Joey and I talked about doing a family vacation and we talked with our good travel friends the Richardson's to see if they were interested in doing a family trip again together. And they were! So after some discussion and narrowing of choices (Oklahoma city) we decided San Diego was it for spring break 2015!
Here is the run down and just a few of the several 100 pictures I took! Your welcome.
I prepped for the trip by making busy bags for the kids on the airplane. I loaded up their back packs that Grandma S got them for Christmas with new toys/activities they hadn't seen yet. We had playdoh, snacks, a little frog game and stickers, etc. And all went well. The girls traveled pretty good.
Walking thru the airport-ready to go!
We got in pretty late on Saturday evening, not to mention the time change, so Sunday we had a laid back day and went to the beach. It was pretty hot for San Diego, but we still had fun. The water was still cold so we just got our feet wet, played in the sand and the girls also collected sea shells. It was perfect. The girls have been to both coasts now and they just turned 2. Lucky!
Enjoying the sand with Dad
Ella's foot print in the sand on the Left and Josie's on the right.
Ella loving the beach with mom.
Day 2 we went to Sea World and to say I was excited was an understatement. I just knew the girls would love it and LOVE IT they did!
Our first stop was the dolphin show and the squeals of glee and smiles were in full force. Ella was screaming and groaning with excitement and Josie just beamed with smiles and pointed and clapped a lot. They were so funny to watch.
The dolphin show
After that we went to the whale show and they liked that too. It was getting close to lunch so the girls started to lose interest in it, but we had plenty of smiles thru it all. Sea World also had a kids area to play in. They had rides for kids to ride and I wasn't sure if the girls would like the rides and much to my surprise we got some great big smiles on those too!
Ella all smiles on the tea cup ride
Arms up on the big boat ride. I think they are ready for Cedar Point!
This is the toddler version of a bounce house. Clearly Ella loves it. They also had a big "club house" play park that had bridges and tunnels and was over top of this. You had climb rope nets to get up and a slide to get down. I took Josie up and I got my workout in for that day. After this we walked to see some animals and the girls fell asleep in the stroller. It was a very hot day, but a great one. We had tons of fun at Sea World.
The next day we went to Safari Park, which is a sister park to the zoo. It is spread out with a lot of walking, but neat!
Ella-phants
They had a petting zoo and Josie was able to brush the goats. She was hesitant at first,but then warmed to the idea of touching/Brushing them. Ella was napping in the stroller and missed it, but I'm sure she would of had a blast. Ella is definitely my animal lover!
We fed the ducks. Again, lots of excitement and smiles
Ella checking out the gorillas
Josie checking out the gorillas
Ella pointing with excitement at the animals
They had a carousel Ella and I rode. This she didn't like much. She wouldn't ride on animal and would only go on the bench and I got this smile.
Steph feeding the birds
We took the tram ride which was like an African Safari. They had all the giraffes, elephants, antelope an other African animals all out on this open land. This was my favorite!
The view from the tram of the land scape of the "African Safari." What a view! Pretty cool
Josie's turn on the carousel and she OBVIOUSLY loved it. We rode several times in a row with full smiles.
Cohen Richardson (almost 4) wanted to go see "Dino's", so we went tot the museum of natural history. This was right up Joey's alley, not mine. I said we should all go shopping, but I was vetoed by the boys ;)
Ella meets a dinosaur
This was the pelt of an animal Ella is holding. I don't know what animal, but I know it was soft.
Dad teaching them stuff.
Drawing "bones"
And we topped of the day with their first root beer floats!
We also were able to go the zoo! My cousin works at the zoo and we were able to meet up with her. She had a cart ready for us so we didn't have to do all the walking and she took us where only employees could go, which meant close-ups of the animals!
A mommy gorilla had a baby gorilla on its back carrying it around and I caught Josie playing with this stuffed gorilla on her back. She was carrying the baby gorilla on her back. So cute!
And at the Zoo I ran into my Ohio friend Linda Gill, I used to work with her surgery. She lives in Ohio and I live in Iowa and we meet in San Diego! Crazy! It was fun to catch up with her and hear how her new job is going and I also got to meet her new grandbaby :).
After the zoo we met my cousin, her husband and her youngest daughter out for dinner. Dinner just happened to be right by the USS Midway. This is impressive and these pictures do not do it justice. Look close at all the planes on it to try and capture the massive size of it.
Family picture
Dinner which happened to be right on the harbor and at sunset,. B-E-A-U-tiful! It was great to be able to meet up and catch up with them. I tried to get Michelle to apply for a job in Ottumwa, she didn't seem convinced...
While we there we had rented a Ford Navigator and this is how we traveled in it. It worked out great and I am really glad we did it this way, although by the end I was sick of climbing in the back.
We even got a few nights kid free. Much needed..
This was such a wonderful trip! The girls had a blast, traveled very well, mom and dad had fun watching all the smiles and they even made some friends! I have been asked "where is Cohen?" a few 100 times since we have been home. :)
Josie and Cohen
