San Deigo

I'm finally posting some pictures from our trip to San Deigo. It's been so hard to go thru the 400+ pictures that we took, and narrow them down enough to share them without posting a ridiculous amount of pictures. It was really hard though! We got some great pictures while we were there and had a great, great time. It was so nice to vacation as a family! It was great bonding time for all of us, and the kids really enjoyed having Sean around for 9 straight days!! (me too!) Our first day there we got flew into SanDiego, picked up our rental car, checked into our hotel, and headed straight for the beach! I LOVE THE BEACH!!! I swear, if we lived in San Diego, I would be a TOTAL beach bum! Anyway, we went to the coolest place, it's called Mission Beach. It's a wonderful huge beach, and right next to it is a little carnival, almost like the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Such a cool vibe. Kaihla loved going in the ocean and giggled every time a wave would come and splash us! Shad preferred to gather shells and make sandcastles!
The next day it was on to Sea World. We got there right when it opened 9:00 and stayed until they closed at 9:00. Quite a long day for a 1 and 2 year old, but they were having so much fun. Kaihla napped in the stroller, and Shad was just on a high all day, seeing all the cool animals and going on the rides they had there!

Mama and her little twin in front of the Beluga Whales
SHAMU!!!!!
He just had to pose in front of the Flamingo's!
Sean and Shad in front of a huge starfish. Right next to this was a giant tide pool with starfish that you could hold. Shad got to hold and touch one, he was pretty excited
A little out of order, but we are watching SHAMU at the whale show..he totally loved it..so did Kaihla, they both clapped the entire time!

Next was on to Legoland! Again we had another open-close day...10-8. Sean and Shad thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Kaihla wasn't able to do too much, there were a few rides for her, but lots for Shad's age and above. We think Shad's favorite ride was the Jousting Pony ride. The sign said you had to be 4 to go on it, but they didn't even ask, and let him ride it by himself!! This is the first time he's been able to do a ride without one of us going! AND this from a kid that used to never go on rides at all! Very proud and happy boy!
Shad and Kaihla also rode their first ride together. A train ride. Their faces were priceless when they got on and we went off to the side to watch them. Kaihla screamed when it ended because she had to get off. She probably would have stayed for hours on that train!
Pictures got screwed up in order..oh well...we also went to Balboa Park, then visited the USS Midway. That's the big ship behind Sean and Shad! Pretty awesome, and HUGE!
OK, this was us at SeaWorld again...
Kaihla riding the Elmo fish!

OK, back at Legoland. They had a junior driving school where the kids got to drive their own car..using the gas and steering alone! This one you had to be 3, so we told Shad to tell them he was 3. After much coaxing, he finally said he was 3, and they allowed him on the ride (they asked every kid before getting on the car how old they were) I was SO SO impressed at how well he drove this car. Stayed in his lane the whole time, handled the gas so well..what a big guy!
After, they gave the kids their own license. He was so proud of himself. We later got his picture taken and they have him a laminated license. He still wears it!
One of the rides Kaihla loved was the boat ride. It took us past all these fairy tale stories all designed in Lego's.
Sean and Shad with Darth Vader!
Kaihla really, really wanted to go on the horse ride...she stood and shook the fence posts to try to get in. Maybe next time girl!

Hope it wasn't too boring to look thru...I left out about 380 pictures, so if you ever want to see more, let me know, they'll be up on shutterfly soon!

Night out with the In-laws

A couple weeks ago I went out with my sister-in-law, and mom-in-law. We had SO much fun! We went to our local pub, where they proceeded to order me drinks....lots of them... I had no idea what to order, since I'm such a drinker, so we told our lovely waitress that I like 'fruity' drinks, and she came up with the rest....I have to say..she did a good job! It was really nice to spend some quality one on one time with them. I'm SO glad we had the opportunity to do this :-) Sharon, Vickie and Me...I think this was a bit into the evening already..that's when I remembered I had my camera with me!!
Me and Vickie...I think she was saying "cheese" for a little too long!
Me and Sharon, getting ready to leave..they actually kicked us out at 12 (or 12:30...can't remember) But the evening didn't end there.....
We capped the evening off with karaoke!!! Always entertaining. Especially watching Sharon dance!!! (Thank god I was the one with the camera!) Got to bed at the insane hour of 2:30, and was awoken the next morning by my wonderful son...at 6:00am...ugh.... We had a blast though!

Train Town

I know, I'm super late on my blogging...we've been extremely busy lately. Anyway, about a month ago we went to train town with my mom, sister and grandma! The kids loved it :-) Here are some pics from the day! Shad is such a loving big brother...seriously, he loves his sister so much!
Me and Kaihla on the Merry-go-round. She loved it...really, really didn't want to get off. Every time it would go around and she would see my mom or grandma she would smile and wave...every time
I just love being a mom! It's the best thing ever. I love this picture. It was taken when Shad and Kaihla realized they were both on the ride together! They just looked at each other and laughed! So cute!

Shad getting ready to go on the train ride. He had fallen asleep on the drive there, so when we woke him up he was a bit groggy. Until he found out we were going to ride on a train...that seemed to wake him up pretty quickly!
Shad, going thru a tunnel on the train ride...he thought it was pretty cool...
Here's Kaihla going thru the same tunnel...I'm not sure she had the same feelings about it as Shad did!
Kaihla and her "GG"
Shad and Grandma!