Easter 2012

Easter this year was pretty low key.  No new Sunday clothes, no dyeing of eggs.  I know.  Sad.  I was still recovering from vacation mode.  Our neighbors did a little egg hunt for the younger kids on Saturday.  It snowed on Friday (can I go back to San Diego?) and we wondered if they would be hunting in the snow, but it warmed up enough to melt most of the snow.  It was still quite chilly at 9:00 in the morning!

There was no time before church for pictures (9:00 a.m. church with dad having to be there at 8:20 for choir warm up...proud to say we made it on time!) Landon made it out of his church clothes and into pjs before I could get the camera out. He changed back but I couldn't convince him to put a tie back on.

Time for an Olivia overload...

We had Rob's parents and Grandma Jones over for dinner, and I was finally able to get a four generation picture with them.

A little random side story:  The kids were playing downstairs and ended up breaking a light fixture when they were bouncing a mini basketball off of a giant exercise ball.  "Don't tell mom.  She'll be so mad!"  Rob and I laughed.  Actually, I've been trying to think of a good reason why (other than pure ugliness) to replace those 1980s light fixtures.

Spring Break in San Diego: Day Four

Here is where I wish I could rewind time.  Remember Day One?  I thought a weekend would be a crazy day to go to the zoo.  And maybe it was.  But at least it was overcast on Saturday.  Tuesday was insanely crowded.  And hot.  And did I mention my kids got a bit pink at Sea World the day before?  (Yes, they were lathered up today)  And were tired from all the walking we did?  All of that made for a not so fun zoo experience.  It probably made my attitude about the zoo a bit swayed, but really, a zoo is a zoo.  Most of the things we saw are at the Hogle Zoo just over an hour away with the exception of the Giant Pandas.  Only, we didn't see the Giant Pandas because by the time we got to them, the kids were extremely whiny and wanted to go back to the hotel to swim at the pool and there was an hour wait in line.  Sigh.

We did see some cool animals, although just thinking of that day makes me exhausted. So here's a bit of what we saw...

 We all laughed when we saw this meerkat.  It totally reminded us of our cat that likes to lay like this.

Trevor has a book of animals that has this bird in it.  When he saw it, he immediately said "It's a secretary bird!"  Pretty sure no other 4 year old (or anyone for that matter) would have known that!

On the Skyride before leaving for the day.

We went back to the hotel and then Rob took the older kids to beach for one last time.  I could feel a migraine coming on so Olivia and I stayed at the hotel for a nap.

Karate kids...

Last sunset in San Diego...


We packed up early the next morning and headed for home.  It was a looong drive and I was already missing San Diego when we passed Rob's sister on the highway as they were heading in the opposite direction.  I was almost convinced we should turn around and follow them back to that beautiful place!

Spring Break in San Diego: Day Three

Sea World! We started off at the Dolphin Encounter. Brynlee and Ashlee were the only ones that were able to touch them, but it was still so fun to see them up close!  I was holding Trevor and leaning him close to the water, and he would freak out.  I guess he loves animal facts, but the real thing....not so much!

Ashlee got splashed...

Brynlee touching the dolphin...so lucky!

They loved it when you splashed water into their mouths.  It was so fun to see their teasing, funny personalities!

Then we headed over to the Sea Lions (and forked over our life savings for 5 little fish to feed them) Ha...okay, $7 for 5 fish. I still call that robbery! Especially when a pesky seagull comes and snatches one out of your hand before you even get to attempt to throw it to a sea lion. Poor Landon got to experience that one.  Trevor wanted nothing to do with touching the fish.

We wandered around some more, visiting all the different animal exhibits, riding a few rides and seeing some shows.  We went to the Shamu show and the kids wanted to sit in the soak zone.  Yes, that is correct....SOAK not SPLASH.  Olivia and I sat many rows back :)  Trevor soon discovered he does NOT like orcas because they splash ALOT of water.

After their section was splashed repeatedly by the whale's tail, Trevor made his way up to me and Olivia in the upper section.  He was NOT amused.  Is it bad that I was fumbling to find my camera to get a picture of him instead of consoling him?  Poor guy.

Drenched after the show...

The first time we went on Riptide Rescue, Ashlee did not join us.  She hung out by the stroller with Olivia and Trevor.  Later in the afternoon, we went back and finally convinced her to go.  This is BIG, I'm telling you...HUGE!  She clung to her daddy the whole time!

....while Brynlee and Landon had the time of their lives. (I don't think Brynlee heard the "Please keep your arms in the boat at all times" instructions...)   I'm pretty sure they went on it at least 6 times.  There was no line so they got on again and again.  Ashlee was satisfied with her one and only time.  I'm so proud of her.  She is not a thrill seeker AT ALL and I'm glad she did it at least once.

I was really worried about Landon, especially when I rode with him his first time.  He's known for tossing his cookies in the car through Logan Canyon, but he loved it and didn't get motion sickness at all.

She was smiles afterwards, but answered "no" when asked if she wanted to go again.

Definitely a FUN day!  But not one without a few "Mother of the Year" moments.  I realized when we got there that I forgot sunscreen.  Seriously.  What mother of fair-skinned children leaves home without it.  I'm sure Sea World would make a killing on selling that.  I would have paid the $20 I'm sure they would charge for a travel-sized bottle.  And one last "Mother of the Year" moment.  We lost Trevor.  Nothing makes you as sick as not knowing where your child is.  We were splitting up to go on the Journey to Atlantis ride where the line was about 45 minutes long.  Rob got in line with Brynlee and Landon, and I went to wait in the Child Swap line.  I realized once we sat down on the bench that Trevor was not with me.  I wasn't sure if he was with Rob and of course, I had Rob's cell phone in the diaper bag so it wouldn't get wet on the ride.  I left Olivia in the stroller with Ashlee, ran back to find Rob in line, discovered Trevor wasn't there, and panicked.  Rob and I took off, leaving Brynlee and Landon in line.  After what seemed like FOREVER (I'm sure it was only 3 minutes), I found him tucked away in a corner by the sting ray tank, not far from the line entrance.  Of course, I see Rob at a distance, heading away from the area and can't get his attention to let him know I found Trevor.  We tried to go after him, but then I lost sight of him.  I didn't know which way he went so after obviously choosing the way he didn't go, we went back toward the ride and found him heading back as well.  Never want to go through that ever again.

When asked what their favorite part of the vacation was, they all agreed it was Sea World!

Spring Break in San Diego: Day Two

We planned Sunday around "Sabbath-type" activities. It was General Conference that weekend so we watched the morning session of Conference in our hotel room. Then we drove to the San Diego temple. Wow, it is more beautiful in person than in pictures, which is pretty darn amazing! The temple grounds were closed so we got pictures outside the fence.

Then we drove to Old Town to go to the Mormon Battalion Center. Definitely a place I'd recommend. You go through different rooms as the story of the Mormon Battalion is shown via an interactive movie. Quite fun! At one point, the sister missionary asked who wanted to volunteer to dress as a soldier. Trevor's hand immediately shot in the air. I'm not quite sure he knew what he was volunteering for. He stood there as she told about the different parts of the uniform and got progressively shy as people were smiling and "ahhhhing" and commenting on how cute and brave he was. It was quite entertaining, as Trevor always is...

There is a little activity area outside for the kids...

Panning for gold...

Can you see that speck of gold??

Then we drove over to Balboa Park for the kids to play and yep...climb trees.

Yes, that is Brynlee up on top of that arch.  Does it surprise you?  Nope, me neither...

When we were driving around the park, the kids saw this tree and just HAD to climb it.  

We went back to Old Town for dinner at Cafe Coyote for some Mexican food.  It was meh, okay.  I guess I was expecting spectacular authentic Mexican food from the reviews and the extremely long line (as opposed to the walk-right-in-seating at the restaurant across the street) but I wasn't overly impressed.  So long Day Two...next up, Day Three at Sea World!