The Beach 2

The Beach

We took an afternoon excursion to the beach. One of the pics of Marc was after an unfortunate attack by some seaweed that left Marc paralyzed with fear the rest of the visit. The other kids LOVED playing in the water. Brian and Corben raced the waves and the girls spent most of the time collecting different shells, sand dollars, etc. It was foggy and quite chilly so we didn't play as long as we would have otherwise, but at least the kids got to see the ocean.

San Diego Zoo 2

and one straggler pic...

San Diego Zoo

We had so much fun at the San Diego Zoo! We saw the cutest meerkats. The pics didn't turn out very good, but if you look at the one pic I did post, you can see one of the meerkats laying down in the "superman" pose. Very cute. Also, we spent a lot of time watching the gorillas. There were two moms, two babies, a dad and one random gorilla (think it might have been a brother or sister). The brother/sister was completely tormenting the babies. It was quite fascinating to watch. I'm posting a couple pics of the gorillas and then some pics I took of the kids on the tour bus.

Disneyland day 2

I missed some pics from Disneyland day 2 when we were in toon town. Here are the kids in Mickey's house...

Sea World 3

Sea World 2

Here are some pics of Corben involved in the dolphin show. He got to say into the microphone his name and how old he was. Then the trainer took Corben over to the dolphins and told him to play "splash" with the dolphin. he was to splash the dolphin and then the dolphin would splash him back. It was hillarious. Then they told Corben that all he had to do was jump into the pool when they counted to three and the dolphin would carry him around the pool. All he had to do was smile and wave. Then they counted 1, 2, 3... and Corben took a deep breath and went for it. The trainer had to grab him and tell him she was just kidding. Later they asked what it felt like to touch the dolphin. He didn't say it into the microphone, but the trainers started laughing when he answered. When they finally told the audience that he said it felt like a hot dog, they were still laughing. Corben waved and played up the crowd like a pro. Enjoy the pics!

Sea World

One of my most favorite places to visit is Sea World. I love the close up interaction with all the animals and I love watching the shows. I was just thinking to myself after the Shamu show this afternoon that we've never been chosen to participate in all of our visits to Sea World. About 10 minutes after I had that thought, Corben was chosen to help with the Dolphin show. If he wasn't the cutest thing I've ever seen, I don't know who is! Some guy walked up to Corben after the show and handed him an Elmo doll which he was SOO excited about. Then we walked around the corner and ran into the "big" Elmo and had to get some pics with him. It was such a fun day!

Disneyland day 2

Disneyland day 2 did not last very long. We were all pretty tired from the first day, so we went on a few of our favorite rides. There were NO lines, so it was fun being able to walk on any ride. The boys were absolutely captivated by the Jedi Training Academy show. They taught some of the kids how to fight with a light sabre and as soon as they had learned the "moves" Darth Vader came out with Darth Maul and 2 storm troopers and the kids had to "fight" the dark side. We couldn't have pulled the boys away if we tried.

Brian, Lynda, Corben, Marcus and I left about 2 pm and Anne took Aly and Megan shopping down main street. When they got back to the condo, Brian and I were passed out so Anne took all the kids swimming.

Dolphins Cove

Here is where we are staying...

Disneyland day 1 continued...

CA Trip day 3/Disneyland day 1

Today was our first day at Disneyland. We began the morning when the park opened at 10 am and stayed until after 7:30 (the park closed at 8). Man were we all tired! We went on A LOT of rides. Since October is a really slow time, we were able to ride most of the rides with hardly any wait at all. We were told we could get a pass for Megan to go to the fronts of the lines, but after not really having to wait anyway we decided it wasn't necessary.

Here are some pics I took today. I got one of Aly on Autopia, all the kids at the petting zoo, all the kids posing with Woody and Jessie, and the boys on Dumbo (though I think you can only really see Marc).

California day 1 and 2

We got to California by mid afternoon Saturday the 25th. Everyone was pretty worn out so all we did was swim and then have pizza.

Day 2 was more fun. We got up early to go to sacrament meeting at the Anaheim 4th ward. We were ready an hour early because Brian and my clock was set an hour fast for some reason. After that we came back to the condo, had some lunch and set off for Universal Studios. Unfortunately, Universal Studios was doing a lot of really scary Halloween stuff, so the kids were a little freaked out. At one point people dressed as zombies came running out and scared people, then they started doing a dance to "Beautiful people" by Marilyn Manson. The kids hated it, they thought it was scary, but I love dancing and it was well choreographed. Not to mention the makeup and costumes were awesome. None of my pics of the dance turned out, but I did get one of the girls to pose for me so her pic is included.

Other than that, Brian, Aly and I went on the Jurassic Park ride. I screamed for a minute, but the drop at the end (the 84 foot drop) was so far it took my breath away. Aly loved it. The other kids and Lynda waited at the bottom for us and we waved as we came by.

We saw Shrek 4D, the Animal Factor, and we played at the Curious George exhibit. Most of the pics were taken at the Curious George exhibit where the kids could throw balls all over. You can see Megan is taking cover and when I tried to get pics the kids kept turning away watching for flying balls. That was probably their favorite part of the whole day!