Summertime!

What a cute boy who can pretty much hold his head up now. Yeah!

Bath Time!

Emma helping me wash James.

Summer is here. That means it's time for the pool.

Everyday Emma begs to go swimming.

Sea World

Our final full day in California was spent at Sea World one of my favorite places. One of our first stops was at the Sting Ray pool. Emma tried so hard to touch one but her arms were not quite long enough. I think she tried to climb in so she could touch one.

The pictures are not that great but here she is either pointing at one or telling me she touched one.

In this picture there is one in the background but the lighting was not good. It was still overcast that morning.

Next we went over to the Dolphin feeding pool. We so enjoyed this last year. All of us were able to go in even though only a few of us bought food. You could spend time feeding, petting and taking pictures. This year we were greatly disappointed to find out that everyone had to purchase fish (they kept the same price but lowered the amount of fish - 3 fish for $6.00.) You also had to go in with a trainer and they really rushed you through. Quinn took Emma in and was not able to get any really good pictures of her. We were really disappointed. Emma will tell you she she fed a fish and pet it too but Quinn said she chickened out at the last second.

Next we head to the Dolphin show. We were a little disappointed with this show. It did not have as much dolphin tricks as the last time we were here.

Most of the show was these acrobatic performances. Which is neat but they have a whole other show with just that. The Seal and Otter and Walrus show was great though.

This is the Shamu show Believe, it was great.

Emma didn't really watch the shows. I think she was ready to get home and back to a normal life. I think it was too far away for her to care much. She would look up if we told her to watch but mostly she played with some toys I had brought.

I really thought she would enjoy the Pets Rule show, I know I did. But again it was just not up close and personal enough for her. After the show we were able to go up and pet some of the dogs and the pig. That was her favorite part of the show and she is very proud that she pet a pig.

Once we finished all the shows we had about the afternoon to look at all the exhibits. Emma kept saying she wanted to see a shark so we and found the sharks. It was so funny though. She was so busy saying she wanted to see and pet a shark that I don't think she really noticed that we were looking and them and they were swimming all around us.

Emma and her Dad fed the flamingos.

While we waited for Quinn to see if he could get one to eat from his hand Emma decided to follow this pigeon all around the walkway. It was so cute. She would just walk behind it. If finally convinced Quinn to stop saying I did not map quest the directions to a hospital so lets not let the flamingo bite your finger off.

We finally found the star fish tank. Emma would have spent all day here. She loved it.

So cute!

She kept asking her Dad to find her another one. She wanted to hold them all.

She had to hold all different colors too.

We had to drag her away crying. Meanest parents ever!

Fish!

I don't know how we missed the Shamu viewing tank last time but we did so I made sure we found it this time.

There were two whales in this tank and you could get right up the window to see them.

They are so beautiful. I could have stayed here all day.

For some reason Sea World now has a Sesame Street play area for the kids. Mostly a water area but the water was not on that day, probably because it wasn't burning hot that day. They also have rides and playground area.

We saw Elmo!

Quinn took Emma on more rides while sat in the shade and fed James.

She got alot of energy out and had a blast. We also pulled her from this area crying but it was dinner time and we had to make the night Shamu show.

At dinner this bird decided to stalk me. Every time I turned around and looked at it it was there just staring at me never moving. It was a little creepy. They do warn you that the birds can be aggressive and to never leave your food alone. I was glad where we were done.

Emma was so tired after playing she didn't even make it through ordering dinner before she was asleep.

The night show was supposed to be Shamu Rocks but for some reason they did the Believe show from the day again. I'm sure the tricks are the same we just had to listen to the same story again.

Well that was our trip. The next day was had a relaxing morning. Shopped at downtown Disney and the flew home. The kids did great again. Slept the whole way. It went very smooth.

More Vacation Pictures - San Diego Zoo

We spent our third day of the trip at the San Diego Zoo. It was just Quinn and I with the kids and Grandma. Everyone else went to Universal Studios. We decided the zoo would be a much better fit for us and made the drive down. The zoo is huge. It really takes a full day to see everything unlike the Hoogle Zoo which you can do in a few hours. I think we were able to see just about everything. It was a long day though with a ton of walking, more than a Disneyland where you get to stop for rides. The zoo is also set on a hillside so there is a lot of walking up and down. Emma enjoyed being able to be out of her stroller a little more and James was a trooper. He spent more time in the stroller that day than any other because he didn't get to get our while we were on rides. Here are some of our pictures.

There were tons of monkeys. Emma is seeing how her hand measures up.

This is one scary monkey.

Loved seeing the tigers. At the Hoogle Zoo they are always hiding.

Emma showing her scary face.

They have a large panda exhibit but they only allow so many people in at once and there was a line. We decided to have a line free day but were able to see this one panda off by itself for some reason.

A pacing jaguar.

A little bit of freedom but not too much. Yes we are one of those parents who puts a lease on their two year old, we like her too much to loose her. She is a runner!

Llama!

Lions! Emma finally got to see a real lion. (Not just the drinking fountain lions at our zoo.)

Big Kitty!

Emma and Grandma watching the polar bears.

Emma having fun with the seals.

She was so happy to play on the playground. We actually had to drag her away to the petting zoo.

Look Mom a Goat!

What a fun but very long hot day.