First Trip to Sea World!

On September 26th, Grammy took us, Auntie Monica, and Uncle Chris to Sea World to celebrate her birthday, which I mentioned in my other post is not until mid-October. Last year Grammy took us to the San Diego Zoo, so I fear/am thrilled that she is setting up a precedent! We had such a great time, it wasn't crowded and it ended up being a nice warm day. Here's lots of pictures from the day:

We started off by feeding the Sea Lions. There was a little snafu with our tickets so we they gave us 5 free trays of fish to feed these guys! And it seems as though Sea World must not feed them or those dead fish were just mighty tasty because there was certainly some serious competition for those fish!

Yummy!

Then we headed over to the new Turtle Reef.

We even got to play a video game where we were all turtles swimming around trying to find food. (Love Mike's face!)

This is in the Shark Encounter...

...and they have one of those cool Jaws-like tubes where the sharks swim all around you.

Next we went to see Clyde and Seamore's Spooky Adventure which is right next to the construction sight where they are building a whole new area of the park. Of course the dump trucks, excavators and backhoes nearly stole the show for this kid!

But popcorn and trained Sea Lions brought him back!

We checked out the Penguin Encounter...

...then went to the Wild Arctic where we saw polar bears , walruses and beluga whales (below). Here Daddy is sitting in a polar bear cave which Wes refused to enter because they had a tape playing of a polar bear growling and it totally freaked him out. I think he thought Daddy was going to get eaten, poor guy!

Next we had some lunch and then headed over to the Shamu show! The whole day we kept asking Wes whose house this was and what show we were going to see and he would say "shampoo!" I didn't want to correct him because it was too darn cute :)

They actually started about 10 minutes early, which never happens, by asking all the military veterans to stand and receive a round of applause. Then an announcer started interviewing a family whose dad was serving overseas. I told Michael that he looked familiar and it turns out he was the host of Coming Home, a show on Lifetime that features military members returning home for surprise reunions with their families. This family seemed really surprised by their dad's homecoming and it was definitely emotional. So if you watch that show, look for us in the audience :)

Clapping for all those serving our country.

And now Shamu!

Since that accident a couple of years ago, the trainers don't get in the water with the whales any more, so that was kind of a bummer, but it was a great show none the less.

Then we headed over to check out and touch the starfish.

Wes and Uncle Chris.

Next up was the really cute Pet's Rule show, with all kinds of, what else, trained pets.

Afterwards the kids could stay and pet the animals, so here's Wes petting the "memow." He's been calling cats "memows" since he first started talking and it has just stuck. I even call cats memows now.

Daddy and Wes climbed up the ropes at the Sesame Street Bay of Play and had fun running across all the bridges.

We finished up our day with a couple of rides. First the Sky Tower...

...then the sky buckets.

And we got a souvineer penny to add to our collection.

Happy Birthday Grammy, thank you so much!!

Construction Progress - Day 4

Yes, I did skip day three of the construction progress and that is because Grammy took us and Auntie Monica and Uncle Chris to Sea World to celebrate her birthday (which isn't until mid October, but I knew I wouldn't be up for Sea World by then!). And Michael and Wesley and I decided to stay in San Diego that night at Grammy and Grandpa's time share so we could do some sight seeing and enjoy not having to pack up and be out of the house by 8:00am! (Pictures from that trip to follow). So anyway, we missed getting pictures of the progress on Day 3, but it looked similar to this, just picture insulation instead of drywall.

At the conclusion of days 3 and 4 there is now drywall, can lights, electrical plugs, and...

...a window!

Also, right next to the light bulb, you can see the register for the heat vent. Grandpa and Daddy did that job on Sunday, so a big thanks to them!! Definitely coming along!

Crusin For a Cure

Over the weekend, September 24th and 25th, Wes and I got a reprieve from having to be out of the house by 8am for Bob the Builder and his crew, so we took advantage and lounged around the house in pj's for a while. Then we decided to head over to the fair grounds for the annual Crusin for a Cure car show. Daddy, who is the big car buff, was working, but I can still appreciate a classic car and I knew Wes would enjoy it. Plus we have several family members who have been affected by prostate cancer, so we were glad we could support The City of Hope and their prostate cancer awareness and research.

As the name implies, this is both a car show and cruise, so some of the cars are parked and on display and some join the huge procession of cars cruising around the grounds. So, since the first thing I noticed when we walked in was all the gasoline fumes from the cruising cars gunning their engines (show offs!), we headed over to the classic fire trucks which were away from the cruise. And Wes just happened to be dressed appropriately!

This is a super cool old paramedic wagon.

Of course as soon as Wes saw this tow truck he had to run right over! I'm not even sure if it was in the show, or just dropping off a car???

We had grabbed a bag of kettle corn (Wes' idea, but I wasn't objecting) and had just taken a seat to watch the cruise for a little bit, when a fleet of about ten DeLorean's started driving right by us. They are so cool, especially with their doors up! Anyway, the cruise is a very slow stop and go, hence all the fumes, and a DeLorean with two young guys driving it stopped right in front of us. The driver called over to me and asked if Wes liked Hot Wheels. "Of course!!!" was the obvious answer, so we went over and got to look inside and the guy gave Wes a brand new Back to the Future DeLorean Hot Wheels car! This was one lucky, and happy, kid!

Popcorn, Hot Wheels and cars, what more could a two year old want??

We had stopped to look at a beautifully restored old tractor when the owner said Wes could sit on it! I thought he'd be ecstatic, but he refused and then kept saying (right in front of the tractor owner) that he wanted to go see this golf cart with the light on top!! I told the tractor owner that if his tractor had a light on top, I'm sure Wes would have wanted to sit on it. (I think he was only slightly offended by my child's snub.) I guess Wes just needs a few more years of classic vehicle education.

This fire truck is a "Rolling Memorial to Fallen Firefighters."

We also got to see some super fun cars too. Here's Lightning McQueen...

...and the Bat Mobile...

...and Big Foot, the Monster Truck.

We knew Auntie Jessica, Uncle Nino, Haley, Cash and Papa Ron were coming too, but unfortunately we were leaving just as they were coming in. But we were glad we got to get a quick picture with them! Happy Crusin'!