We have waited for this vacation for a long time! I told Jed in early spring that I had earned enough money from piano lessons to pay for a family vacation. Since Jed's idea of a family vacation is going to a roping (my idea of a family nightmare) I told him he would have no say on the matter of where we were going. :) Initially we were planning on Disneyland, but then Jed was told at work that 2016 was the last year that Sea World would have the Shamu show. With how much our kids love sea creatures and the ocean we decided to give them the option. So we presented the two options of Disneyland (park, beach) or San Diego (Sea World, San Diego zoo, beach.) They didn't even hesitate and all voted for Sea World. Whose kids are they??? So we made plans to go in October for a week. We decided to drive because with Dallin we needed to take so much stuff it seemed easier to drive than fly. We left Wednesday night Oct 5th after Jed got home from work. The drive was long and took forever! The kids were great in the car and Dallin was really really good. I like road trips because I love seeing new places, but the drive through California & Nevada was soooooo ugly. If we drive through again, we will definitely take the extra time and drive through Yosemite National Park just so it's a bit prettier. We did see some interesting things: a long stretch of what looked like bunkers for the military that were like sod domes. They would be impossible to see from the air - which kind of makes you nervous about life when you realize there are places like that! We saw some wild horses and we saw a lot of little towns we would never want to live in!!! We finally arrived in Southern California Thursday evening about dinner time. We ate at a Denny's and Kasen announced that it was his new favorite place to eat of all time! One thing I guess I didn't know or remember since I haven't been to California since I was a teenager, was how many Oriental people there are there. At Denny's we were the only white people everyone else was Oriental. In Chicago there were a lot of minorities, especially Blacks & Hispanics. Kentucky the same and also a lot of Indians. Never a lot of Orientals at either place though. It was just something interesting about California I hadn't ever thought about before.
SAFARI PARK - We stayed at the Worldmark condos in San Diego. It is always so nice to stay there and have some space vs a hotel room. Friday we decided our first adventure would be the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. It is a 2nd zoo about 20 min north of the other zoo. It is about 10x bigger because it has been set up to be like a safari. All of the animals are those you would see in Africa/India. There were exhibits, but also big open fields where the animals roamed.
Our first stop on the way to the Tigers was the carousel. My kids love carousels! Especially when they can ride on their favorite animals. We had unlimited rides so they went on quite a few rounds.
Our first animals to see were those at Tiger Trail. The mother tiger had just had babies and they were so cute. They were too fast and there were a lot of people there so I wasn't able to take any pictures. Because this park is more "real" there was a lot of walking. We walked through a cool bamboo forest to get to the tigers. It felt like we were in India or somewhere like that.
There were beautiful views. I didn't know that San Diego area was so hilly. And also very savanna like. It really was like the perfect climate for these types of animals too. The picture below the kids were standing under a waterfall, but it didn't quite turn out clear to see. After the tigers we went clear across the park to the lions. We wanted to get closer to the other cats so that we could watch the cheetah performance. Lions are such beautiful animals. We've never seen lions so close up before - usually the zoo exhibits have them further back. The picture doesn't do this female lion justice as to how huge she was. It made me think that it will be cool to be around animals like lions during the Millennium without them ripping your face off.
Like I said we wanted to watch the cheetah performance. They brought a female cheetah and let her loose to chase a little toy rabbit. The rabbit was on a pulley string and went down this long strip of grass. It was long enough that the cheetah had enough time to reach her fastest sprint. It was very cool to watch. It was really like watching a blur zoom by. One interesting thing we learned is that cheetahs are really scaredy cats. They are easily spooked and so they've found that in captivity if they are paired up with dogs it helps them be calm. They live and train together and apparently it works out pretty good. So that is why our pictures have a big white dog with the cheetah. We also stopped by the cheetah exhibit. Kinsley really likes cheetahs, but she did not like turning her back to them for a picture!
A few pictures of other animals. I especially liked the cute bat baby. Kasen was so excited that their were okapis. Jed and I didn't even know there was such an animal as an okapi! It is a pretty interesting animal: looks like a giraffe, zebra, antelope mix.
Our tickets included a safari ride out into the bigger enclosures. This was the view from the top of hill. It was really pretty and amazing to watch giraffes just walking around next to rhinos mud-bathing. They only had the plant eating animals out in these areas. It was a pretty warm day and we were really happy that we bought the free refillable soda mug! Little Dallin was such a good boy. He pretty much sat in his stroller all day and played and cooed. He got out for a ride during the safari, but was seriously in his stroller the whole day. Happy as could be! Every time I looked at him he was just smiling and making sounds. Such a great little boy.
Here are a few more pictures from the Safari Park. The kids would know the names of the little mini deer and birds, but I can't remember them. :) Kasen got sick of taking pictures, but the girls wanted pictures with everything.
After the park we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory to eat dinner. We sat outside on the patio and the weather was so perfect and warm. The kids were so excited with the souvenirs they got at the park. They all earned money during the money and saved it to spend on souvenirs. Kasen picked out an okapi stuffed animal and Kinsley picked out a cheetah. Ava got a turtle necklace. When we got home we relaxed and got ready for bed. The kids played with their toys and Dallin told his dad a pretty good story before we all went to bed.
BEACHES - Saturday we slept in and had breakfast. It was our beach day today so we weren't in any rush. Well besides Ava she could hardly wait to start looking for sea shells. We decided to go to an island called Coronado. Jed's sister Trena had told us it was the most amazing place. To get there you had to go across this really tall bridge over the bay. That was pretty cool. We went to the side of the island that we had read had the most sea shells. The kids were so excited to go run and jump in the ocean. They were expecting the warm waters of the gulf when we went to Florida. The Pacific Ocean is not warm though! The water was really chilly, but it didn't stop the kids from splashing around. Kasen and Kinsley chased seagulls up and down the beach and built sand castles. Kasen also wanted to get buried in mud.
We took Dallin's little tineo tent because I didn't want his white skin getting fried. He got to take a few minutes to go check out the ocean. When that cold water hit his feet he let out the funniest scream. Then he just laughed and laughed and kept kicking until Jed let his feet hit the water again. He was so funny.
He was pretty cute in his little tent. He took a little nap, played with his toys, and ate his toes. Jed decided the water was way too cold for him so he took babysitting duty for awhile - translation Jed took a nap.
Even with the cold water, I do have to say that there is just something about the ocean that calms you so much! The sound or something. I can definitely see why some people become beach bums. Being on the beach near the ocean is so cathartic and calming and instantly elevates your mood.
Even though we had read that we were on the side of the island where all the shells were there were zero shells anywhere. Ava was really sad. About a half mile down the beach
there were some rocky areas so Jed and Ava hiked down there to see if
they could find any shells. They were gone for quite a while and came back with two buckets full. I'm so glad she was able to find those shells. She would have been devastated had they not. That was the thing she was most excited to do. She is so lucky she has such a great dad. He helped her find all the shells and then throughout the vacation he helped her clean them all. Ava had researched and found a formula to soak the shells in to kill the animals inside and disinfect them and take away the fishy smell. They soaked shells and used tweezers to remove the animals (yuck) and scrubbed and scrubbed together.
Since the water was so cold and they didn't really "swim" at the beach the kids had to go swimming in the condo pool as soon as we got back. It is really nice to have them in stages where I can just sit on a lounge chair and watch them and not have to get in too. (Although by next summer I doubt I'll have that luxury anymore with Dallin!) The kids had taken two rounds of swimming lessons this past summer and had all improved so very much. They are all pretty good little swimmers. It was such a good time to go on vacation with Dallin. We worried about it beforehand, but he was an angel baby. Slept like a champ every night all night long. Sat in his stroller most of the days without complaint. All he needed was something to chew on including his own feet.
After swimming and dinner, we decided to go check out a boardwalk. The reviews we read said it was a fun family place. There were carnival rides, a wooden roller coaster, lots of shop and restaurants, etc... we got there just as the sun was setting. Which by the way, is a really cool thing to do - watch the sun set into the ocean. However it quickly went downhill after that. Apparently boardwalks are not family friendly after dark!! Luckily we found a shop with some more seashells and got some stuff right away. There was no way it was a good idea for us to stay there with the kids and feel safe, so we left soon after. Lesson learned!
The next day was Sunday and we had made arrangements to meet up with some friends from Chicago who know lived in southern California. We had planned to meet them in the afternoon after they finished church, so in the morning we drove to an area called Point Loma. It is where the naval base is located. There is also a lighthouse you can tour and a museum. But the thing we went there for was the tide pools. We didn't have very low tides while we were there, but it was still really cool to see. Ava was really excited to collect some more sea specimens, but right when we got there we pulled up to a big sign that said it was a protected area and nothing could be removed. :( She still brought her bucket just in case, but we didn't find anything to take home and one thing about Ava is that she is a rule keeper so she knew she wouldn't take anything and break the rules anyway.
"Not all beaches have sand everyone," said Kasen as we hiked down to the tide pools. He gave Jed and I quite the geography lesson. Our kids are so funny to listen to. They are incredibly smart about animals and geography that's for sure. Watching the waves crash against the cliffs let you know pretty quickly that as beautiful as the ocean is, it is also extremely dangerous. It was interesting seeing the low tide and then watching as the tide rose.
More pictures from Point Loma Tide pools.
As we were leaving we stopped at one of the military cemeteries. There were miles of cemetery on either side of the road. They are really pretty because they are so uniform and clean and had the beautiful ocean background. We looked around at a few of the headstones. We found one that was a Holbrook, but no other family names. It was a nice reminder about how so many people have given their lives and sacrificed so much for our country. I left with a great pride for America and its military people.
Our next stop on route to meet our friends was another beach about 15 minutes north called La Jolla Cove. This area was awesome. Since it was Sunday we didn't pack any of our swim gear. I wish we would have had more time to be able to come back here. The little cove was awesome. There were seals right around barking and playing. They come here to have their babies and stay for awhile apparently. We waded into the water and explored a little cave type place that gave us a great view of the seals.
Just up the street in La Jolla there was a big street fair going on. It was mostly set up for a wine tasting, but that area was fenced off. We found a little area with kid vendors. Kinsley did a little bit of art before we left. La Jolla was definitely a more ritzy, trendy area. It would be cool to explore some time.
After that it was time to meet up with our friends. We decided to meet them at the San Diego temple. WOW! This temple is amazing. It is massive and absolutely beautiful. The Jones family has kids all about the same age as ours (besides our youngest and their youngest.) In Chicago, Liberty and Ava had been good buddies and even went to preschool together. Kasen and Avery were too young to remember, but they played together quite a bit too. Kinsley and Bristol were just little infant babies when we moved away, but they got along just great. All the kids got playing together right away. We stayed at the temple for awhile and caught up. The kids ran around and played hide & seek and tag.
After that we followed the Jones' to one of their favorite parks. The kids had a great time. There were tons of hummingbirds near this one area and the kids were funny trying to get the birds to come really close to them. At one point we looked over and the kids had picked some of the flowers and put them all over their heads while others were standing so still with branches in their hands.
They made up some games on this wheel thing. They also had skateboard races down the hill. There was a skate park on the other side of the park, so we made our way over to that as well and the kids rode the skateboards around. Jake Jones is a surfer and skateboarder so his girls are pretty good. Ava and Kasen started getting the hang of it, but Ava said, "It's a lot easier when you don't move anywhere!" It was really great to meet up with them and catch up on life. They were great friends to us in Chicago.
SEA WORLD - Monday was the big day! Our main reason for this trip - Sea World day. With all of Ava's obsessions about sea shells I thought she wasn't that interested in Sea World anymore. But she was the first one up and all ready to go bright and early Monday morning.
Our first stop was the dolphins. We wanted to watch the dolphin interaction. We had heard that it was best to plan your day around all the shows/interactions, then see the rest of the park in between. We got over to the dolphins and found a great spot to watch. The interaction was just a small pool area that was pretty shallow so you could see the dolphins well. One of the trainers handed Kinsley a fish to feed a dolphin, but it startled her and she dropped it. The trainer said it isn't safe to feed if it drops on the ground so Kinsley didn't get a chance to feed one. From there we went to the dolphin show which was really fun and awesome. Ava couldn't get a smile off her face if she would have wanted to!
After that we saw manta rays and Ava and I went on the Manta coaster 3x. The first time we went on it she just yelled, "Help me! Please help me!" over and over. I was laughing so hard!!! We tried really hard to talk Kasen into going with us, but he got too nervous and never came. We had bought the all-day dining pass and the kids got some pretty fun treats. In between all the shows and aquariums there were other animals that could be outside. Kinsley made friends with a seal after the seal show. Sadly we never saw any flamingos, not one...
Kasen waited all day for us to go to the shark encounter. He was so excited! He wore his shark shirt and everything. (The kids coordinated their clothes for what we were doing that day.) It was actually a really warm day, so going into the cool shark building felt really good. The lighting was really dim in the picture below so that is why it is so grainy. They had spooky music playing in with the sharks too. Sea World was definitely not helping with the stereotype sharks already have as being bad fish.
The best part of the shark building was going under the water and having sharks swim above you. We also really enjoyed the big aquariums.
In the same building as the sharks there were a couple of giant sea turtles. I'm not sure there is anyone who doesn't love a sea turtle. They are so interesting. The kids all wanted pictures individually with the turtle.
The highlight of the day for Ava and I was our Beluga whale interaction. Ava got this for her birthday and had been waiting for 3 weeks to do it. She had her choice between dolphins or belugas. She ended up choosing belugas because it is the only place in America (besides Sea World Orlando) where you can interact with belugas whereas there are many places where you could meet dolphins. It was a B1G1 free interaction so she asked me to do it with her. First we had to get dressed in wet suits and go through an orientation. Wet suits are really hot unless you are in the water! Finally we were able to get in the water with the belugas. There were two whales - one male and one female. We got to meet the male first. He was very friendly and loved to kiss. It was so amazing feeling them. They were so smooth and then squishy but not. I don't even know how to explain it. They felt a lot different than we had imagined. They taught us different commands and it was a lot of fun. We were in the water for about 45 minutes with the belugas. Jed, Kasen, Kinsley, and Dallin were able to watch us from an observation area. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime adventure for Ava & I! Ava even got her first kiss from a boy. :)
We saw lots of animals including octopii. But actually real ones! The kids were in total heaven all day. We didn't get to go on very many rides because the Beluga encounter took away some time. The kids went on a water log ride and the played on some obstacle courses in Sesame Street World.
Our last event of the day was the Shamu show - the whole reason we came to San Diego! I had never been to Sea World before, but Jed said that it wasn't the Shamu show he remembered as a kid. It was pretty mello. The whales did some jumps and splashed the crowd a lot, but that was it. The trainers never got in the water with them or anything. Kasen really wanted to sit in the splash zone and since it was our last stop I took the 3 kids into the splash zone and Jed stayed up with Dallin. We had brought some cheap ponchos and if we wouldn't have had those we would have been totally drenched! Kasen was laughing hysterically.
Midway through the day we realized it was Dallin's 5 month birthday exactly! What a fun way to celebrate a baby birthday. He liked playing with Shamu and again was such a good baby all day.
Here are the souvenirs the kids got at Sea World. Kasen got a shark, Kinsley got a very cute colorful orca, Ava got a mother & baby octopus to go with her other octopus she got for her birthday. She was really excited to have a complete octopus family. :) She also bought a Beluga whale toy which was quite fitting.
Throughout our week I noticed that Dallin and Jed matched multiple days. I thought it was pretty cute. After we got done with Sea World we were pretty tired! We went back to the condo and picked out a movie to watch and had popcorn. We also played some games. Kasen helped put Dallin asleep that night too.
SAN DIEGO ZOO - Our last day in San Diego we went to the most famous zoo in America. We started in the bird area and the kids magically became bird trainers without even knowing it!
We wandered around looking at all your typical zoo animals. Around lunch time we stopped to watch an animal show and Dallin got a break out of his stroller. He was as happy as could be as you can tell. Afterward we were planning to go to the pangolin encounter. We had planned the whole day around this because pangolins are Kasen's favorite animal. When we finally found the area the trainer was doing the interaction with a different animal. So we asked and she told us that the pangolin had actually just died two days before. Kasen lost it - he was so sad and just started sobbing. Apparently pangolins really don't thrive in captivity. It took about 30 minutes to get Kasen calmed down and settled to go see the rest of the zoo. We actually all felt really bad for him. What are the odds??!!
One fun thing we did was take the chairlift across the park. We had to take two of them so Ava & Dallin came with me and the other two went with Jed. None of them wanted to get too close to the edge!
One of the best things about this zoo is they have real pandas. We had never seen a live panda bear before. I can't remember how many we saw - probably 3 or 4. A huge area of the zoo was under construction for a new Asian area where the pandas will have much more room. As we were watching the pandas we realized that Dallin was a panda bear in human form! The zoo had lots of baby animals which are the best kind of animals and the cutest. There were a lot of baby giraffe.
In the reptile area Ava took this picture of a turtle. It looks like it was smiling at her. It probably was. Around the park there were the really cool flowers Jed & I liked when we went to Florida/Bahamas. They look just like birds.
The San Diego zoo also had some elephants and African animals, but we decided since we had seen all of those at the Safari Park we would go to other places. We thought we'd have so much time to see everything, but the zoo is so ginormous that we couldn't. We did really enjoy the Arctic world area. I showed Kasen the picture of the seals and he said, "You know I've never noticed before, but I really look like a seal."
Had to take some pictures by the giant books of course. The kids wanted pictures by everything. They were posed on these metal polar bears. Kasen just kept slowly slipping down. It was pretty funny.
The other animals that were really cool to see that we've never seen before were koalas. They are pretty lazy. I don't think we ever saw any awake at all. But they are pretty cute. It was also our first time seeing full-sized hippos. We took a narrated shuttle ride around the park before we left. Our guide kept singing made up songs about all the animals to Disney song tunes. She was crazy!
We had so much fun at the zoo, but we were pretty tired with all the days of walking. I told Jed I bet we walked more this week than the whole rest of the year combined. When we got back to the condo the kids went swimming one final time. We all fell asleep pretty early because we were exhausted. I finally understand why people say they need a vacation from their vacation now! The next morning we got on the road in good time. We had to drive all the way home in one day because Jed was scheduled with patients the next day. We stopped in Las Vegas for a break to eat. We ate at the Outback and it was really good. Jed even got the kids dessert which was a nice distraction so we didn't have to think about the long ride home! We did finally make it home, but the drive was definitely a long one. I doubt we will ever drive it again! I had forgotten to take pictures of the kids souvenirs from the zoo. Ava got a panda, Kasen got a clouded leopard, and Kinsley got a dog to go with her cheetah so they could be friends. :) I'm so thankful for our little family and that we were able to do this vacation. It was such a fun one we will remember for a long time!
No comments:
Post a Comment