Sunny San Diego!

The beaches and coastline are beautiful as well. We actually visited a beach in La Jolla that wild seals and sea lions like to come up to the shore. Unfortunately, there weren't any on the shore when we were there, but we did see several close to the shore. We had an absolutely amazing time in San Diego! The weather was great, the scenery was awesome, and we all had a lot of fun!

San Diego Safari Park

San Diego Zoo actually has two parts....the traditional zoo as well as a Safari Park about thirty minutes from San Diego. It has several of the same animals that the traditional zoo has, but has them in more of a natural environment, with a true "safari" area that includes giraffes, rhinos, and several other species that typically reside in Africa. One of the great things about the Safari park is the animal encounters. They have several different "animal ambassadors" that come out on a leash to a non enclosed area, so that people can get close to the animals, and learn more about them. We were able to see several different animals in these encounters including an owl, a kangaroo, and a medium sized wild cat, called a Caracal. These are wild cats that reside in Africa and are about 40 pounds in size, and can jump up to 10 feet in the air to capture their prey. Another interesting thing that the Safari Park has is a "Cheetah Run." This is actually a 100 yard area that is fenced in, but with no other enclosures. They have a small toy that the Cheetah chases down the 100 yards. When we were there, they had a dog run the first race, and he clocked a time of over 11 seconds. They then had the Cheetah run the distance in just over 5 seconds! Cheetahs can reach speeds of 70 mph, and it is amazing to watch them do this!

USS Midway

One of our stops on the itinerary in San Diego included the USS Midway. This is an aircraft carrier docked in San Diego Bay. She was commissioned after the end of WWII, and was the largest ship in the world until 1955. She served the Navy for 47 years and was a part of the Vietnam War as well as Operation Desert Storm. There were a number of planes and helicopters on the Midway. On several, you could even get into the cockpit and play with the controls. All three of the kids enjoyed this (Reagan, Hudson and John!). Hudson absolutely loved getting into all the different aircraft. Right before we left, he talked us into going inside one more time to look at a few of the jets. I'm not sure who had more fun....the kids or John!

Birthday Wishes!

Reagan got to officially celebrate her birthday this year in San Diego! She started off the morning in the hotel room, opening a few small presents that we were able to pack! That was followed by a lot of pancakes and syrup! We had a wonderful day and then got to celebrate that evening at a restaurant called "Stacked." Everything is ordered from an IPad at your table. So, the wait staff bring the items that you order, when you would like them. It was really neat, and of course, the kids thought it was great! They like anything that has to do with an IPad! At the end, Reagan got to design her own cookie cake that was brought out with a candle! She had a great birthday!

San Diego Zoo

Our first full day in San Diego included the San Diego Zoo! It is a wonderful zoo, with lots of animals that I have never seen before. These included Panda Bears, Polar Bears, and Koala Bears. It was pretty amazing....There was also a petting zoo, and aerial sky tram that the kids loved. It took the entire day to get through the zoo, but we all loved every minute!

Visiting San Diego!

We all had some time off for Labor Day weekend, so we decided to take one last trip before school and activities got too crazy! I think the most amazing part for the kids was the weather! After leaving the airport, we decided that it felt so good outside that we could ride with the windows down! That is just not going to happen here in Texas in August! After that, any time we got in the car, the kids wanted the windows down!