Burgers and Fries

This last weekend, our little family ventured out to dinner. We decided to try a new little place known as "Five Guys Burger and Fries" Apparently it is new to the area and is quite big in the East. It has won several food awards. The was quite a line to order (probably due to the fact that it just opened within the month) and the dining room was filled. They were quick to move everyone through. Their regular size hamburgers were...double decker, homemade, extremely delicious, and tummy stuffing. The "little hamburgers" were just singles, I probably should have ordered that one. The toppings for the burgers was huge, and all free. None of this 1 topping free, 50 cents for each additional topping. But if you don't order it, you don't get it. The "Large Fries" were just that, Large, enough for our whole family, and fresh (You know it by the bags and bags of Idaho potatoes that double as part of the dining room). While you wait for your food, they have boxes of peanuts for you to snack on. It is not In-N-Out Burger, but it was fantastic. If you have the chance, find one and try. Delicious!!

Day 6 and 7

Friday: San Diego Zoo
For our last full day in San Diego, we spent one last time at the Zoo. First off, we took the Skyfari down to see the Polar Bears. Apparently they are supposed to be more active in the morning. Not so, they were hanging around eating carrots. After watching them for a little while, long enough to apply sunscreen, we made our way back through the artic aviary, the hippos, and took the bus ride again. Afterwards we ate lunch before entering the Children's Zoo. This was a favorite among the kiddies. They have places to have your picture taken as various animals or characters. My favorite was the fly stuck in a spider's web. They have a small petting zoo with rabbits, goats, sheep, with cows and pigs in a pen. I thought lil' L would be a bit timid about the animals, but after petting a rabbit, he was happy to chase around the goats. The children's zoo also has a great viewing area of otters. They were happily swimming about when we went through. We walked down Bear Canyon. During this walk downhill, lil' L fell asleep. I walked down with him behind me rolling backwards, to keep him laid back. He slept the entire time down the hill, while we shopped for a few minutes and most of the way back up the hill through Cat Canyon. Boy, was he tired. I love seeing all the bears and cats! We walked through the Giraffes and Elephants. By this time, about 3 p.m., F wanted to go back and see the Polar Bears one last time. This would entail a skyfari ride, walk down a steep hill, see the polar bears for the 3rd time at the zoo (5th if you count Sea World), a walk up the steep hill, and one last skyfari ride. I had to be the big bad parent and say no. lil' K had already spent a good amount of time telling us she was tired of walking. Therefore, no last look at the Polar Bears. Instead we headed out to Mission Beach. The children played in the sand for a little while, (still only content with the dry sand) until time for dinner at In-N-Out Burger. F has had a shirt since his mission, that is more or less falling apart, so I bought him a new shirt for his souvenir. On our way back to the hotel, we exited the freeway and went to the temple grounds. The kids were most fascinated with running on the soft grass. We talked with a missionary for a few minutes. She showed lil' K pictures of the Temple. When we got back to the hotel, guess what!?! One more dip in the pool. After putting the kids to bed, F and I packed up our stuff. Saturday morning, we ate breakfast, cleaned up and headed to return our car. We got to the airport about 2.5 hours before our flight was scheduled to leave. We got checked in and went up to the security check. There were not many people in line, about 50 people ahead of us. We had been in line just a few minutes, when they stopped moving people through. TSA couldn't tell us anything but that no one was going through and that no planes were coming or going. We waited, watched the line grow longer and longer behind us. Pretty soon, they were evacuating the terminal. All employees, people ready to board, even some planes. TSA was squeezing people down the stairs, over a sky walk, any place they could. We happened to be at the right spot. The people behind us in line, were pushed back to open a walk way to the stairs, which was filled with people who came out of the terminal, meaning we kept our place in line. We heard that TSA had pulled a bag to be checked, at the same time their system froze, and the person with the bag disappeared. It got to be such a big deal, the news showed up. I was hoping to get an on camera interview as weary traveller, but I don't think I looked weary enough. The wait ended up being an hour before they moved people through again, and also to not ever find the missing bag/person. We got to our gate about 10 minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave, but of course they couldn't because we were some of the first passengers there. They figured it would be 40-45 minutes before they could even think about it. They were close. 45 minutes later, security still had 2-3 hundred people to get through security. Overall, we were delayed an hour. Not too bad, but I certainly would not like to do that again with the kids. I do have to say, they did really well being in cramped quarters filled with people. We had others comment on how behaved they are. I was quite impressed, but was even happier to get on a plane. lil' L ended up falling asleep as we took off and didn't wake until we had landed. This made for an uncomfortable flight for F, he was the one holding lil' L the whole time. The trip was a blast! So much fun, it was the first big vacation we have taken as a family which did not include extended family.
Pictures on the Left side: Polar Bears; lil' L sleeping peacefully; Spider K and Fly L; lil' K and lil' L at the Temple; The kids swimming.
Pictures on the Right side: Kid on the hippo statue; Big...big bear; Petting zoo; Good looking couple we found at the beach; The same good looking couple at the Temple.

Day 5 - It's not over yet!

Thursday: Sea World - - Again!!

For the second day of Sea World, F and I wanted to do something special for the kids. We found a breakfast at Sea World that we thought the kids would really enjoy. We were right. The kids had no idea, just that we would be having breakfast at Sea World, and did not find out what was going on until we got there. The big surprise: Breakfast with Elmo and Friends! Both of the kids were in absolute shock. Our family took pictures with Elmo and Big Bird; they also had Cookie Monster, Ernie, Telly and Zoe walking around mingling with the patrons and singing songs. They had a wonderful breakfast buffet filled with fruit salad, french toast, eggs, fruits, dry cereal, bacon, sausage, muffins, several juices, milk, etc. Quite filling and tasty. The kids could hardly eat because they were so enthralled by the characters. All lil' L wanted to do was feel their fur or feathers. We were able to take some fruit, juice, and a few other things with us to snack on later. As we headed to our next destination, we stopped to see the dolphins, the trainers were there performing some training (they have a newer dolphin) They told everyone to step back because they could get wet. Well, apparently one lady was above all this. She was told a few times to back away from the tank, only to move forward again! We also finally saw the Shamu show "Believe" It was so hot sitting in the sun during the shows! I had a blast using our camera during the show. It has a continuous shot feature, which means I can hold the shutter button down and will take multiple pics in a row. Which, now I have a lot of pictures of the whales jumping out of the water. Other highlights of the day, watching the sea turtles swim and lounge around. It fun to see them move from the sand into the water. We also finally got to see the Elmo 4-D show. Both children liked it until the were sprayed with water. Not bad the first time, especially since they didn't see it coming, but after about 4 times, lil' L traded to Dad for safety. We had to see the penguins and Wild Artic again. F was going to try and take lil' K on the simulated helicopter ride, but she didn't want to, so we did the walk through again, still fun. To finish off our second day at Sea World, we watched the Pets Rule! show featuring dogs, cats, ducks, and even a pig. Kind of fun to see the tricks. Because of my kicking and screaming, we rode on the little kiddie rides they have in the Sesame Street Bay of Play. We opted out of the water rides, reason: little ones and not wanting to be soaked all day. It was a {heck} of a day at Sea {World}, Sir! We headed back to the hotel for leftover pizza, and once again, the pool. I took the kids to the pool while F picked up some Subway sandwiches for lunch tomorrow and picked up some sweet rolls for breakfast.

Pictures on the Left side: Fam with Big Bird; lil' K with dolphin; Shamu; lil' K on the dogfish

Pictures on the Right side: lil' L and Ernie (don't let the expression fool you); Sea Turtle; Family admiring Sea Turtles; lil' L smashing lil' K as we wait for a ride.

Day 4

Wednesday: Wild Animal Park
We headed up to Escondido to the Wild Animal Park. The first thing we did after battling through school children, was head to see the lion cubs. F and I each had a map, yet there are two places marked for the lions. F lead the way. I was lost on the map because I was looking at the other location. We got to where it said the lions were, but they were not there. One tiger, but no lions. I showed F there was another place, so we headed there. Sure enough, a few lionesses and seven lion cubs. The cubs are a few months old and are about the size of a dog. Their legs and paws are massive! After watching the lion cubs, we took the new tram ride. We had to wait in line for about 20 minutes, but lil' L found ways to keep himself entertained. For example, doing chin-ups on the railing, okay, just swinging, but he was content for most of the waiting. I love seeing all of the animals in a more natural setting! In the African Savannah, the animals are mixed together. Gazelles, rhinos, wildebeests, giraffes, etc. all together. They are placed in an enclosure adjacent to the lions and cheetahs. This helps to stimulate natural behaviors. Last year, there were wild fires in the vicinity, but did not burn any of the park. However, the wind blew down nearly 150 trees in this enclosure, the park is in the process of replacing the trees they lost. This is the only day we spent at the park, so we had to keep moving to ensure we saw everything. One thing definitely on our list was to feed the Lorikeets. These small birds are people friendly. We purchased some nectar for F and lil' K. lil' K was so brave. She walked in with her head held high, fingers tightly gripping her nectar cup. Two birds came to her and she stood so still, I am amazed at how well she did. lil' L on the other hand, cried. He wanted nothing to do with the birds. F held some nectar while I held lil' L. F had birds all over him. One was on his shoulder and the backpack. When it was my turn, I had two land on my arm. I think one was the bully because he wouldn't let the other get anything and no other bird would come to me. I shook him off and I got a few others to come. We all had a blast! We saw some more animals and stopped for lunch. One of my favorite animals we saw (besides the lion cubs) were the elephant calves. Later that day, when we rode on the carosel, I was going to sit next to lil' K, but as I got her strapped, this little boy ran up and sat next to her. He had to have the zebra, which is also what his face was painted to look like. He kept lil' K entertained by talking to her the whole ride. I sat on a panda next to lil' L. After the carosel, we again headed back to take the tram again and see the lion cubs. On the ride we got a really good look of the black rhino they have, who is pregnant and due anytime. The lion cubs were really active playing around. We got upclose and personal with them. Their enclosure has a big glass wall to see them. As we walked up to the glass, a lion cub came right to the glass! So close, lil' L backed up thinking the cub would get too close. What a day! Tonight for dinner, we had to have another one of F's favorite California eateries, El Pollo Loco (I have heard this restaurant has expanded to outside of Cali.) Good food. Once again, back at the hotel, we rested our tired feet in the hotel pool. All of the parks close around 5 p.m. which is perfect for grabbing dinner and time at the pool, and the bonus, the kids can get to bed on time!!


Pictures on the Left side: Lion cub; F and lil' L on tram ride; lil' K and Lorikeet; Me with Lorikeets
Pictures on the Right side: lil' L swinging; F and kids with the savannah behind them; F and Lorikeet; Elephant Calf

Day 3

Tuesday: San Diego Zoo

lil' L didn't sleep well last night, he was coughing all night and I woke up with head congestion, therefore on our way to the Zoo, we stopped by the grocery store for medicine for both of us. Today, we walked around seeing all of the fun animals,

especially the ones we don't see at our local zoo. We bought passes through Costco, which was awesome. The passes included the free rides on the Skyfari (the sky ride) and the bus tour. F was so excited to see the polar bears, unfortunately they were never in the water. We also loved seeing the hippos. Two animals we hope will come back to our zoo (apparently polar bears are currently in the works) I really enjoyed seeing the Koalas. Because of my cold I couldn't smell the eucalyptus, which is my favorite, bummer. We smartened up at lunch time, lil' L, lil' K and I split two kids meals (They are quite expensive) so they could each have a souvenir bucket and cup. They were more than enough food. (At Sea World, the kids both got their own kids meal, F and I got our own food, and ended up with a big bill and leftovers.) Their kids meals have a hamburger, chips, raisins, animal crackers and a drink. The kids split one hamburger and shared everything else. Plus, one less meal to buy. Other animals we loved and saw. The panda bears, even though there was long line (but not as long as when we passed it later) and you have to be quiet, which is hard to do with two small kids, one of which doesn't understand. When we got to the pygmy hippos, the main attraction for lil' L was the fish. He loves fish, if you can't tell from the big smile on his face. I was shocked he even turned around for his picture. On the way to see the monkeys and apes, they have section filled with statues of gorillas. They have gorillas laying down, playing, etc. Lil' L was fascinated with the one of a mother and her baby. He would stick is hand in the gorillas hand and also in the mouth. It was hard to pull him away from the gorillas. We did have one adventure today. Along with others, we stopped to watch the orangutans. A mother and baby cuddled in a tree, a few scattered around, and then this "couple." They were playing around, and one began doing somersaults along the glass. Everyone is laughing and enjoying, when to our surprise the other follows her, and well, let's just say it was "raw" nature. I don't think any of the children knew what was going on, but many of the adults got quite a laugh about what was going on. Some parents grabbed their children and hurried away. As the two were by our children, the female was knocking on the glass, our little boy, knocked back. I am grateful we did not have to answer the question, "What are they doing?" Overall, it was a fantastic day at the zoo. The weather was completely gorgeous and a lot of fun. After leaving the zoo, we headed into Old Town. We walked around for a little while before heading to dinner at Pizza Bella. I was feeling horrible, even though I had taken more medicine. I laid down on the table until dinner came, and I still couldn't eat much. We took about half of it back to the hotel, and thankfully, our place had a small kitchen with a fridge and a microwave, dinner for another night. F was kind enough to take care of the kiddies back at the hotel, while I slept for a little while. Before I knew it, I was awoken to children in the pjs ready to say good night. Another great day of vacation!!

Pictures on the Left side: Sleeping koala; Munching panda; F with children on Gorilla statue

Pictures on the Right side: Children on polar bear; lil' L excited about fish; lil' K and lil' L

Day 2

Monday: SEA WORLD!!
For Memorial Day, we chose Sea World. Being a major holiday, it was not too crowded. We got to Sea World close to 10 a.m., starting off by seeing the Anheiser-Busch Clydesdales and their one donkey (from the commercials, who wanted to be a clydesdale) I cannot believe how big those horses are! Our next stop was the Wild Artic. This attraction has a helicopter simulation ride. F was going to take lil' K, but the line was long, so we did the "walk through." In here are beluga whales, seals, polar bears, and walruses.

The attraction is set up as if you are at a remote research station, as you walk through there are cargo boxes, food, luggage, research computers, hanging laundry. There is also a wall made of ice, people place their hands on it to leave a handprint, others pushed pennies into the wall.

The children both loved to touch it. We all took a little walk through some polar bear caves.

Next, off to see the penguins and my favorites, the puffins. It amazes me how the basically swim through the waters.

Sea World, not only has various animals, but also is well known for their "shows." The first show we saw for the day was the Dolphin Discovery show, this features bottle nose dolphins and pilot whales. All the dolphins do is jump around, splash, and other various tricks with the trainer. F did not putting sunscreen on his legs, it was quite apparent that night it was a mistake. The tops of his knees were bright read (from sitting at the shows) .Whenever I go through the Shark Encounter, I flash back to scenes of "Jaws," Does anyone else do this? In Shark Encounter, you walk through seeing different aquariums filled with different fish, sea life, and various species of sharks. To end the "encounter" is a moving walkway through an underwater tunnel, with sharks swimming overhead. This is when I picture "Jaws 3" where Jaws gets trapped in Sea World, and people caught in the underwater tunnel. The people who were walking behind us also had a small child with them, who screamed from the moment they entered the tunnel until they exited. Our children were fascinated with it all.

By this time, we were all getting hungry. We stopped for lunch and suited up for more. The second half of the day, we got in line to see the "Elmo 4-D" show. As we waited in the hot sun, the preview movie started and stalled. We waited with no explanation. At least 10 minutes later, they led us into the theater. The movie began and again stalled no more than 2 minutes in. We ended up being escorted out saying it was broken. So, whe went to feed the sea lions (lil' L fell asleep in his stroller) and to play at the new "Sesame Street Bay of Play." lil' K and I climbed the cargo nets and running around while F stayed with the sleeping child. After this, F took lil' K on one of their new kiddie ride, Oscar's Rockin' Eel. lil' L woke up and played in the playground and wanted to follow Bert and Ernie around. We then saw the "Clyde and Seamore, Sea Lion show" and the flamingoes, salt water aquarium filled with various fish, including eels (yuck!) They also have a great tidepool, which houses several sea stars. I showed lil' K how to hold them and let her pick one up. She and her bro also experiences the rays. We were lucky enough to have a few swim close enough for us to touch, without dropping the children in the pool. Quite a day at Sea World! Back again to the hotel for relaxing our feet in the pool.

Pictures on Left side: Polar bear at Wild Artic; Polar bears lil' K and me; F, lil' L and lil' K waiting for Elmo 4-D; F and lil' K on Oscar's Rockin' Eel; lil' K holding a sea star; The Clyde and Seamore show.

Pictures on Right side: lil' K's hand on the icy wall; Dolphin Discovery show; Shark Encounter; Sea Lion waiting to be fed; F and lil' K with flamingoes in the background.

San Diego - Day 1

We arrived, by airplane, on a Saturday afternoon. The kids did absolutely fabulous. Minor crying, but not to the point we were asked to never fly again. Our shuttle took us to our car rental place. As we walked out to our car, the rep. with us asked, "We can upgrade you to a mini-van or a SUV if you might be more comfortable." Us? I wonder what could have given this man the impression we might like a mini-van?

Was it
A: the two small children?
B: all the suitcase we were towing?

C: the fact we also had two carseats? or

D: All of the above?

Nope. No mini-vans for us. I respectfully declined. I say we got a better deal. A 2008 Toyota Avalon Touring, leather interior. Quite the sweet ride. I could get used to this.

After we got to our hotel, we found some lunch, settled in a bit by going to the pool. Ahh, kiddie pools. Both of the children loved it. We met a nice little family there, they asked for our room number and told us theirs. For what? I don't know. Maybe to "get together." Never did see them again. We grocery shopped for bottled water and some food for breakfast and snacks. Off to bed, but lil' L didn't sleep very well. He was up coughing and ended up in our bed.

Sunday: Point Loma Lighthouse, Cabrillo National Park, and Coronado Isle.
F and I accidentally stumbled upon this lighthouse/national park when we were on our honeymoon a few years back. Both of us thought it would be fun to bring the kids and have a low key activity for Sunday.
We made the short walk and enjoyed looking off the coast and walking through the lighthouse.

I loved experimenting with the black and white on the camera. I think the picture of the staircase of the lighthouse was awesome. We learned about

WWII and the bunkers and cannons housed in the area to protect our lands. We also found lizards running everywhere (There are 2 in the pic with lil'K in the bottom left corner) lil' L was afraid of them. We spotted about 10 lizards. After the lighthouse, we headed to the visitor center and the statue of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, a spanish explorer. In this park, there are also some tidepools. We walked down the rocks and got our feet wet. Tried to get the children used to the waves. They were not a huge fan, which is exactly why lil' L is not in the water.

By this time, we were beat, but after a wonderful afternoon siesta at our hotel, we were ready to hit the town again. This time, off to Coronado. Another place we had visited on the honeymoon. We walked the beach looking for shells. We found plenty and also a few broken sand dollars. When it comes to the beach, the children would rather play in the sand than touch the water. Therefore that is just what happend, they played in the sand and lil' L even tried to eat it. He loved it when I buried his feet and asked were his toes were. Then he would wiggle them and break free.

F loved watching the pelicans fly around, then dive into the water and catch fish. He's a nature man. As we ventured along the beach, we found a crab. Not our children, but a real crab. When we felt we had enough for one day and the dinner bell had rung, we loaded up our stuff and made our way to our favorite California eatery - In-n-Out burger, YUM! Back to the hotel for more sleep and preparing for a big week!

Pictures on Left side: Staircase in lighthouse; lil' K and lizards; lil' K and I at the tidepools; crab; and lil' L enjoying the sand

Pictures on Right side: Point Loma Lighthouse; lil' K and lil' L gaze off into the ocean (note: they are standing behind a pole and I caught them for the split second they were not playing "ring around the rosie"; F with children at tidepool; the fam, take note of who is touching water and those who are not)