15 minutes seemed like forever as we stared in hoping someone would feel sorry for us and open the doors.
When we finally made it inside we took Dad up to the traveling Clifford exhibit as he hadn't had the chance to experience it yet. He was beyond thrilled...
Nixon spent most of the time driving a car while we played dress up.
Over the next few hours we played in all the rooms and Presley showed Dad how she likes to work on cars.
Over the weekend we played in the yard and lounged around the house.
The heat outdoors (110) was unbearable, so Mom decided to let loose and break some rules. She zip tied our extra slide to a step stool and used tie downs to fasten it to our dining table. We had hours of fun running and screaming indoors- we couldn't believe our luck!
The night before my big day (my 9th birthday), I had some friends over for a pre-party sleepover!
We ate too much and stayed up way too late so the following morning was rough, but thanks to birthday decor and chocolate chip pancakes with bacon we endured.
Presley shrieked with excitement when she discovered that the Tiki Man joined in on my birthday fun as well!
For the rest of the morning my friends and I lounged on the couch watching Barbie Life in the Dream House (our new favorite show).
Around lunch time we dressed for the Arctic and took off for an afternoon at the Ice Den with Dad.
As you can see, we didn't have any fun at all...
In the late afternoon we met Mom and the rest of our crew for some birthday frozen yogurt.
Back at home I swam with my friends while Presley, Nixon, and Mom picked at our lunch leftovers like a bunch of vultures...
We all started to fade around 9pm and Mom sent my friends home. I ate some birthday sushi before heading to bed tired from a great day or fun, family, and friends.
The following day we continued my birthday celebration at Wet N Wild. Dad, Uncle Will,
Macie, Helaina, and I all enjoyed the water park.
Late the following day we drove down to Grandma Judy's!!!! It was so nice waking up to the shine shining in beautiful San Diego but we were all too eager to enjoy it; we wanted to get to the beach,
Some of us rushed through breakfast a little too quickly...
Dressed and ready we made our way to the ocean where we spent the whole day.
Macie spent most of it in the water and Mom literally laughed out loud when she glanced over at Macie and saw her meditating on her board.
Later that afternoon we enjoyed some popsicle's at Grandma's house.
Life sure is good at Grandma's house!!!
We had some more fun at the beach the following day.
Macie introduced Nixon to a fun game of "throwing sand"...
After 3 days at the ocean we took a break to spend some family time at Sea World. When we got inside the park we didn't make far past the park entrance; all of us loved putting our hands in the feeder fish tank. They sucked dead skin cells off of your hands- I thought it tickled.
Grandma joked that she wanted to stick her feet in the water!
Mom finally coaxed us away from the fish and led us to Journey to Atlantis- one of our new favorites!
Presley and Nixon watched our first ride and loved running in and out of the big splashes!
Mom met up with Grandma around noon. While Nixon napped Grandma and Presley played around in Elmo's world. Mom was beyond grateful that Presley had someone to ride the Elmo rides with. The last time we went to Sea World and Mom rode the rides she had motion sickness symptoms for 3 full days.
Despite the excessive heat and humidity in San Diego Nixon was able to take a small cat nap in the stroller thanks to the portable fan Mom bought online!
Macie and I enjoyed spending some time riding rides and having laughs with Dad!
After seeing a few more animals everyone was starting to fade.
It had been a long day in the sun and we were tired. No trip to Sea World would be complete without stopping for to see the Pet Show, so we were really happy when we discovered there was one more show for the day. We arrived a little early and had to kill some time in the hot sun with silly antics.
Despite having seen it over 12 times, we all enjoyed it. Presley and Nixon love watching the animals on stage and afterwards we all pretended to be actual animals and snacked on some dog food...
Back at the beach the next day we played in the sand and explored.
In her explorations, Macie found a lobster tail- It doesn't take much to entertain this kid; she is fascinated by anything and everything!
That afternoon we lounged around at Grandma's house and Nixon spent a couple hours playing ball with himself.
The next day we drove out to the Umbarger's house to visit with Pa and his family.
It was like an amusement park at Aunt Connie's. Rides, cars, toys, awesome food; we couldn't believe our eyes!
Presley and Nixon had a ton of fun driving around in the car.
Presley struggled with the gas pedal a little bit, but Macie seemed to have the whole driving thing down.
She did so well, in fact, that she tried her hand at parallel parking (to which Dad replied "like a glove.)"
It was wonderful spending time catching up with our family. We are so very fortunate to have these people in our lives.
When the temperature dropped Grandma Jean let the dogs out of their trailer (that's right, the dogs have their own air conditioned trailer). Macie, Presley, and I adore the dogs and were so glad we got to see them.
Driving back to Grandma Judy's house that night all of us had full tummies and tired bodies. We were grateful to sleep in an relax the next morning.
While Mom packed the food and bags for the beach Presley and Nixon played together in the back yard having all sorts of fun together.
After a couple more beach days we decided (well, Macie and I decided), that we wanted to spend our final day in San Diego at Sea World.
On the way to Elmo's World we walked through the carnival games and Presley jumped up and down with excitement when she found a large bottle of sassy sauce hanging from the prize tent. Mom was baffled that she was excited considering the sassy sauce is given to Presley when she has a sassy mouth.
This trip to Sea World we spent most of our day enjoying the fun in Elmo's World. Nixon was fascinated by the splash pad,
but quickly learned the hard way what happens when you lean down to look at the water holes...
Dad took the little ones on some rides and their favorite was Elmo's flying fish.
Nixon was thrilled when he got the opportunity to meet Elmo and Cookie Monster.
Our trip to San Diego was lots of fun, but after 2 weeks we were ready to be back home in our own beds. In a few days Dad, Macie, and I are flying to Wisconsin to spend 10 days with Dad's family. We are SOOO excited to play outdoors, go to the zoo, go up north, catch toads- the list goes on. Check back soon to hear stories and see pictures of all the great things we do and all the family we get to spend time with.
