

sydney loved petting the bat rays. they were very soft and smooth. You can't see it very well in this picture befause of the reflection off the water.

If you look closely you can see the bat ray swimming over to us.

Sydney riding a manatee. yee haw!

snuggling at the hotel. after rounding up dinner each night and taking a dip in the hotel pool and hot tub, the kids were wiped out.

As is usually the case whenever we travel, Wendell had a wedding at the San Diego temple on Friday. So we did that, and some pictures of the wedding couple on the beach, and then headed home. It took us 8 1/2 hours to get to St. George. And then we woke up the next morning and left by 5:00 am. Wendell had to be back for yet another wedding on Saturday.

It was good to get home and see our little Cole-bear again. We all missed him so much. Next time he can come with us....

:O)