San Diego! Part 1

I couldn't believe I had actually talked my husband into letting us go to San Diego. I was so excited to go to California for the first time and to spend time with his aunt, uncle and cousins. It was a long drive, about 13-14 hours. Surprisingly, the kids did great and we only had to make about 3 stops. The first thing we did when we got there, after putting away our luggage, was go for a walk to a park so the kids could play. I really needed to stretch my legs!

 

 San Diego is probably the largest city I have ever been in, and I was just amazed at how it kept going on and on and on...

 and on and on and on...

 Bonnie was a little nervous about going down the slide-

 -but she was okay afterwards!

 The kids were so happy to be out of the car!

 

The next day we went to Sea World. It was ridiculously expensive, but we had a great time.

 You can barely see them, but the kids were so excited to see "Dory" in this giant tank.

 The Riptide Ride was closed, but that didn't stop Jordyn from driving her own little boat.

 Animals, animals everywhere!

 The shark tank was cool but slightly disappointing. I guess I was expecting a great white shark or something, but I guess they aren't safe or something...

 We waited outside the Mission Bay theater to see Madagascar, Live! The kids were really excited about it, and I was really excited about it...

 ...but it mostly ended up being like watching The Fresh Beat Band on the Disney Channel.

 The kids plugged their ears the whole time until the end, when a thousand bubbles came floating down from the ceiling. They liked the bubbles.

 The Orca show was great. We didn't sit in the splash zone because the kids didn't like getting splashed by the dolphins, and I'm glad we made that choice because the whales get you REALLY wet!

 They sure were fantastic to watch...

 I was SUPER disappointed with the penguin display. I was looking forward to seeing them in full glory and watching them swim and walk around, but their cage was completely dark, almost like they were simulating winter time in the Arctic, and you could hardly see them. I was sad.

 The puffins were cute though.

 I had to stop in the penguin shop. Love my penguins!

 We climbed through a polar bear cave. Jordyn almost went in until a bear growled loudly over a speaker and then she ran away.

 It was fun to watch the beluga whales swim around. They had so much fat on their bodies that jiggled when they swam. That's probably what I would look like if I swam naked...

 

 

 

My absolute most favorite thing was petting the Bat Rays. I was too afraid to touch them at first, but after I got used to it I could have sat there with them all day. They were so soft and squishy, and they would come right up to you at the top of the water like puppy dogs and want you to rub their backs. I loved it!

The sea lions were fun to feed, but there were birds that would attack you if you didn't throw the fish fast enough. Mean birds!

The dolphin show was great, although I didn't get any pictures of dolphins, just some funny looking black whale. I can't remember what it was called.

 Jordyn wanted to see the dolphin princess, but when we got to take our picture with them Jordyn became shy.

 

On Friday we went to the Mormon Battalion Museum. It was very educational and inspirational, and while we were there I felt the spirit tell me that the talk I had to give in church the following Sunday needed to be about the Mormon Battalion.

 These pictures looked really cool, and I could tell that they were digital, but I didn't expect them to start talking and moving around like they did when our tour started.

 The first leg of the Mormon Battalion trail.

 Jordyn volunteered to be a soldier. She was so excited.

 Watch out!

 One tough solider!

 The Captain and a boy talking outside our window.

 After you go through the museum, you can have a family picture taken. I love this picture. After we got our picture taken, we went outside and panned for gold and washed clothes on a scrub board and made adobe bricks, where I dropped and broke my camera and wasn't able to take more pictures. So I took some more pictures with Jared's camera, which is now broken and being sent in to get fixed. Later that day, I had to go buy a new camera...