San Diego Zoo

With all the fun we were having we couldn't help ourselves...we decided to stay another day. We were going to visit the world famous San Diego Zoo!

Trevor asked, "Isn't a zoo, a zoo?" Um. no. Not really. The 2 zoos we have visited don't even have elephants. How crazy is that?

We were totally unprepared for how freaking huge that place is! Holy cow! It was pretty insane, really. If we had been smarter we would have gone on the free bus tour they offer and then just visited the animals we really were interested in.

Man it was a funny day. First off, they have a humingbird exhibit and I think one of them escaped and it went zooming through this area where we were and hit the glass window separating the animals from us, and fell on Ryder. Ry is a pretty tough kid, and not much gets to him but that freaked him out! Me too. Trevor had to pluck the poor hummingbird off his shirt and lay it to rest next to the glass it crashed into. After that it was smooth sailing and some funny, must-be-remembered things Brody said.

At nearly every animal Brody would ask, "What's that?" He knew some, but he just wanted to hear us say it I guess. After asking me this about the spotted animal in front of him I told him it was a leopard. He exclaims to Trevor, "Wook Dad! Its a wep-ard!...not a tiger (said with some sort of super authority like he's an expert)."

We get to one of the many different breeds of gazelle's they have on the grounds and he tells us, "Those fings are attending (pretending) to be rein-gear (reindeer)" Man oh man, buddy nothing gets past you....silly gazelles....who do you think you're fooling?

Then we get to a large white bird with a fancy yellow hair-do and of course Brody asked what it was and when I told him it was a SECRETARY bird he says, "Oh. A sexy bird." That one was met with a few chuckles from near passers-bys.

When we saw the panda's Brody thought that they looked like Poe from Kung Fu Panda. That was also an animal he had never seen in person.

It was another fun filled day in California. We wore the boys out everyday, and Ry didn't last very long this day. After all the going and going we had done Ry had enough and was out cold before too long. Once again a great day in California, but believe me it was so nice to leave for home the next day. We loved being in California, but we loved coming home to our normal life, with a normal routine, and in our own home and beds!

Sea World

After the great day we had at Disneyland we were super excited to get up the next morning and go to Sea World. Brody was super excited to see the whales and dolphins.

The first place we hit was the arctic adventure (i think) its a room that moves and everything, but with our little kids they make you watch the movie in the room with no movement (lame...) and then you go through this whole exhibit as if you landed on the arctic with your helicopter. There is a wall of ice to touch, polar bears, and walruses (I don't know if that is the proper way to say there were more than one walrus). Both boys stood as close to the glass as they could and one walrus came up so close. Ryder just pointed and yelled out he was so excited.

As with any time I have ever been to a major park there is always something under construction, so even though we couldn't go feed dolphins or get close to them, we did see a number of exhibits. When we through and saw the sharks I kept asking Brody if he wanted to swim with them and he VERY adamently would say, "No!" I really liked watching the penguins swimming and both the kids seemed really entertained by it all.

We carefully mapped out what shows we were going to see and when. It was actually pretty hot and we knew that none of us were going to last very long so we needed to prioritize! We went to the Shamu show first. We enjoyed it, but it definitely wasn't as good of a show as it used to be. Ever since that accident last year, they don't let the trainers get in the water. If you have never been before, you'll still like it, but its not the same as it was.

After Shamu we cruised around the park to kill a little bit of time before we went to watch the dolphin show. The boys LOVED that! It was super entertaining with stunts from the trainers diving off all crazy, the dolphins, and even some birds were part of the fun.

By this time it was only around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, but we were so tired and hot! There was no way we were going to be able to stick around much longer. We decided on the otter/seal show. I don't think I have ever seen it before. Its always been one that we decided to forego to see something else, and boy, have we missed out! It was our FAVORITE show of the day! It was so cute and funny. Even before the show started there was this funny little act going on to keep the audience entertained and it was half of the fun.

It was another great day for us. Our kids got a little tired and cranky this day, but overall so good and so so so much fun!

DISNEYLAND!!!

(Most definitely a post worthy of an all caps title and 3 exclamations, right?)

We didn't build up the excitement in Brody about Disneyland too much because we were afraid we weren't going to be able to go. Luckily, we were able to stay longer and the weather was gorgeous so on Tuesday morning (the day we SHOULD have been traveling home) we got up early so we could make the 2 hour drive and still get there close to the time it opened.

Brody could hardly wait. I don't think he really knew what he was waiting and excited about. He just knew that Mickey Mouse and friends lived there. Sure enough, one of the very first things we saw was Mickey! You know the more excited we would get it would just make Brody more excited so we pointed and asked excitedly, "Who is that Brod?" He answered just as excitedly, "MICKEY MOUSE!" Then even though a line had formed of people wanting to meet him I asked Brody if he wanted to say hi and take a picture with Mickey. He said NO! almost before the question was out of my mouth. He's much more of a see and don't touch kind of boy.

After that, we were off. We entered the Magical Kingdom and began some serious fun. Trevor and I went to Disneyland a few years ago and we had gone as older kids as well, but this side of disneyland-the little kid stuff- was totally new to us. Not only were we seeing the magic of disneyland through the eyes of our kids, we were experiencing it as well.

A nice couple took our picture as a family, and we did the same for them, but that was basically the most picture taking we did. I know that I should have been better, but between getting kids in and out of strollers, waiting in lines, and riding the rides it was too much of a hassle to pull out the camera every few minutes. These few pictures are it, but I'm okay with that. It was way more fun to just participate and not be a paparrazi for the day.

Peter Pan ride was first. It was followed by all the other little rides in that area: Snow white, a train...etc. Ryder may not be big enough to have memories of our day, but he enjoyed it while we were there. His eyes opened big and he pointed and exclaimed at every new thing.

I know that the boys had on matching shirts that day and were in a double stroller, but we couldn't believe how many people asked if they were twins. This seemed to be the theme throughout our entire week in California. It didn't matter if they were wearing different clothes, sitting, standing, or if Ry had a pacifier in his mouth.....EVERYONE asked if they were twins. Yeah, I guess they are. Just separated by 2 years is all.

Brody never wanted to meet any characters, but we did see Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Tigger. He was excited each time one appeared, but no convincing would get him to talk to one. As we went on different rides not only did it strike me that many of the rides could be kinda scary to little boys, but ours never were afraid. The only thing that was scary to Brody was when on the Pirates of the Carribean ride the boat we road on fell down a little waterfall type thing a couple times. I asked Brody if the ride was scary and he said, "No. But it was scary just 2 times." Even the haunted mansion didn't phase the kids.

Several times during the day I'd ask Brody if he was ready to leave and go back to Steve's house and he ALWAYS said, "No, not yet. We just stay some more. We go on more rides." The last time I asked was around 5 in the afternoon and he still had the same answer, but I looked at him about 30 seconds after I asked and he had zonked out. He was done. We had gone on most of the rides we could go on, and we could have killed some more time until evening hit so we could watch the parade and fireworks, but decided we had had enough.

I must brag for just a minute about Brody and Ryder. You know, disneyland is a long day for kids and parents alike. Throughout the day we saw various kids crying or getting in trouble. Its just part of the territory. Disneyland in all its fun is also exhausting. I always think that even though our kids are very good at driving me bonkers in their own individual ways, they are still exceptionally good. Disneyland only proved this. We had been up early, drove 2 hours, played all day, and still had to drive 2 hours back. Our kids did not whine. They did not cry. They didn't fight. They listened to us and never once needed to be scolded for anything. Disneyland and our kids did not disappoint. We probably never would have taken the boys at such a young age. Ry won't remember and it is an expensive trip. The thing is, if we always waited until they were big enough, we might not ever have gone. By the time Ryder is big enough to remember there is a good chance will have another. Who knows how many more we will have. By the time our youngest would be old enough to enjoy and remember, Brody wouldn't want to do the little rides. He'd want to do space mountain and all the things little kids couldn't do. The timing was perfect. Our kids reactions to everything were PRICELESS. It was definitely a day to remember.