At the top of the new year, we flew down from southern Oregon to southern California to visit family and meet one of the newest members, Ellie. As we had lived in San Diego before, it made for a very relaxing vacation because we knew the lay of the land, had a great grasp on where to take Alden, and were with family that have children, too. We had a wonderful time visiting our old haunts and seeing things through the eyes of a three and a half year old.
Pretty blue eyes and brown hair. Great disposition. We like Ellie!
Alden seemed to enjoy being the older cousin in this scenario. He helped me feed "the baaaaaby" cheese squares and grapes as we rode with the WINDOWS DOWN IN JANUARY. Beautiful, sunny, windy days!
He'll tan up real nice. Though we'd been to the beach before, this time he really dug the sand if ya know what I mean. He was all about building and digging and running it this stuff.
Sea World was my favorite experience. Dustin and I had year long passes when we lived here earlier (fall of 2006 through spring 2008) and we were delirious with joy every time we visited. I'd tear up over the dolphin show thinking of what it might be like to have a child with us sometime. Well. Here we were and I started BAWLING as we entered the World of Sea. Dustin and I created a family. And we were all here for the day. A little too much connection and emotion? I agree. Moving on.
We'd watched a Curious George episode where George uses a map to navigate his way to the baby panda exhibit at the zoo. Alden was all too excited to do the same at Sea World.
Sunshine-y Christmas tree. So bright that you could hardly look directly at it. Ridiculous but impressive.
Going through the shark exhibit now. We both like how Alden doesn't necessarily assign typical sinister characteristics with well-known aggressive animals and fish. As the worlds creepiest shirt swam over us in the tunnel, Alden said, "Awwww. I want to hug him."
Miami Vice.
Moustache glasses. We panicked about 20 minutes in noticing that Alden was covering his eyes from the sun. But he'll miss everything! Ok, let's get him these obnoxious, too-big sun glasses that he'll break.
Took them back. Got this hat. Equally obnoxious but CUTE on him. Done.
Face painting happens at every children's event but it was a MUST here. This snake made Alden's day.
Manatees are also huggable. Alden nearly dove in trying to touch all of them.
The three of us at the final Shamu show for the night. It was chilly but worth the wait in line. It was the Christmas version so there was a choir and a saxophonist. Very high class.
Snuggle-up reading time with Aunt Chelsea and Spiderman.
Tide pools are an excellent way to spend an afternoon. We dug and explored for an eternity here.
I'm glad we spaced the theme parks out by a few days because Alden was in stimulus overload. While he enjoyed the zoo, he is 3.5 and seemed more interested in acting like an animal than looking at them. He climbed on every surface possible and imitated the inmates accordingly. It was a great day spent with the Ryan, Chelsea, and Ellie as we put in some serious mileage walking around.
This terrifying tiger hybrid is TO SCALE.
Alden started to wither near the elephant zone. He was very tired, red-eyed and hot. Turns out he had the beginnings of hand, foot, and mouth disease. Didn't find that out until a week later but it made for a quiet few days of our vacation.
Dudes doing dishes. Rarely seen in the wild. This is a theme park exhibit, for sure.
You know your child is sick when this is his reaction to whipped cream and fried ice cream from Nati's.
Don't get me wrong. He ate it. But it was slow and anti-climatic. And then he turned away.
He later fell asleep in my arms while touring around Ocean Beach. Alden, that is. Not Dustin.
We had a great time in San Diego and loved visiting our family from afar. So much that we are moving there. Like, right now. Dustin interviewed for a job during our vacation and we are now on our way to sunny days. All of the time. I already bought my flip-flops.
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