San Diego Zoo

Zoos are nothing new to us since we are members at our zoo and go "at least" once a month! However, nothing had prepared me for how large and extensive the San Diego zoo just is. Wow! We ended up taking a busride around it because there was no way we could see everything we wanted to. Then, if there was something that interested us, we were able to walk back to that area and check it out more. Some of our favorites included the koala bears. Who can resist such cute animals! The elephant exhibit is pretty amazing by itself! I could go on, but all in all, it was definitely worth the time.

In addition to the zoo, we were blessed to be able to spend lunch with Kurt's college roommate and his new wife. They came and met us outside the zoo and took us to a nice restaurant within walking distance. It was great to meet them and get to know them. Since they don't have kids yet, they were troopers putting up with ours, but I think all in all it was a good time. That evening, we were also blessed to be able to eat out with my grad school roommate and her husband. The kids were pretty fried by the evening, so I think Alison and Josh got the worst deal out of it. However, they are expecting their first child in December, so they were very gracious and understanding of the whole situation. It was so nice to see familiar faces in an unfamiliar city and enjoy some fellowship with friends.

Here are some pictures from the zoo.

Here was Silas on our bus trip.
Daddy and Silas in front of the koala exhibit.

The hippo was one of our favorites also.
Silas being goofy!

The elephant exhibit.
Yes, they even have elevators so you can get up to the higher exhibits. It was incredible!

It is still hard for me to believe that we have to go to a petting zoo to enjoy animals I grew up with, but Silas had a great time.

SeaWorld

I'm going to skip ahead just a bit and go to our Seaworld experience since I'm still trying to get some pictures off of my camera from the LA area. Anyways, after we left LA, we went to San Diego for a few days. We spent one full day at Seaworld and one full day at the San Diego zoo, so it was a busy, but fun time.

Unfortunately again, it was record breaking temperatures, so watching some of the shows in the sun was just miserable, but it's something you just have to do if you go to Seaworld. So we experienced it, but after only a few hours of being there, we were all pretty miserable. We decided to leave the park and get the boys to nap and then come back in the evening. That was the best decision we made! We got back to Seaworld around 5:00 pm and the temperature was still very warm, but manageable! I wasn't sure how long the boys would last, but what troopers we were! I think we finally left the park around 9:30....Wow! I did bring their pj's and we put them on before we left, so both boys were asleep in the car and all we had to do was get them into our motel room and to bed!

I think aside from the shows, the kids had an absolute blast at the kid zone area in Seaworld. There was an obstacle course that Silas (and Kurt) ventured in. Nathan and I played in the toddler zone and he just had a blast. After Silas was done, he came over and they both played for a long time. We actually had to literally drag them out in order to go home. It was an amazing time by all and we left the park feeling like we definitely got our money's worth!


Enjoying the starfish exhibit.
Silas even got brave and started to try and touch them by himself.
We rode the sky ride so we could see the whole park from above.
Here's the obstacle course that Silas enjoyed.
Nathan enjoying the toddler area.

Silas playing in the toddler area also.

California Silliness

One evening we took an evening to downtown Disney to eat and hang out. We spent about an hour in the Disney store just having fun. I think we had quite the crowd looking at us as we tried on various hats. Here are some pictures of our adventure.


Nathan is wearing a "goofy" hat and pulling on the ears. He thought it was pretty funny.


What a cute Minnie hat.......

Disney!

We had an absolute blast at Disney! We weren't really sure if Silas would enjoy it or not, because he doesn't know all of the characters. Since we don't really watch much TV or movies, we did have some books with Mickey and Minnie and so we had been reading them to him so he would be familiar with it.

Well, as soon as we got to Disney, we saw a line for Mickey Mouse and asked him if he wanted to meet him. He immediately said yes, so we stood and waited. As we were waiting, he would randomly start jumping up and down saying, "Nathan is so excited to see Mickey." That is his new thing, anytime he's really excited, he just says that Nathan is. So it is really cute. Anyways, we got to meet a ton of the characters and ride some rides and just enjoy time together. I think Silas's favorite would be Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. He was so excited to see them and we even rode the Pooh ride twice because he wanted to.

So all in all, a good day. Silas didn't have a nap (Nathan fell asleep in the stroller), so it was a pretty early evening and only one meltdown (due to not napping!), so overall not bad! Especially since it was record heat there that day. Here are some pictures.



Ok, meeting Lightning and Mater was a close 2nd to his favorite thing to see!

California (continued)

The day of the wedding was beautiful. It was just a little bit chilly, but sunny so that made it all better. The wedding was in a cute little church that was open to the outdoors, so the perfect wedding to bring children too! Silas and Nathan did a great job sitting through it, so I was very proud of them. Here are some pictures of our family at the wedding.

Grandpa Shippy and Amma with Nathan after the ceremony. The church is in the background.

Silas and I at the reception.

My cousin Reed with Silas.
Our family at the wedding.
The day after the wedding, we ate breakfast with my cousin Reed before we all went our separate ways. This was in front of the ocean.

California (at last)

Well here it is....the long awaited California pictures. I am finally getting my computer more functional, so I'm able to post some pictures. I still haven't gotten all of them off of my camera, so I might continue to post later on some other pictures, but this will get us started.

When we got out to California, we started in San Fransisco and then went north of San Fransisco to my cousin's wedding. My dad and step mom flew in, so we were able to spend time with them. We all stayed in the same hotel and then house, so it was nice to have everyone right there. Here are some pictures with Grandpa Shippy and Amma.

Here was our cable car experience in San Fransisco.


Amma and Silas coloring.
Grandpa and Silas walking on the beach.

A stroller ride at Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco.

Technical Difficulties

Well, I haven't been able to post pictures of our wonderful trip (sorry Janelle...he, he) because of some issues we've had here. While we were away, we had lightning strike and it took out my computer, our TV and also our DVR. Our TV was pretty old and we've been considering a new one for awhile, so breaking down to purchase a new one wasn't such a bad thing. As for my computer, Kurt (w/o me knowing) bought a computer right before we left as a gift for me for when we got home, because my computer was slow and had issues. So, even before we knew the lightning had gotten my computer, I was blessed with a new computer. As for our DVR, it was under warranty, so they have already replaced it.

So, to make a long story short...I love my computer, I just don't know how to utilize all of the features yet, including uploading pictures. Plus, I need to figure out my new picture program on it, so I'm afraid it will be awhile until I can post about our wonderful trip.

To be continued!