Sea World & La Jolla Cove

We had a nice sleep-in morning after our late night with Mickey the Mouse. I can’t say Cole ever really sleeps in, but this morning was about the best he did the whole trip. Today’s agenda…Sea World!

There’s that tongue again!

 

Outside (and inside) the Penguin Encounter (one of my personal faves):



Sea turtles!

 

Feeding the seals. This is one thing you have to do fast. If you stand too long holding your fish, the seagulls will fly in and steal them straight from your hand.

 

Mmm…tasty!

 

The Shamu Show (let’s be honest)…HUGE downer! I understand that the trainers don’t want to be eaten (so that’s why they don’t swim with the whales anymore), but it sure makes for a less than exciting show nowadays.

 

The dolphin show, however, fabulous! Sissy loved the main character, Marina. She commented that she wants to be Marina in the show one day Who wouldn’t want to wear pink, prance around a stage, and swim with dolphins, after all?

 

How lucky that she got to meet her after the show too!

 

Riding and meeting Elmo:

 

One of the cutest pics:

Little brother did not much like bouncing. He found it difficult to walk on the giant jumper, let alone jump. He was asked to vacate the jumper before the time was even up because he just laid there. Sad face!

 

Petting the Bat Rays:

Sky riding over the ocean (Kate’s favorite part and Dad’s least favorite part):

 

And how about a sugar stick as a parting gift? The kids were thrilled.

 

We’d read up about La Jolla Cove and stopped by there on the way home. Amazing. Why on earth did I not know about this place sooner? Mom’s favorite part of the trip.

It’s hard to see, but in the dark zone of the cove are hundreds of sea lions stacked on top of each other. I’ve never seen anything like this in real life. Sea World, yes, but real life, no.

 

 

Here’s one little guy we were able to get right up close to. He had fishing line and a hook caught in his skin:(

Such a beautiful place! And the cutest beach town ever. Glad I got to see it, and definitely won’t be my last.

 

We had dinner at Panera that night. Then back at the hotel we let the kids play and build in the lobby castle for a while. Sweet Cole, lost another hat for the second time this night in the lobby. Luckily, the hotel mailed his Mickey Ears to us a few days after we got back!

 

And that, friends, marks the end of our trip. One of my favorites ever, for sure!

Mickey’s Halloween Party

We had a few hours to kill before Mickey’s Halloween Party so we returned to Legoland once more. Kate was able to pick out a white kitty cat as her souvenir (because she doesn’t have enough stuffed animals;), and we were all able to a catch a few more rides too.

For lunch we hit up our beloved, Baja Fresh. A true California favorite. It’s places like that that makes my heart tug just a bit.

Next, DISNEYLAND! We parked and rode the tram over. We stopped in Downtown Disney to get Cole his Christmas ornament for the year (any guesses what it is?) And, of course, as we were shopping, Cole found his souvenir: his Mickey hat. This is something he has talked about for months and finally the day came! The moment he saw it…it was his! Perfect in every way; wouldn’t even let his parents alter it by monogramming his name on it.

In front of the Mickey pumpkin:

Early on in our park visit, we split up (girls’ team vs. boys’ team). Cole and the dad ran off to get fast passes. In their journeys, they got a photo opp with Pooh and Tigger. They also rode Haunted Mansion. In the elevator when the thunder booms and then all the lights turn off, Cole chirped, “I don’t like this ride.” The elevator full of people all started laughing. After riding it, he decided he wasn’t scared of it anymore.  That’s our boy!

Meanwhile, Kate and the mom rode Matterhorn and Alice in Wonderland. But more importantly, we finally got to meet Rapunzel. This was big deal, folks. We’ve tried to accomplish this ever since Rapunzel began gracing the park. Here’s the pic to commemorate this very special moment in history:

We all met back up and rode together for the rest of the night. Coley was finally tall enough for Splash Mountain; a whopping 40 inches! Something felt very wrong about him being able to sit in his own seat without a seat belt, but Kate insisted on riding with me in the back seat. We held on tight to him tightly, though, especially when it came time for the drop;) Despite his face, he actually liked the ride.

One more time on the HM as a family:

We had dinner at New Orleans Café. I had the best salad I’ve had in a long time.

And last…TRICK OR TREATING! What a fun time of year to go to Disneyland! There is no limit to the candy there! We all got so much candy we could barely carry it all.

Cole, on the other hand, COULD carry his own candy. In fact, he was white-knuckling his bag so much that we were shocked when suddenly his bag spilled out the front of his stroller. When we stopped to clean it all up, we discovered that he had fallen asleep;) Funny boy!

A Halloween firework show later, and we were ready to go. 7 hours probably wasn’t enough Disneyland (at least for the hubs). But it was a real party! And so fun with our kids!

Church & San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Day 3 of our vacation brought us to church at the Carlsbad 3rd Ward. We usually try to hit up a sacrament meeting if our vacation falls over a Sunday...you know, cause we’re super righteous. BUT also, it’s fun to see different wards and chapels wherever we go, and a fun family tradition too;)

Sweet Cole would not leave the hotel, rental van, nor enter the church, without his two BIG BAGS of candy from Brick-or-Treating the night before. So we were that family. I think that ward was, perhaps, THE QUIETEST ward ever. I also think Cole was the MOST IRREVERENT ever! Joy.

After church we stripped our Sunday best and headed out to the Safari Park (formerly known as the Wild Animal Park). Dave and I had been there back when we lived in L.A. and loved it. This time? Not so much.

We started off on the right foot and visited the Lorikeets. We bought a few cups of nectar and entered their little pavilion. So fun! These friendly little birds fly right up to you (and often, on you) to eat from your hand. The kids got some serious thrills from this like we knew they would. Seriously a neat thing to do, especially with kids!

Next, we journeyed to the safari tram. I say “journeyed” because they have moved it to the outskirts of the park and it is quite the hike to get there. So we waited in line and then just before boarding, were told that Kate had to buy an extra ticket just to ride the tram. WHAT!? Cole was free, and mine and Dave’s tram tickets were included in our park ticket, but for Kate…an extra seven bucks. SO LAME! This was very much not the same park we went to back in the day. Strike one.

Alas, we purchased Kate’s “extra” ticket and boarded. Then, just as the gal on the horn announces that this will be a 30 minute tram ride, Cole announces he needs to pee. Swell. Luckily, Dave had a plan. We had just finished off a bottled water. I held the bottle still, Dave covered us, and Cole refilled the water bottle. Cole was quite proud of himself and it was a bit of a battle to take the bottle away from him, but so convenient. Little boys are awesome!

After a kind of uneventful safari ride, I gave the park it’s second strike. This was one of my favorite things last time, and now, not so neat.

We wandered past the lions. They were beautiful like I remembered. OH, and it was at this point that we showed Kate some of the pictures from the trip; all of which, she was scowling in. She discovered that she DID NOT like the way they looked. And, ta-dah! She was all smiles from that moment on.

Up next would be the most thrilling: the elephant show! This was the show (in years past) that placed elephants at the top of my list! Prior to this show, I had no idea the intelligence, the abilities, the kindness, etc, etc that an elephant had! This would be the highlight of the day!

So we found a seat in the little elephant stadium and began watching and listening. They brought out an elephant to do a small physical examination on it. Meanwhile, the girl hosting the show has nothing to say. I kept thinking, “Why is she stalling? Start the show already.” A few more minutes pass. “Any second now,” my mind is saying, “Any second now, they’re gonna be pulling out all the stops.” And then, THEN…the show was over. Most boring show ever. Strike 3.

At this point, Kate is getting some pretty serious blisters on her feet and having trouble walking. She has this thing where instead of “Momma knows best” she knows best. And she knew that her cute church shoes were the more stylish option than the sensible sneakers that I had told her to wear. Anyway, between pushing Cole in the stroller and carrying Kate up the sunny, hill-filled park, the mom and dad were about done.

We hit up a few more sights, saw some more animals, posed for a few more photos, ate some ice cream, and after about 3 hours total we were done. It’s not a bad park, just not great. They’ve made nearly every activity there an a la carte experience so while you’re paying to get in, you also get to pay 30 additional fees for whatever else looks fun. Plus, they are so overloaded on preaching “conservation” it almost feels un-fun. I’m all about saving the earth, don’t get me wrong, but after that day, I was thinking twice. It’s the rebel in me I suppose.

A second “smily” picture from Kate sitting on a rhino. She posed herself and everything;)

We ate some delicious Buca that night, and then the kids had themselves a ball at the swimming pool while Dave and I watched. Yes, watched. Half of the pool is crazy shallow so parents don’t actually have to get in with their little ones. It’s dreamy…especially when it’s a little chilly outside (and inside) the pool like it was that night.