San Diego Fun

The rest of our time in San Diego was truly fun.  I had not been back to San Diego since I graduated from college so it was fun to be back in my "old stomping grounds". 

Our first evening in San Diego we went to Seaport Village and walked around the bay.  We enjoyed the ocean, the setting sun, the adorable shops, and even headed over to the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier.

One day, we headed to the beautiful Balboa Park and went to the Ruben H. Fleet Science Center.  There was an entire Kid City that was devoted to children age 5 and under.  Noah spent so much time playing with the magnetic wall, grocery store, fire station, music area, and ball wall.

For lunch we headed over to Sarita's Taco Shop on the recommendation of a friend.  It was FANTASTIC!  Kc claims he ate the best fish taco of his life.  How can you go wrong with true Mexican Coke in a bottle?

One afternoon, we drove across the bridge to Coronado.  We wandered the adorable streets, ate some of Noah's favorite frozen yogurt, and walked down to the beautiful beach.  Mr. Man played in the sand and chased the seagulls all around.

 We wrapped up our week spending time with friends celebrating an amazing wedding.

What a fun family vacation.  I can't wait to do it again soon!

Sea World

Over Spring Break this year, we headed down to San Diego for a bit of family fun and to attend a wedding of a dear friend.  The very first thing that came to our mind when we decided to go to San Diego was Sea World.  We knew our little fishy boy would LOVE it...and he sure did!

After arriving at Sea World nice and early, we started walking straight over to the turtle reef exhibit.  On our way, however, we had to walk through the carnival games.  I spotted a a cute game where you throw a ball into a colored tube and you can win a plush Angry Birds Star Wars character.  I know these games are rigged but my Little Man is OBSESSED with Angry Birds Star Wars and I thought it would be fun.  Wouldn't you know it, I actually threw the ball in the tube and won the most enormous Han Solo ever.  We convinced the game attendant to give Noah two smaller birds in exchange for the large one.  Han Solo and Chewbacca are great additions to the family.

The Turtle Reef exhibit was so fun.  Noah loved looking at all the turtles swimming so gracefully.

Our first show was, of course, the Shamu Show.  It was truly amazing.  Noah didn't quite know what to think about it and spent the entire show on my lap.  He was pretty quite and even buried his head in my chest a few times when the orcas would splash the crowd.

 

Once the show was over, however, Bubs talked all about the orcas.  He loved to see them jumping and splashing.

 

The second show we went to was definitely our favorite.  It is called Blue Horizons and it has dolphins, birds, pilot whales, and a large cast of performers. 

It was so impressive to see all the dolphins (there were 16 total) doing tricks in unison.

There were amazing aerialists, divers and bungee performers very reminiscent of a Cirque du Soleil show.  There were even trainers who rode the dolphins.

 How can you not love these animals?!?

In addition to the dolphins, there were two enormous pilot whales who performed.  They had a baby whale who would swim around with them and try to do the tricks.  So cute!

We finished up our day with a visit to the Sesame Street Bay of Play.  This was Noah's first time on any sort of ride so we were not sure how he would like it.  Our first stop was Abby's Sea Star Spin and Mr. Man LOVED it!!!  He kept telling Daddy to spin faster and faster.  Next, Noah and I went on Elmo's Flying Fish. 

We went up and down and 'round and 'round and had a blast!

We had a great time at Sea World and are trying to figure out how we can go back in the near future.

Easter Eggs

Noah had a blast dying Easter Eggs this year.  

Once again, we used a Pinterest inspired trick of putting the eggs in a whisk.  It worked out brilliantly, especially because I blow the eggs out and they tend to float on the top of the dye.

Noah loved the Bunny Egg Holder, but it was a bit more challenging to use.

 

Back to the whisk.

Look at how pretty the eggs are!

Eggs!

Noah had such a blast coloring Easter Eggs this year.  I found a BRILLIANT idea on Pinterest {Are you as obsessed with Pinterest as I am?  Good!} and it worked perfectly.  We used tall glasses for the dye and whisks to hold the eggs.  SO MUCH BETTER than the silly little "egg holders" that come in the package of dye.  Not a single drop of color was spilled and Bubs loved to dunk the egg in and out of the dye to see the color change.  The weather has been so delightful that we headed out to the patio and had a ball!

 

It's green!

Up...

and down.

Gotta love the "Cheeze" smile!

We switched to blue and Bubs was very happy!

Noah continues to sign quite a bit while speaking.  It's too cute!

 

Patiently waiting...

and waiting!

The last color was red/purple.  He was one happy Little Man!

Look at my bea.u.ti.ful egg!

Bubs placed it ever so gently {we only had a few cracks} in the basket.

My table looks so festive!

Happy Easter Everybody!

Happy Easter

This past weekend, we celebrated Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Jackson in Rocklin. Kc, Noah and I drove up on Friday evening. We picked up Kc's cousin, Hannah, along the way and were set to make the drive north. Although it rained most of the trip {which made for a very long, slow drive} we arrived in time for Noah to play a bit before bedtime.

Me, Kc, Noah, Grandma, and Grandpa

Kc, Me, Noah, and Hannah

We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend and Noah had plenty of play time as well as bonding time with his grandparents.When we finally arrived home {oh, yes, it rained most of the drive home as well} Noah had a special delivery from the Easter Bunny. It did not take him very long to pull everything out of the basket.