Pack it in!

What do you do when your husband has a work retreat in San Diego? You pack up your kids and hit the road! We had limited amount of time so we crammed it in! It was so wonderful being on vacation WITH David!

Saturday we went to the San Diego zoo,

Sunday was Sea World, and

Monday was Disneyland.

Getting there, (due to LA traffic) was more of a problem than I anticipated. We finally got through LA traffic, through the Orange County traffic and when I thought we could finally drive close to the speed limit, more traffic. In utter frustration I pulled off the road and suddenly there was the ocean. I followed the road and there was a little parking lot and the beach! We got out and played for a couple of hours and it was heaven. The water was SO warm and the beach was so beautiful I forgave all those people for causing such awful traffic, because I would want to live here too to have access to these beaches. We saw the sun set and it was perfect...


Our first adventure started at the San Diego Zoo. We bought a pass where we were able to ride the double decker bus and the sky tram. Worth every penny to not to have to walk that whole zoo. This zoo is HUGE! Spring turned out to be the perfect time to go because we were able to see so many zoo babies! We saw some baby monkies, baby red swamp hogs, and of course the baby panda!

David was supposed to go to a fancy dinner Saturday night at the Petco Stadium where the San Diego Padres play. He ditched the dinner to be with us so we ate pizza outside of the stadium and had much more fun. We were rewarded by some really nice San Diegoans who gave us cupcakes from her son's birthday party. Sweet!

After a hot day at the zoo, we were ready for some swimming at David's fancy hotel. It was right downtown San Diego and we were on the 19th floor so had an amazing view of the bay. Not only were the rooms amazing and the pool water warm, but the workout room was to die for! Each treadmill had it's own tv with headphones and fresh fruit to snack on after your hard workout.


The next day was Sea World. It was amazing! We started the day by going to the dolphin show and Skyla was chosen out of two thousand other people to be in it! Her and David got to go up in front of everyone and be part of the show. One of the trainers was David's "pretend" wife so it was funny to see my husband and daughter with this strange woman in front of everyone introduced as the Hymas Family. David got to give the dolphin a command and wear some funky boots. Skyla was the hit of the show. When Skyla got to touch the dolphin, the trainer asked her what the dolphin felt like. She was quiet for a few minutes and I was so nervous for her. Maybe she was too embarrassed in front of all those people, or maybe the smell of fish was making her sick and she was going to throw up. But then the trainer started laughing and said, "We've never gotten that for a response before. She said it feels like a hot dog." The whole stand laughed. She did a great job. The trainer was pretending to be David's wife because during part of the show she "fell" in the water. David did a great job pretending to be concerned that his wife just fell in a pool of dolphins.

So while Sierra, Karsten and I are watching the show, we quickly came to understand what the "soak zone" is all about. Those dolphins drenched us! After the first splash Sierra yelled "Go low!" and hid under the bleachers. I was trying to shield Karsten who was crying and we were hiding behind the people in front of us. When the dolphins came around for the second round Sierra took off for higher ground and I didn't see her again until after the show. I just kept thinking that was it, but then those dolphins would come around and get us again. Karsten was so upset by this that when we went to the Shamu show, he went to the very top of the bleachers and yelled, "Those dolphins can't get me here!"

Sierra, who has loved dolphins since kindergarten, finally got to touch and feed them. It was a dream come true.

A truly great day!

Disneyland!!! What can I say about the magic of Disneyland!? It was so weird because this is the first time we have gone to Disneyland and the main objective was NOT to meet princesses. I miss my little girls, but I sure had fun with my big girls! All my kids were tall enough to ride the rides! Karsten is my tough little guy and even went on Space Mountain with us! My favorite moment was when we were watching the Jedi Training session and low and behold, who should appear but Darth Vader! Karsten started crying and kept saying, "Let's get out of here!" He was so scared and I was so mean because I couldn't stop laughing. The kids loved riding in the submarine and shooting Zurg in the Buzz Lightyear ride. Autopia was definitely a favorite as well. Sierra drove her own car! Not bad but I'm glad she has 7 more years to work on her coordination before she gets a chance to do the real thing. Skyla was scared to death but David made her try and she loved it!!!




We ended our Anaheim time eating at the Rain Forest Cafe with some of our friends. I was excited for the girls to eat there because when Sierra was little and we ate there she cried and cried because she was afriad of the animals. Luckily there were no tears this time - just lots of yummy food!
We made it home safe and sound and let me just say, I am exhausted! We'll have to eat out tonight because the thought of standing in even a grocery line is too much... :)