San Diego Part 1!

In October we took a family vacation to San Diego! It was a great week and we had so much fun! There are tons of pictures so I'm going to break it up into two posts!

On the Road!

The car was packed full but the kids brought all their necessities and were comfy as could be!

We decided to stop in St. George for a little bit and give the legs a nice long stretch, plus the kids needed OUT of the car for a little bit! We met up with the McKee's for some Del Taco fun!

All our crazy kiddos, that is quite the bunch!

We drove until we were exhausted and then pulled into a very high class Motel 6 to spend the night! Here we are after shall we say a not so restful night at our awesome hotel!

We were up and on the road in no time at all, and after a few more hours in the car we were finally there! The kids were stoked that the drive was finally over... we all were! Our condo was awesome! It was right on the beach and had lots of space, we even watched dolphins swim by a few times from our window! The kiddos were anxious to get a start on the fun so we got ready and headed to the pool!

Hayleigh was a fan of her Aunt Tiffy and the hot tub!

The boys however were thrilled to play in the bath tub temperature pool with their daddy! They had SO much fun!

We played and played at the pool all afternoon until Grandma and Grandpa's flight got in. After they were there and all settled in we walked down to the beach to check it out!

Jeff said he got caught by an unexpected wave?!?

Hayleigh loved running in the sand along the beach, so her and grandma went for a little jog!

Our poor little Easton man got food poisoning that night and was up sick all night long. We were supposed to be up and off to Sea World first thing in the morning, but we had to wait for our trooper to feel good enough to drive over to the park.

After a couple of hours of rest and laying around he was feeling good enough to go so we headed over to Sea World. After throwing up in the parking lot he was ready for a day of fun! First thing we headed straight to the Shamu show!

After watching Shamu we went to see the Sting Rays and Eels! They were very playful Sting Rays and the kids loved petting them!

Grandpa got them food to feed them and everything! Yummy!

Our favorite show at Sea World was the Dolphin show! It was very entertaining and so much fun to watch.

Hayleigh loved the princess of the show and had to get a picture with her!

Easton decided he was starving and thought he was ready for something to eat, we went with a pretzel figuring that's be soft on his tummy... not just any pretzel, a Shamu pretzel!

Hayleigh and grandpa had fun trying to spy all the octopus tentacles that were holding big pieces of candy all throughout the park!

Posing with the flamingos!

We went to the tide pool next to touch and feel creatures of the sea, like sea stars and sea urchins!

All that fun tuckered out our sick little man so he crashes for a little while in the stroller!

Saying hello to the Sea Lions

In the ride Wild Arctic there was this wall of ice to show you what it would be like to live in the Arctic! COLD!

When we got back to the condo that night, this was the view from our balcony. My dad told Taylor that he had hired someone to do that for grandma! He loves telling anyone and everyone all about how grandpa paid someone to write i love you in seaweed for his grandma!

Easton was feeling much better the next morning so we were off to see the world famous San Diego Zoo! The kids got maps and started plotting our course first thing!

The whole gang out front before we headed into the zoo!

We were all excited to see the Panda Bears, there was even a baby Panda!

Next we were off to the Polar Bear exhibit, I think this may be one of the best family shots we've ever had!

Tiffy, Grandma and grandpa with a life size polar bear!

and Hayleigh loving and hugging a baby polar bear!

In an ice cave

A crazy family of seals!

The San Diego Zoo requires a LOT of walking, so spread all throughout the zoo they have these foot massage machines! The make you laugh because they tickle your feeties! The kids became a huge fan, and they became a favorite memory of the zoo!

Easton getting on his rhino face!

I'm not really sure what kind of animals these were!

Next up reptile alley!

Um, Tiff I hate to bust your bubble but you're supposed to kiss a frog!

Oh no, Jeff got in that speedy turtles way!

The kids also had a blast "Sharing" the animal crackers from their lunches with the squirrels!

Monkeying around!

Me and My cute hubby!

More of the monkeying around!

Me and my new friend, he's a hippo!

And lastly before we could leave the zoo we had to smash a penny to remember our fun day!

After a long day of walking at the zoo we headed over to Old Town for some shopping and a yummy mexican dinner!

When they brought out chips and salsa they brought mild and HOT! Easton and Tiffany are demonstrating how you could blow fire out of your mouth if you ate the hot!

Dad treated us all to a delicious dinner, Thanks dad!

After the kids finished eating they sat around the fire to keep warm while the rest of us finished filling our tummies with our dinner!

and before heading back for the night, the kids had a characterized picture done for grandma and grandpas house.

The next day was planned as a beach day, but we woke up to pouring rain, so we cuddles in for a movie hoping the rain would pass! Tiffany hated every moment of this!

After a little lunch the rain stopped so we headed down to the beach for some fun!

The boys were all about the boogie boards

for about five minutes, that's when they realized how cold the water was!

So we had family sand castle building time

Then we did some wave chasing

Taylor and Jeff had fun burying Tay's legs in the muddy sand

Finally Hayleigh decided to give the water a try

and she liked it!

Wave jumping!

Taking a break to warm up a little!

Then Easton thought that if Aunt Tiffany buried him in the sand maybe he'd stay warm!

It looked like so much fun that Hayleigh wanted a try!

Then after watching Jeff on the boogie board all afternoon Grandma decided to give it a go! It was cold, but fun until a wave took her out!

Still smiling!

Tiffany thought she'd be brave and give it a try too! She was a little more brave then grandma and went all the way out with Jeff!

The grandma used some seaweed to send a message to grandpa who was oh so sad to have had to go home that morning!

The the rain rain rain came down down down so we headed back to the condo and tried to figure out something fun we could do. We decided to give the Corvette Diner a try!

The milkshakes and fried pickles were enough to make it a success!

We were in the groovy glow in the dark room and it was fun!

After stuffing our faces and getting fancy straw hair do's we headed over to the arcade

We had a fun night of playing games and winning prizes!

We were glad to find somewhere so fun to go to escape from the rain!

*Part 2 coming soon!*