I love these kids $

I just had to post this picture somewhere. I know I'll look back on it and say, "Look how little they used to be!" I love these kids, and I'm so grateful to be a part of their lives. We were watching Maddock and Jaylee on Saturday. The kids were playing in our front room and I go in to sit and watch them. Jaylee immediately comes up to me to sit on my lap. She's such a sweet heart. Then Kate comes to hug mommy too. Then Maddock, who couldn't be left out, come and gives me a great big hug from behind. I say to Dustin, "Grab the camera quick!" and this priceless shot was taken.

These are the moments that make life all worthwhile.

Sea World, Revisited

Okay, this is the last of the San Diego posts. I swear.

On Monday we went to Sea World again. It was open until 9:00 that night so we slept in (yeah right), hung out at the hotel for a few hours, and ate lunch at In and Out Burger before heading to the park in the afternoon.

We did basically everything we did the first time around, except this time we watched the night shows. The were 10 times better than the day shows. The sea lion and otter show was HIlARIOUs. They even (tastefully) made fun of the killer whale attack a couple months ago. They had the walrus pretending to be Shamu, and the trainer was really afraid to touch it. Funny. Maybe you had to be there. The Shamu show at night was really awesome too. At one point they had about 5 killer whales doing their jumps and dancing to the music.




Dustin got pooped on by a bird!

If you thought that the previous pictures of Kate with Elmo were cute, check this one out:

Bazinga! Adorable.



Sherice trying to warm her feet. It was COLD when it got dark!
After the evening Shamu show was done, we walked back to the car sad that our vacation was over. Dustin and I tried to get a good nights sleep to catch our early flight. We were back home in Arizona by 8:30, and had the rest of the day to recover from vacation.

This was a wonderful vacation! I am so grateful we were able to go!

Bathing Beauty

Monday morning we decided to go for a swim in our hotel's pool. I didn't think that the water was very cold, but Kate did. She had much more fun walking around the pool and watching Maddock swim.

San Diego Zoo

On Sunday we went to the San Diego Zoo. That zoo is so beautiful, and SO huge! We were there all day and didn't see it all. Kate especially enjoyed the petting zoo, the lions, and the jaguar.

This day was also the 28th! Which means my baby is 11 months old now. It's so crazy that I have to start planning a birthday party. I start crying just thinking about it! This year has gone by way too fast. Here are Kate's latest milestones:

-she now uses walking as her main mode of transportation
-she HATES sitting still
-does a little chest bump dance
-laughs at EVERYTHING
-almost weaned
-loves to turn the TV on and off
-loves to carry things while walking

She is really developing her own personality lately, and it's hilarious. Anyway, onto the zoo.

(if you look closely there are crocodiles in these pictures)


That morning was kind of stressful. I realized about half-way through the morning that we had forgotten Kate's formula, which instantly put me in a bad mood. It's ridiculous trying to nurse her in public now. For one- she's huge and won't stay still, and two- she won't keep the nursing cover on. So after a lot of walking, and Kate getting really grumpy it was time for lunch. I tried to feed Kate some baby food to calm her down but she won't take it. After multiple tries, I give up and nurse her. She's kicking the table, trying to take the nursing cover off, and I'm trying my hardest to not embarrass myself and everyone around me. Then....CHOMP! Kate bites me! It figures the first time she would ever do that would be in a public place! I instinctively yell "Ow! You DO NOT do that to mommy!" Which makes Kate start crying, and everyone stares at me. So much for being discreet.

After that Kate feel asleep in her stroller and the day was a lot better. We had a lot of fun seeing all the exhibits, but we were all so exhausted! Sherice especially was since she's with child. I definitely can sympathize with that since the last time I was at the San Diego Zoo I was pregnant with Kate, and I about died walking around that enormous zoo all day.



When we all felt we couldn't take it anymore we took one of the express buses back to the entrance, and ended up seeing most of the rest of the zoo on the way. We watched the sea lion show (which Kate loved!) and headed back to the hotel.

That night we ordered gigantic pizzas! I mean they were gigantic! I'm so mad I didn't get a picture of these pizzas. There were two and it was MORE than enough to feed our family of twelve. I could barely eat two slices! Imagine a medium size round kitchen table. That's how big the pizza was. It was delicious.

It was another wonderful day of vacation (besides the whole being bit part)!

The Beach

After the Wild Animal Park we headed to the beach. I haven't been to the beach for about 8 years so I was so excited! Unfortunately there wasn't anywhere to change where we were at, so I didn't get in my swimsuit, but I had fun anyway. Kate loved playing and eating the sand, but hated the water. It was so cold! Ever since then she cries when she gets near water. I hope she gets over that soon. Anyway, I think I'll just let the pictures do the talking for the rest of the post.





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Wild Animal Park, take two

On Saturday we went to the Wild Animal Park again. This time with the whole family! I didn't take as many pictures this time around, but it was just as fun.

I love how all the kids are doing their own thing in this picture. It cracks me up.

Maddock and Kate are so funny together. While we were eating lunch he kept grabbing Kate's hand and saying " 'mon Kate! 'mon!" Then when I was trying to get a picture of just Kate, he stepped in front of my camera and said "Cheese!".




Most of our time was spent hiking through the park to see the amazing elephant, tiger and lion exhibits. We rode the safari train, and then stopped at the gorillas.
We were all VERY entertained by this sign. Dustin's arms are almost as long as a gorillas! Everyone else had to see how long their arms were too. Some were close, but Dustin definitely has the monkey-est arms!

Sea World

The rest of the family arrived around 11:30 Thursday night, and we headed to Sea World the next morning.

The weather in San Diego was beautiful! It wasn't hot, and there was a cool breeze. Sorry again for the picture overload, but it makes it easier for when I convert my blog into a book.

Once again, Kate loved all the fish! When we were in the aquariums she loved to get right up to the glass and watch the fish. She would laugh and point at them. She even touched a sting ray. Such a brave little baby!


Although it was nice outside, I still felt it was a little too cold to ride the water rides, so I played with Kate while everyone rode Journey to Atlantis. She loved walking around and splashing her feet in the water. It might have been her favorite part of the day!

Just kidding. I know her favorite part of the day. We got to see Elmo! Kate loves Elmo, and she was so excited to see him she didn't want to wait in line! We celebrated the event by buying Kate an Elmo doll.
She also loved playing in the Sesame Street playland and we even took her on a ride. We went on these spinning teacups which looked very tame. The only requirement for her to ride was that she could walk. So we got on thinking that it was going to be a nice smooth ride for babies. They didn't even let us hold her on our laps, she had to sit beside us. When the ride started we quickly realized that this ride was a lot faster than we thought it would be! I did everything I could to keep the cup from spinning too fast, while Dustin held on to Kate. She didn't seem upset though, she just laughed! Funny girl.
Of course one of the best parts of Sea World is the shows. We went to the Sea Lion and Otter show earlier that day, and we finished the day by watching the Shamu show. Kate was so tired she didn't want anything to do with it. So I just stood up and held her.


It was a great day!