San Diego

On February 6th we got to tag along on another of Jon's business trips. This time to San Diego! And by San Diego I mean Sea World... It was perfect. Lydia was off track and Jon's boss was more interested in giving him and our family a vacation than having him actually do more than represent JUB at a few meetings. Jon's the best though, and he put in his time for JUB, but still got to party with the rest of us during the week.

 Who wouldn't want to have a slumber party with these ladies?!

 We didn't spend a ton of time in our hotel room, but when we were in it, good times were had by all!

I should probably mention the plane ride though. Yup, we flew! A first for Soph, and something she's been wanting to do since Mia joined me on our sisters retreat in November. In fact, Sophie requested that she and I take a trip to California for her birthday. How fun would that be?! But having us all go together. To California, no less. Was certainly better than the hopes and dreams that Sophie had initially imagined.

And the girls got to watch movies on the way. Lyds sat by Jon and watched Storks while Sophie sat by me and watched Zootopia. Mia clawed me pretty good on the way there. Not thrilled to be up in the air and not terribly interested in the movie. Take off took a little longer than we'd anticipated, but the girls were pretty cool about it all. Lydia hadn't flown since she was five months and was a little disappointed, but Soph loved it! Oh, and remember how the Desitin got us as we were leaving Long Beach back in November? Well, this time I was stopped in SL before we boarded the plane and given a pat down for carrying that diaper rash ointment. And what's worse was that it tested positive for explosive materials. WHAT??!!!! Yeah. That was less cool. I told the TSA guy that we'd be happy to toss the tubes in the trash when he told us he needed to bring someone else in to test them further. No thanks. Lets toss those puppies and be done with them. And then be on our way. So. Not. Worth. Keeping.

And then we made it! And we got ourselves a lovely rental car (more on that later) that fit us just fine despite the salesman's encouragement that we upgrade to a larger vehicle. We were fine. And once we had loaded ourselves and our luggage (I'm sure we were quite the spectacle) into our car we were on our way to the hotel!

Right away we went to Sea World (in the hotel shuttle) to confirm that the passes we had purchased really were good for more than one day. And though we didn't stay long we were excited about what the week would bring.

I packed inappropriately for the weather though. I probably should mention that. California doesn't always equate to sunshine. And the temperature in sunny Cali when we arrived was almost the same as the temperature we'd left behind in Utah. Go figure. Utah wasn't experiencing a heatwave at the moment, in case you were wondering. But we made due. The girls each had a sweater and they wore it daily until the second to last day when I couldn't handle it. We made a quick stop at Old Navy and the girls were still warm and both Jon and I felt much better about life and the fact that the number of growing bacteria was much less on the new sweaters than they were on the ones we'd brought with us.

Aunt Sarah made the trip from South Pasadena to Escondido, where her in-laws live, so that we could play with her and Milo and Elora as much as possible! Uncle Paul joined us on Thursday and Jon was able to be with us for most of that afternoon and evening that day too which was awesome.

So many favorites this trip! The girls LOVED the Beluga whales. We literally watched them for hours over the course of the week.

Lydia got to go with Aunt Sarah and Milo on a virtual flight. She loved that! The penguins were cool (Sophie's new favorite animal), she also loved the dolphins and Shamu and the otters. Oh, and the rides! And Mia LOVED the birds. She's a duck/bird girl for sure. Lydia loved the polar bears too. One of them spooked the girls quite a bit. We were walking up to where they were and didn't see them, but as we got closer we realized this one was right next to the glass!!

We went to the Sea Lion show three different days. The girls talked constantly about the Barracuda. We were told he was "dangerous" and it certainly caught the girls' attention. They loved the tricks the sea lions did and the actors/actresses did a great job too. We really enjoyed all the shows, actually.

The Dolphins was probably my favorite. What amazing animals!!

And it was cool to see what the Killer Whales could do too.

But the girls have talked more about the pet show than any other show we saw. I wasn't super excited to go watch a bunch of pets when we were at Sea World (after all) and there were some seriously amazing animals to observe. But that didn't stop us, and once we were seated I didn't regret the show one bit. Sophie loved how these black and brown cats jumped into a "jug of milk" and when they jumped back out they were white. She also loved watching this cat go across a rope twenty or thirty feet in the air UPSIDE DOWN. So cool! And Lydia loved watching the dog prep for his "girlfriend" by cleaning up the yard and giving her flowers when she showed up for their date at the front door before sitting down together for a fancy dinner. She also loved meeting the pets afterward. Mia loved the exotic birds that flew up stage from behind the bleachers and the kangaroo and porcupine were entertaining too. Oh! And the pig! This pig went through an obstacle course that a few dogs had raced through previously. And he literally went through it. Totally busted through the bricks he was supposed to jump over. Lydia thought that was hysterical. Lots of cool tricks from the pets and encouragement from the employees to treat animals well and that some of the ones in the show were rescues who'd come from homes where the owners thought they were too high energy or just couldn't be trained. Everyone should own a pet! And Lydia would be the first to agree with that. So glad we saw the shows. I imagine we would have enjoyed them just as much had we gotten to stay another day and watch them all again.

In mentioning favorites I'd be in trouble if I neglected to mention Milo and Elora. Sophie LOVES Elora. LOVES LOVES LOVES her! "She's just so cute!" So when Sarah took a few pics of her with those two cuties it was perfect. Absolutely needed to be documented. And Mia still lights up when I mention Milo and Elora. I love Milo and Mia. Buddies for life.

The kids played well together and loved the cousin time. It was super entertaining watching them bounce around on this gigantic bubble and crash into each other. A great find in the park after all the walking around. We got to rest and the kids got to go crazy. A win for all of us.

There was a play area a million miles off the ground, surrounded by nets that was super cool too. And I love that these three cuties just loved being in cahoots with each other. No crazy shenanigans. No bossing each other around. Just pure giggly energy.

Watching Aunt Sarah ride some rides with them was awesome too. I was fine watching them in the boat and way more than fine passing my kids on to her and Milo while they rode the tea cups. Mia and I could barely stand to watch them spin. What's wrong with me?? I must be old. Yep. I'm old.

The Sea Turtles were a highlight too. And we learned that the star fish aren't doing too well which was why they couldn't be seen.

I also loved that Lyds enjoyed pushing Mia around the park so much. Mia wasn't into much of anything (besides the birds), but she did love riding in her stroller! It's a good thing we stopped at Target after the first day. I'm certain I couldn't have held her every day. All day long. Such a great purchase.

The girls loved the cleaner fish that nibbled at their dead skin (once they got up the courage to let the fish near enough to touch them) and Lydia was very proud of herself for finally touching the spotted leopard sharks after being "almost brave" enough to do it the previous two days leading up to that.

We were by the sea lions and there were tons of these white birds. I thought they looked like they belonged on the scene, but we soon discovered that they were there to nab whatever food visitors tossed to the sea lions. And they weren't terribly welcome. I love that Jon snapped this pic. They aren't bad looking birds, and Mia loved them, but apparently they are everywhere in San Diego. And therefore not as unique as I originally thought them to be.

I loved watching Milo with the bat rays. He was totally into it and it took Lydia and Sophie much longer to reach in and touch those creatures. Aunt Sarah also took the kids on a sky ride overlooking the park. They had a blast! In fact, the girls preferred the company of Aunty Sarah whenever they were given the option.

Oh! And the flamingos. Jon is the coolest and got some food for everyone so that we could feed the flamingos. The kids had fun throwing food in their general direction. Not sure any flamingo actually found their gifts, but it sure was fun to watch!

And I absolutely need to mention the Asians and our babies. After the first pet show Sarah was accosted by several Asian women wanting pictures with her kids. Elora was a super star and her picture was definitely going home with these friendly women we couldn't understand. And then Mia was a rock star. We were sitting down waiting for the Sea Lion show to start when Jon and I were asked if it was okay with us if they took her picture. Must be the blue eyes and blonde hair. After we gave this one woman permission several cameras went off. Wish I knew what their plans with her picture were...but really, who could blame them??

One of the Sea World employees recommended we eat at the Corvette Diner one night during our stay. So we did! It was fun. The waitress threw a bunch of red straws on our table. We assumed we were supposed to drink with them, but we were wrong. After looking around a bit we realized that everyone had them in their hair. They were connected into these humongous bows and not meant to be sipped with. A magician came by and did some magic tricks. I wrote my name on a card that ended up inside a balloon. How did it get there? I confess. I have no idea! He made some objects disappear with some cups too. The girls were half interested, half terrified. The fun for them came after dinner when we went to the arcade.

Most of our time was spent playing air hockey with these ladies. Jon did win each of them a little rubber ducky at the claw machine though...

And Mia LOVES her little blue ducky. She talks about blue ducky all the time! And she's found a yellow one here at home that she calls orange ducky and has added white and pink duckies to the family.

One morning we piled in Sarah's minivan and went to the Mormon Battalion Church History site. So cool! We got to see people talking in their picture frames and then watched them actually walk out of them! The whole tour was so well done. The kids dressed up like soldiers in the Battalion and it took Sophie completely by surprise when it started raining and it seemed so real! Panning for gold afterward was exciting and memorable for the girls. They loved playing in the water. In fact, Sophie got so wet that Jon had to bring her a change of clothes when he met us for lunch afterward.

The only bummer of this outing was when I tripped over the cannon on display in the building and nearly threw Mia in my shocked and pained state. It hurt. A little. But it was more humiliating than anything. The sweet sister missionary who took us on the tour was super nice. I wish she hadn't been so nice. I'm pretty sure I would have cried less had she been less caring and attentive. We did get a fun picture to remember our visit though. And suggestions for places to dine at later.

Now that I'm writing about my trip and fall at the Mormon Battalion site I'm remembering the late afternoon chat Sarah and I had when we brought ice cream back to the hotel and locked ourselves in the bathroom while Jon was our hero and watched Winnie the Pooh with the kids. Yep, That happened. And it was awesome!! It was so good to talk to Sarah! Amazing that we spent as much time together as we did that week and it still wasn't enough. A million unfinished conversations and a million more we wish we'd had.

Thursday night Jon and Lyds and Soph went to the beach while I stayed with Mia in the car so she could nap. I'm glad they went. We flew all that way. It would have been a shame not to see the ocean. And we got to eat pizza with the Israelsens afterward at a little pizza joint near the beach. Good food, great company. Nothing better than that!

The girls were really great eaters this trip! That's almost always a concern, but they weren't picky and I didn't feel like we wasted much food either. It was weird asking for keys to unlock the bathrooms at each restaurant though. I get it, but when your kids gotta go, they really gotta go! We ate at The Firefly restaurant the night before we left. The food was good there too and it was nice to go somewhere a little more fancy with nice dishes and a cool ambiance. This place was perfect.

And then it was time to go. We were a lot worried about getting all of us up and to the rental place and then on to the airport on time so we woke up crazy early Saturday morning so that we wouldn't miss our flight. And though we had way more time than necessary, I'm so glad we did! I'd much rather be three hours early than late by a minute or two. Jon's doing, of course. Always prepared. Love that Boy Scout of mine! The girls made tons of friends at the airport. We were told how well behaved they were several times. Nobody once mentioned anything about our three girls at Sea World, but I'm pretty sure at the airport it was no less than five people who wanted to know if we were going to try for a boy. Go figure. The return trip was a little disappointing for Lydia in particular. There was no Wi-Fi. It wasn't working. And she was sitting by me this time. Not Jon. So Sophie got a movie, but Lyds didn't. Also, due to "rough air" the snack service was cancelled. I was really looking forward to those cookies. But that was nothing to the disappointment Lyds felt when no snacks was added to her not watching a movie. Total bummer. But she made it! We all did. And she really did have a good attitude about it. Mia slept more on the return trip than she did the flight out there. I think she was still pretty relieved to be back on the ground once we landed.

And we later found out that our rental car had a dent in it. Actually, we saw it when we shut the back of the car up and assumed that it was known to Enterprise. Apparently not. Jon knew he should have gone back and talked to them, but we didn't and not long after we were home they sent us word that we needed to file a claim with our insurance. Awesome. Not our fault. But cool. So Jon was told to submit it through JUB. Not sure how that's going to work out, but definitely unfortunate.

On a happier note, the girls loved their souvenirs! Jon used to collect shot glasses on trips when he was a kid. His sisters collected little spoons. And this trip Lydia brought home a polar bear (she's fascinated with the Arctic at the moment), Sophie brought home an otter (Otterina is her name) and Mia brought home a killer whale. She calls it Whaley. Such a fun trip! So many awesome memories!!