summer san diego trip...

the trip to san diego was almost off, but then a call from my mom was all it took to get things moving again. it didn't take much convincing that we needed to escape the 116 degree weather and go to the beach! i packed a cooler, put the kids in the car, and we were off. noni was smart and bought plane tickets. we met up at the hotel and the adventures started!

the girls had so much fun playing in the sand and collecting shells. the big girls could have stayed out there all day. the little ones had a blast until they needed to rinse off the sand. they were then traumatized by the water and i'm sure won't go near it again until they are teenagers. the second day at the beach, D refused to put on her bathing suit and insisted on staying put on the towel. she was wiping every single sand granule off of her tiny foot. i was impressed at her determination.

S loved playing with sand toys. thanks noni.

we even saw dolphins jumping and swimming so close to shore! so cool!!
S was chasing her sisters yelling "jumbo squid". she really got a kick out of that.
self-portrait. note to self: remember sunglasses next time.
every shell was so important.

beach babe.
after the beach, we hit the boardwalk. the girls went on their first roller coaster! i was a little nervous, but the girls were fine. until it started to move. S turns around and says i don't want to go..... JERK! SHAKE! TWIST! we were off. they were freaking out a little bit. as we were climbing up for the first drop, there was a man hand tightening the bolts. just what we wanted to see as we were about to plunge into nothingness. L bumped her nose, S was literally scared stiff, but we were fine. we decided to wait to get ice cream due to their uneasy tummies.
on one of the days, we took the kids to sea world. it was so wonderful. we started the day off with the shamu show believe. oh man did it have us in tears. when D looked in awe at the giant whale jumping out of the water, she said "look mommy!" i don't know why, but that really got me. those are the things that make it all worth it.
even noni was impressed. see her face? they gave a wonderful acknowledgement to all the armed services and a huge applause. tears continued.
poor D. she thought that if she raised her hand, they would pick her to come down and pet him. that is all she wanted to do. she kept that little hand raised..
(this is where i explained to the kids that shamu is getting old and they only have him do 1 trick now) they showed everyone how to do the sign for splash. shamu came out and splashed the crowd. we didn't get wet. ( i later found out that shamu is just a stage name, they call all the whales shamu. the original shamu died in the 70's! hello??? where have i been?)
"shamu".

i also pointed out to the kids that you can tell shamu from the other whales because of her signature bent fin. where was i getting this stuff? so wrong. sad.
still raising that hand.
yep, still raised. i was contemplating in my head what to do. mama bear part of me wanted to stop the show, march her down there, and insist that she be allowed to pet that orca! i mean how cute and patient is she? then the other part of me, my better judgement, explained to her that we are not allowed to pet him. only the trainers. whatever.
they were so amazed.
S picked that starfish right up.

there was a strange resemblance between my girls and these sea lions. when they wanted something, they just opened up their mouths and screamed until they got it. hmmm...
noni was nice enough to buy the girls fish to feed the sea lions. the attendant warned her that the birds were very aggressive and would snatch the fish right out of their hands. so be careful. ok. we will. noni turns around and looks at me excited, holds the fish out tightly in her hand, with a big smile on her face..... a bird swoops right down and takes the whole thing out of her hand. she screamed. S begged the attendant for more fish, and she got it. we were paranoid then, but it was still fun.
L was so excited to have a picture with her mommy.
polar bear. noni said the polar bears don't really look like this in alaska. the beluga whales were a big hit. they also really enjoyed the penguins.
walrus. huge!
we went back for a second shamu show. that's how much we liked it. we also enhanced it with some cotton candy. i didn't get a picture, but D went down to the fence a little closer and..... raised her hand.
waiting for shamu.
D wishing she could reach through that glass and pet him.
she finally got to pet this shamu. she seemed pleased enough with this option. i almost bought it for her. but i didn't.
we got to watch the sun set with daddy one night ( he was in san diego, but at a training all week)
we were so happy to see him. we had a wonderful time. thank you noni for joining us! we missed you when you left!
we enjoyed a quick 6 hour drive home listening to 2 cd's over and over again. VBS and multiplication facts. it's still ringing in my head.

can't wait to get back to the beach!!!!