Sea World

Our first full day in San Diego was spent at Seaworld. The weather was perfect and the boys enjoyed seeing all the sea life.

October must be their slow time because all the kids were free and there were very few people in the park. Jason of course liked the Breaded Dragon. I think it made him miss Dober a little bit.

Lincoln was even brave enough to pet it, Talan was hiding behind some bushes.

This was the discovery area of SeaWorld, you could touch anything you wanted in this tank.

Jason getting a Sea Urchant hug.

We were the only ones at the tank for a long time so we got our own Marine Life Lesson from one of the friendly Sea World worker.

Lincoln liked these brightly colored frogs. I hope he never finds one because they are poisonous.

 

Talan decided to be brave and go on the simulated helicopter ride. I think at this point he was re-thinking his decision.

I loved the Beluga Whales.

Talan exploring the Polar Bear caves.

One of the trainers out feeding the penguins and answering questions that the on lookers had.

 

Getting our smashed penny souvenirs. 

Waiting for the Killer Whales show.Talan wanted to sit in the "Splash Zone"

We were sitting in the splash zone, but we managed to stay dry.

It is so amazing that those whales can get so high in the air.

Checking out the starfish in the tide pools/

Jason and Talan having a look at the giant Sea Turtles.

We took the tram out over the bay.

It was a lot of fun to ride out over the bay and see all of Sea World from above.

Waiting for the Clyde and Seamore Show.

The best show at Seaworld.

The boys loved that they took the seal out in the crowd.

 

The giant Shark teeth.

Talan and Lincoln to the Rescue.

Of course Talan is nice and gentle to the turtle while

Lincoln would want to ride it.

Family photo out by the bay.

I finally talked Talan into feeding the seals, however when he saw that they ate fish he was out.

The scariest part was trying to not get attacked by the birds while feeding the seals.

He was hungry and did not want to wait.

 

Lincoln loves popcorn and almost ate this whole bag by himself.

Talan out jumping on this giant bubble thing.

Just playing around with the boys.

Running through the splash pad trying not to get wet.Check out the crowds, October is the best time to go.

I was determined to pet the dolphins.

And after a few minutes I finally got to pet one. Dreams do come true!!

Talan hates Stingrays ever since he got a giant kiss from one at the Living Planet aquarium.

We had so much fun at Sea World. It was so nice in October. The lines were all short and we were able to get through the whole park in a day. The kids were able to do all the hands on exhibits and we were even able to talk with a lot of the trainers. Talan said that his favorite part of Sea World was the killer whales and Lincoln keeps barking like the seals so I guess that was his favorite part. I hope we make it back to Sea World soon the kids loved it.

Pacific Beach

 After a long 6 hour drive from Vegas to San Diego we checked in to the Comfort Inn and Suite Sea World. Our rooms were not ready so we enjoyed some complimentary lemonade and decided to go to Old Town San Diego to get some lunch.

Old Town is a fun historic part of San Diego, they have a bunch of fun shops and Mexican places to eat.

Every so often Lincoln would stop and say "Mom take my picture"

One of the local shop owners suggested we eat at Old Town Mexican Cafe.Talan and Jason are watching the ladies make tortillas. We later found out the Rachel Ray had done one of her shows at this restaurant. She said that these ladies make 7000 tortillas a day. Amazing!

 

Our food was traditional Mexican and everyone seemed to enjoy it. After we were stuffed we decided to explore Old Town some more.

The buildings are so neat and the shops have a lot of Mexican flair.

After lunch we took off for Pacific Beach, since the boys had never been to the ocean before. It was a late afternoon so we just wanted to walk on the beach, not swim. Lincoln loved the tracks that the Lifeguard's trucks left behind. He kept calling the them train tracks and had fun running down them pretending to be a train.

My boys at the beach.

I should have known better as a mom, but the boys wanted to wade in the water and of course after the first wave they were soaking wet. Since we were on vaction we went with the flow took of their shirts and just let them enjoy the water. We were the only people full dressed but soaking wet. Who's from Utah?

Some guy was enjoying watching the boys in the ocean so much that he came over and asked if we would want a family photo on the beach. He thought it was so fun to watch them enjoying the sand and the ocean for the first time.

Talan making mud pies to throw at his little brother.

 Talan loved the ocean and building castles in the sand.

 Lincoln had so much fun just pushing the sand down this hill. He was covered from head to toe in sand.

 

I love the beach and wish that I lived closer to one. I find nothing more relaxing then the sound of the waves and the breeze coming in off the ocean.

 Talan writing his name in the sand before the surf carried it out to sea.

All of my boys working on a sand castle.

After a fun afternoon at the beach Lincoln decided to take a little nap with his helicopter on the way back to the hotel.

Viva Las Vegas

And we are off, San Diego here we come. The boys were the best travelers, they watched movies colored and even took a few naps.

We finally reached Las Vegas. We walked down the Vegas strip to a few of the neat things we could show the boys. Talan loved seeing the Statue of Liberty and the New York, New York hotel. I tried to talk him in to a roller coaster ride with me but he refused.

Talan and I in front of the New York, New York hotel.

 

A lot of the escalators were not working so poor Jason had to carry Linx and the stroller up the stairs.

Talan was so excited to go to the M&M factory, I think he was a little overwhelmed with all the choices of colors.

Grandpa Christensen loves M&Ms so Talan wanted to pick out some for him. Too bad the bag didn't make it home. I hope he will forgive us.

Lincoln even picked out a few colors to add to the bag.

 

The M&M factory is huge, 4 stories of M&M fun.

We timed our visit just right and we were able to go to the 3D M&M movie.

YES!!!!! I am so excited to watch this movie. The kids loved the 3D movie I even caught them a couple of times trying to reach out and grab the M&Ms.

I love to eat at the Rainforest Cafe whenever I visit Vegas so I thought my boys would enjoy it too. It is full of robotic animals and fills like you are eating in a jungle. As soon as Talan saw the robotic animals move he was done, he wanted nothing to do with the restaurant.

 

It was like pulling teeth just to get Talan to stand by this cute elephant.

 Lincoln loved to watched the fish and I think he really would have enjoyed eating at the Rainforest Cafe.

 After a wonderful diner at Baja Fresh eaten in a smoky casino we decided to explore more of the strip. We found these awesome street dancers. We watched them for a little while.

Lincoln was having a great time dancing on dad's shoulders with the dancers.

 

Me and the family waiting for the water show at the Bellagio.

 The boys had fun watching the water show but Lincoln thought it was a little loud. He kept saying "The water go Pow, Pow!"

 Our last stop was Caesar's Palace. Talan and I were pretending to be statues.

It was starting to get night time and we wanted to get the boys back to the hotel before the "real" Vegas emerged. We had a great time exploring Vegas. Talan ended the evening by saying "This City is Sweet." Night-Night before we start off on another 6 hour drive into San Diego.