San Diego 2014

If you aren't related to us, the abundance of pictures here may be of little interest.  But for us, oh this was a GREAT trip.  Well, it depends on what defines "great."  More than 1/2 of us got sick with a 24 hour bug which caused pretty violent vomiting.  My brother-in-law lost a fight with the ocean and its waves and broke his shoulder.  But, it was a week of swimming, hanging out with cousins, seeing the sites, and being together.  I call it a success.

Monday night we had a family photo shoot at the beach.  I'm excited to get those back and to see how those turned out.  Until then...here are some pre-shoot posing pictures.  These were the warm-ups. 

 

Does Micah looks unsure of something?

Jackson loves Sammy and always would make sure she was included by giving hugs, sitting by her, and telling her he loves her.

 

Sammy is eyeing that celery.  Maybe she was hungrier than I thought.

 

Judge me.  Go ahead.  You can judge me.  But on Tuesday we went to Sea World.  And it was really fun.  Callie fed the seals and thought that was pretty awesome.

Getting ready to go on their first ride!

Micah is too small for the rides, so a good part of his day consisted of...this.

Ted and Ty, Marcus and Sammy

She's so cute

Hunter, Callie, Jackson

 

Obviously the girl sitting between Brayden, Marcus and Sammy...and Hunter, Callie, and Jackson knew she would be in my pictures.

 

Micah loved this little play area.  It was like walking on a big water bed.  He loved it.

It was either the jumping or the extreme heat that day that wiped him out.

Watching the dophins

Waiting for the show and NOT wanting to wait.

Sammy had her own special seating at each show that we took advantage of.  It made it so nice that we could just push her up instead of taking her out, carrying her to a seat, and trying to hold onto her squirmy body.  Plus it was super hot that day (with no shade...what's up with that?!), so holding her would have been miserable for us both.

Peggy, Ty (he IS there...you can see his chin), Hunter, Jackson, Brayden and his grimace, Ted, Callie, Marcus and Micah sitting in the Splash Zone.  Callie, Marcus, and Micah moved up by me and Sammy before the waterworks began.  Wise choice for Callie.  She would have HATED being wet.

I'm in awe by these animals.  Let's take the captivity part out of it and just look at these huge, strong creatures.  They are beautiful and so powerful.  I could watch them for hours.

 

 

Feeding and petting the sting rays.

 Though I don't have a picture to document it, I need to share that Callie, our little Callie, road a big roller coaster at Sea World!  Marcus and I left the kids with Ted, Peggy, and Mom and Dad so we could ride the Manta.  It was fast and twisted and turned.  We were looking forward to riding it.  Just as we were about to get on, we look back and see Callie in line with her cousins with Lisa and Adam!  We couldn't believe it.  She was nervous, but was also really excited.  When Marcus and I finished the ride, we waited to see if we could see her.  While we waited, Marcus was just worried about her.  I was thrilled!  I couldn't believe she was doing this...something that is so scary for her.  I was really proud of her.  And really, the worst that would happen (in my optimistic mind) is that she'd be scared and then it'd be over.

When we asked if she loved it, she smiled and shook her head.  Then she confided in us that she had her eyes closed the entire time.  I was so proud of her!

After a long hot day, what's better than sitting on the couch and watching some tv?

Sammy nestled behind the couch cushions and was perfectly happy being surrounded by her family.

 The house we stayed in a was basically awesome.  It had this incredible pool and the kids loved...the young and big kids alike.  I was in that pool multiple times every day.  It was awesome.  I can't believe I don't have pictures of Sammy in there...but really, I was in the water all the time which makes it hard to take pictures.  But she LOVED it.  One day she was in the water with Grandma for about 2.5 hours straight!

Callie and Jackson contemplating the big jump

 The San Diego Zoo was pretty great, but I only saw a few things before I left with my mom and dad.  I was just too sick.  Marcus spent the day with Micah and Callie seeing the entire zoo while Mom and Dad watched Sammy and I recovered from being sick.

My favorite animal...the gorilla.  Always has been.  I'm so intrigued, wondering what they think, etc.  I love gorillas.

We thought of just using an umbrella stroller.  I'm soooo glad we brought the joovy.  It was warm and there was a lot of walking.  This was perfect for Callie to be able to sit and made for more enjoyable days.

Relaxing

Looking at the animals

Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?
I'm not sure how much Sammy gets out of places like this...all the touristy sites...but I can't imagine any moment without her.

Mom and Dad pushed Sammy's wheelchair while I tried to keep up.  I was going downhill really quickly.  I so desperately wanted to be at the zoo with Marcus and the kids.  I thought I could push through and just take breaks, but I was very wrong.  I barely made it home in the car without making a mess of the backseat.  But Callie ended up having a really good time there with Daddy and Micah...well, I'm sure he enjoyed it too.

We waited in line for about 25 minutes to see the pandas.  Was it worth it?  Maybe.  If I wasn't feeling so sick, maybe I would have felt differently.  They are pretty cute though.

Micah had a hard couple days deciding if he liked the pool or not.  One night, he made his way up the stairs that led to the slide.  Ian tried to keep him back, but he wanted to go down.  Ian asked if he could take him, and we said to go for it.

 Once the life jacket was on, Micah was feeling a little more unsure, but he wanted to do it.  So down they went.

And for a good 30 seconds, he just stayed there, floating, looking up to the sky.  He had the look of true fear plastered to his face before he was able to complain.

He didn't cry, just complain.

 And when we didn't get him out fast enough...he cried.

Callie loved the adjoined hot tub and spent a lot of time there.

Friday we spent the day with Chris.  We went around Balboa Park, which was really pretty.

Oh the service!

This one reminded me of the flowers in Alice in Wonderland.  Shouldn't this be singing to me right now?

I love catching my kids sincerely loving and taking care of each other.

I think Callie is one of the most adorable and beautiful little girls in the entire world.
I'm sure there are other cute girls around, but there's something about my girl when she gives that sincere, true smile.  When she jumped up onto this wall, there was this huge poof of air that filled her dress and it made her laugh.
I'm glad I caught it.

 

I had already been to the beach with Callie earlier in the week, but we decided to swim in the ocean instead of try her kite.  I had told her Friday was the day, so Marcus and Chris took Callie to the beach and the kite did fly!  In fact, it was quite a hit at the beach apparently.

 

He looks so tired!
Family vacations are hard work.

Do you think those goggles are working for Brayden?

 After swimming a couple hours, I sat Sammy down on the couch.  She got herself into this position and remained this way for about 45 minutes as she watched cartoons!

Is this kind of freaky to anyone else but me?

Not only did the house of a great pool, but it had a trampoline and a pretty sweet play house the kids played on every day!  Lindsay was frequently on the trampoline with Sammy, Micah, and/or Callie.

 

Callie working on perfecting the Mario

It was a great trip.  I love being together with my family.  The goal is to get together every other year, and hopefully that will happen.

Until next time family....we love you!