Beautiful Oceanside California!

Ok, so now it has been almost two months since we went to California, but I am determined to get these pictures on the blog! Sorry there are so many. There were so many more I wanted to put on, but I tried to keep it under control (but it's still really long, sorry)!

Our trip to California was wonderful! The condo we stayed in was right on the beach so we could always see and hear the surf. Some of the highlights of the trip were going to the San Diego Temple, Lego Land, the beach (of course), and Sea World. Below are just a few pictures from each of those events.

Here is the family in front of the temple and then pictures of each of the kids at different areas around the temple. The grounds were of course beautiful. Connie you would have loved it! It was such a wonderful place to spend part of our Sunday afternoon. Emma and Amanda decided they wanted to try their hand at taking pictures. The first picture Amanda took of some pretty flowers that were growing on the wall. Emma had lots she took, the 2nd and 3rd pictures are just a sampling. She took many scenery shots as well as others - flowers, people, light posts, garbage cans, and even some self portraits. Monday we ventured to Lego Land, which was only about 15-20 minutes away from where we were staying. Lego Land is a fun place that has objects - animals, people, cars, etc. made out of legos throughout the whole park. Here's Tyler (and Danny) posing with Lego Darth Vadar. There was even a full size lego R2D2.

It wasn't a very hot day, but the fountains were too tempting for the girls. Amanda found herself in the water two different times. She wasn't really excited about going on many of the rides so she just played in the water. The picture below this one shows how much Emma enjoyed getting wet. They were both VERY cold afterward. We had to buy a towel just to keep them from shivering to death. Here's the girls on one of the rides - horses of course!
Tyler just hung out in his stroller. As long as we kept moving he didn't have much to complain about. You'll notice how his legs are in the sun, the poor guy ended up getting sunburned. But it didn't seem to bother him. You gotta have a churro whenever going to the amusement parks. YUM!It was a long day for the kiddos. Tyler finally fell asleep right before we left. Emma fell asleep in the car. I can't remember why she put the towel over her, but she got really upset when I tried to take it off. So I had to take a picture. (You'll notice Amanda in the background reading. She burned through MANY books on the vacation. She even ran out of books to read.)Out next adventure was the beach. It was a bit too cold to really play in the waves, but the girls had fun. Amanda spent most of the time chasing waves and collecting shells.Tyler spent most of his time eating the sand. So his beach experience was very limited. If the picture was bigger you would be able to see all the sand in his mouth and nose. We had some fun diapers over the next few days!Emma spent much of her time getting REALLY dirty, but had the time of her life! I don't know if there was more sand on her body or in her swimsuit. It's debatable. Danny even came to join in the fun and helped Emma make a sand castle.Our next adventure was to Sea World. Actually, the first day we were going to go ended up being an overcast and rather cold day. We showed up without jackets and the kids were cold right when we got out of the car. So we ate the $10 parking fee and went home. We came back the next day and it was a very nice day. Here we are in front of the park. Yes, I spent a lot of money buying the pictures that the workers took of us. But I figured the pictures were my souvenirs.

There is a fun kids area that has a lot of places to run and just play. There are climbing ropes, slides, bridges, water fountains, rides, just to name a few. This time we didn't let the girls get wet, but they still had a great time. Of course we saw a couple of shows - Shamu and the dolphin show. It was fun to see. I've never been to Sea World and I think the shows were the funnest part for me. We also got to see some of the other inhabitants of Sea World. This next picture shows the highlight of Amanda's day. Sea World is owned by Anheuser-Busch, so there are Clydesdale horses there. Amanda was in heaven! Then she saw the stuffed horses! She just had to have one, but we were only going to buy one souvenir for each girl. Amanda was in a quandary. She wanted a Shamu, but she really wanted a horse. Then we told her if she was willing to go on Journey to Atlantis she could have a horse also. Decisions, decisions! She hated roller coasters of any kind, but oh how she wanted that horse! To let you know, the ride is somewhat similar to Splash Mountain in that it has a really big hill that comes down and gets you wet. But this ride is more of a roller coaster than Splash Mountain. Well, she was willing to risk it all and go on the ride so she could get her Clydesdale. She hated every minute of the ride, but adores the new horse she brought home. She named it Sammy after the horse she got to meet (next picture)

Here is a picture of the girls with Sammy.This is the picture that was snapped as the boat went down the big hill on Journey to Atlantis. The hill is at the beginning of the ride, so this was just the first of many thrills she got to experience! However, as you can tell, she doesn't look like she's having a very good time. She keeps telling us how horrible the ride was. Will she ever go on any roller coaster and enjoy it? I guess only time will tell.

Here is Amanda that night sleeping with all her animals. You can see Sammy, the Clydesdale and her killer whale, Sumar - named after one of the killer whales we saw during the Shamu show.Aside from some of the big events this vacation, really the best part was we just got to spend some time together as a family. Which was wonderful. Hopefully this will be a vacation the kids remember for a long time. I know Danny and I will.