San Deigo Zoo

Saturday morning we were up and at the zoo by 9:00 when it opened.  It was only about 15 minutes from the hotel, and since we had been there before it was pretty easy to find again. 

The girls agreed to a daily picture shortly after lunch.  Oh, and yes, they both wore filp flops all week and did not complain once about their feet hurting.  I don't know how they did it, but they did. 

We covered the whole zoo and stayed until about 5 that night.  We saw tons of animals.  My favorite was the baby giraffe and the panda bears.  Addison loved the baby deer and polar bear.  Lauren loved the panda bears and Mark love the swimming hippos. 

It was another cool start the the morning.  We started at the flamingo's and worked our way down the tiger trails. 

The thing I love about the San Deigo Zoo is that it is so green and natural. 

The girls played on these monkey's for the longest time.  Addison did not want to leave.

After the tiger trails, monkey's, hippo's and flamingo's we rode the skyfari.  It is more enclosed than than the skyfari at the Kansas City Zoo, so I was more comfortable with the girls on there.  All 4 of us could ride on the same one, but it was hard to see a lot of animals from the sky because it is so green and plush at this zoo. 

After the skyfari we hit the kids petting zoo.  When we were in San Deigo 5 years ago there were goats, pigs and sheep in the petting zoo.  This year it was just baby goats.  Addison was a little disappointed because she really wanted to pet a baby sheep. 

After the petting zoo we got lunch and headed towards the Panda bears.  Addison tried to fall asleep on the way, but we kept her up.  I did not want her to miss the panda bears.  They were so pretty. 

There was actually a line to get into this exhibit.  It was after lunch and the zoo was starting to get more crowded, so we worked very hard keeping Addison awake, but we did! 

On our way to the Panda bears we passed several other bears.  This brown bear was fun to watch.  He had just come up out of the water and was putting on a little show. 

One thing Mark and I remembered about the San Deigo Zoo was the long walk up to the polar bear. We decided to to go that way this year, since we have a great polar bear at the Kansas City zoo, but next thing we knew that was the only way to go!  It is a huge, steep hill that is very challenging to push up Addison in a stroller or hold Lauren because she is complaning about being hot and her legs hurting, but we made it!  Legs shaking, thighs burning, calf muscles dead...I am telling you...a steep hill. 

It was worth it.  The polar bear was fun and the girls enjoyed some of the bears to climb on at the end. 

Both girls fell asleep, as you can see.  Lauren begged to sit in the stroller after seeing the polar bears.  Next thing I  knew, she was asleep.  She missed the lions, jaguar and elephants, but I don't think she cared.  She slept for about 30 minutes, then it was Addison's turn.  She fell asleep right before we were getting ready to take a bus tour of the zoo.  Mark took her out of her stroller and held her while we waited in line and she slept the while time we waited, about 30 minutes.  The bus tour was fun.  It was a double decker bus, and we sat on top and saw lots of animals.  The girls really enjoyed sitting on the top deck. 

This red panda bear we saw while waiting in line for the panda bears. 

Before we headed out we had snacks.  Addison had another cinnamon roll.  That girl was obsessed with cinnamon rolls this trip.  She had them for breakfast at the hotel in Anaheim.  She had the huge one at Disneyland one day, and one again at the zoo.  Lauren had a frozen lemonade.  Lauren's favorite drink was definitely lemonade this trip.  Mark and I enjoyed an iced coffee while sitting in the shade. 

We picked up the souvenirs before heading back to the hotel.  These are the girls hand prints made into the animal of their choice.  It was only $15 and I thought it was so unique and something I would treasure forever. 

We hit the pool when we got back to the hotel and then went out to dinner.  It was a great day and a fun relaxing night at the pool and dinner.  Next up, Sea World. 

Newport Beach

Friday morning we packed up and headed to Newport Beach to begin our journey back down the coast to San Deigo. Newport Beach was only about 20 minutes from Anaheim, very easy to get to, and a gorgeous city.  Can you imagine living in Newport Beach, California?  Beautiful. 

It was pretty chilly when we arrived, around 70 degrees or so and pretty cloudy for about 45 minutes.  When the clouds finally burned off it was very comfortable on the beach.  The water however was freezing.  Many people were swimming in it, but we did not get very wet.  Just our feet and legs, maybe up to our knees. 

Mark and I absolutely love the sound of the ocean.  We could listen to that sound all day long. 

The girls knew that I wanted a picture of the day each morning, so they agreed first thing so they could go play on the beach. 

Lauren immediately started looking for sea shells, and found several. 

Addison started playing with the beach toys that we brought along (well bought from Target after we got got California.) 

Lauren decided she wanted to head towards the ocean.  I told Mark he had to go because I knew the water would be so cold. 

I LOVE this picture.  The water came up a little higher and totally caught Lauren off guard and she started running to get out of the COLD water. 

Addison decided she wanted to head towards the ocean, but only with me.  She did not like the water at all.  It was very cold and it scared her.  However, she wanted to let her toes dangle in the water just a little bit...so each time the waves started coming in I would pick her up into the air and she would laugh and laugh.  She loved it.  I love that Mark captured the moment.  Lauren was very brave standing next to me in the water and Addison just laughed and laughed each time I picked her up.  I loved it too! 

Lauren and Mark were busy building sand castles and a sand village.  Addison sat back a little ways and watched.  I made a special square for her to sit in and promised her that the water would not get to her.  She was very far away from the water, but knowing that if she sat in the square she would be OK seemed to make her happy. 

We ate lunch at the end of the Pier at Ruby's Diner.  It was a fun, fast burger joint.  Oh, and they serve a pretty good milk shake too. 

After lunch everyone got buried in the sand, except Mark.  I am still trying to figure out how we missed getting him buried. 

We stayed at the beach for almost 5 hours.  The girls were getting pretty tired and I knew we had a long drive back to San Deigo.  I expected about 1 1/2 hours...and it took us 3 HOURS.  We went 88 miles and it took 3 hours.  Man that was tough.  Addison fell asleep quickly and Lauren did too.  They did not sleep too long, but long enough for some peace and quite in the car. 

One of the things I love about California is if you look out one side of the car you see the ocean, but on the other side you see mountains.  It is such a beautiful area with such perfect weather.  I think Southern California will be a place that our family visits a lot. 

Next up, San Deigo Zoo, Sea World, and Coronado Beach.  We crammed a lot into the 3 days we had in San Deigo. 

Downtown Disney, Swimming, and Dinner with Goofy

Thursday was fun.  It was a nice relaxed day with nothing scheduled except Dinner with Goofy at 5:30. 

We hit Downtown Disney to do some souvenir shopping, check out the Lego store,

 and a few other places. 

The World of Disney store is a huge store with every souvenir you can imagine or dream of.  Addison saw this baby Ariel at Disneyland and threw a fit when I would not buy it for her.  She walked through the World of Disney store looking for it because she knew that is what she wanted for her souvenir.  She also got a little Minnie Mouse and a necklace and braclet with Minnie Mouse on it. 

Lauren tried to convince me that she needed this Goofy hat, but I talked her out of it.  She wandered around forever because she just could not decide on 3 things.  She wanted much more.  She ended up with a big Minnie Mouse, a Minnie Mouse notebook and  Minnie Mouse necklace. 

Addison and Mark had fun building a Lego car to race down the track. 

All Legos, isn't that amazing.  We enjoyed lunch at ESPN zone and then walked around a little more. 

ESPN had an area set up for the British Open trophy.  You could stand in front of it, touch it, have your picture taken with it, etc...Mark thought it was pretty cool.  It is the actual trophy that the winner of the British Open will get this year. 

We headed back to the hotel after lunch and swam for a few hours in the afternoon.  We went to the big pool first so Lauren could practice her actual swimming.  Addison and I just hung out by the side since the water was a little chilly.  She looked much cuter in her swimsuit that I did in mine. 

After awhile we headed over to the kiddie pool.  It had a whole water playground with 3 slides, a kids pool that was one foot deep and a spray park area.  It was a great kids play area.  Oh, and it also had a hot tub for the adults....and kids too!  Lauren loved the huge water bucket that would dump water every 5 minutes or so.  Each time the bell started ringing she would run over to stand under the huge bucket of water. 

After swimming we all took naps back at the hotel, for over an hour.  I had to wake everyone up so we could go to dinner with Goofy at Goofy's Kitchen. 

Ariel came with us too.  It was a huge buffet with great food.  It cost a fortune so I totally over stuffed myself and indulged in several desserts. 

We saw Minnie again. 

And Jasmine for the first time ever!  She was very sweet and talked to both girls individually for a few minutes.  She spent a lot of time at our table and the girls loved it. 

Mulan...although I don't think the girls knew who she was. 

And of course Pluto.  We love Pluto.  After dinner we went back to the hotel and swam again for a little bit.  The girls had so much fun at this hotel with the kiddie pool.  If you are ever at Disneyland I recommend staying at one of the good neighbor hotels.  They are within walking distance and a whole lot cheaper.  We ended up staying at the Howard Johnson's Hotel.  We were less than a 10 minute walk from Disneyland, we could see Disneyland from our hotel room and we could watch the Disneyland fireworks each night as well.  It was a great hotel with great reviews and we really enjoyed it as well.