Sea World

The last day of our trip was a visit to Sea World, and we definitely saved the best for last. Sea World was the most amazing place ever! I could’ve easily spent another full day there!

We saw turtles, dolphins, whales and fed Manta Rays. We made it to every show that day- and they were all amazing!

Here we got to feed the Manta Rays, which was really an amazing experience. They are so used to being fed that they will swim right up to you looking for food and let you touch and pet them. Delaney, Ryan and I were in heaven (Colton wanted NOTHING to do with them)

It was a beautiful day and we were poorly prepared, but, thanks to a stop at the gift store for sunscreen and hats no one got too much sun.

The last show of the day had dolphins, pilot whales and acrobats. the kids were enthralled. I have to say it was probably my favorite too- there was just so much to see!

We had so much fun that we pretty much had to be escorted to the exits at the end of the day.

It was such a fun vacation, and I loved having so many days together with no work, school or other distractions! Now…  if I could just catch up on the laundry….

San Diego Zoo

Tuesday, we left Jeff and Debbie’s and headed to San Diego. Our first stop was the zoo.

It was huge! In hindsight we didn’t have enough time there, we raced thru it and still didn’t have time to see everything. There were animals we’ve never seen before, and everything was a lot closer than we were used to seeing!

We had to wait in line to see the Pandas!

Going to the Zoo with Ryan is a completely different experience, we don’t really even bother reading the signs because he’s our own personal guide!

 

Ryan, with his spirit animal, a camel. A few months ago I asked him if chickens pee (they don’t) which somehow led him to looking up facts on camels, after which he declared them the coolest animal ever, thus his spirit animal. Every time I see one now, I can’t help but laugh!

 

After a full day at the zoo, we were lucky enough to get to meet up with a High School Classmate for dinner- great day!

Visiting The Habberstad’s

After Disneyland we were ready for a day of rest! Luckily, it worked out for us to spend a day with my cousins. The kids absolutely adore Jeff and Debbie and Trevor, Shane and Allie. Allie and Delaney  (me too!) have bonded over our love of chickens and Laney couldn’t wait to check out Allie’s birds.

In addition to the chickens, my cousin Shane is filming a Doritos commercial for a super bowl contest, so they have so equipment set up in their living room. Equipment that my circus children thought look just like monkey bars and they wore the boys swinging and climbing!

We all had the best time! We took over their house for 24 hours and did laundry and played and ate- it was wonderful!

At the end of a full day, Laney and Colton asked Jeff for a bedtime story, which he happily supplied. His story “The Boy Who Sharted” was not only true (courtesy of Colton) but had the kids and I giggling hysterically!