Monday, October 22, 2012

NaBloPoMo October Fail

Ok, so I didn't make it the whole month.  I'm a little disappointed but also kind of relieved because it was a lot of work to post about past trips with a plethora of pictures.  So I'm concluding the NaBloPoMo now instead of trying to do back dating or just picking up where I left off.  It's not worth it.  Maybe I'll try it again sometime or see if Lisa wants a go at it in the future.  In any case, it would be good for us to blog a little more when we do certain things (like go on a trip or so).

We will hopefully make a "Fall 2012" post with all our Fall activities like hiking, leaf color change, American West Heritage Center, corn maze, pumpkins, Halloween, etc etc etc.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

NaBloPoMo Day 13: San Diego! (3 of 3)

It's day 13 and I'm still a little bit behind.  This is a continuation of the last post about our San Diego trip.  Click here for the previous post and here for the first post.  My NaBloPoMo's theme for this month is "past adventures that we haven't been able to blog about as well as what's happening currently."  I originally had this post broken into about seven sections but I'll put in bold which sections the current post will be about.


July 20-21 Las Vegas and driving
July 21-22 Pacific Beach and SeaWorld
July 23 San Diego Zoo and Pacific Beach
July 24-25 SeaWorld (visit 2), Seaport Village, and San Diego Zoo (visit 2)
July 26-27 SeaWorld (visit 3) and San Diego Zoo (visit 3)
July 27-28 Coronado Island and Pacific Beach
July 28-29 Las Vegas and driving, again

I guess we didn't take many pictures on the evening of Wednesday the 25th, or in the morning/daytime of Thursday the 26th.  But Lisa and I did take a trip to SeaWorld at night on Wednesday night.  It was 9 pm and the kids were in bed, so we decided to run over to SeaWorld to try and ride their newest roller coaster, the Manta.  It was a lot of fun and we got to ride the ride three times before they closed at 10!

July 26-27 SeaWorld (visit 3) and San Diego Zoo (visit 3)

On Thursday evening we decided to go to SeaWorld and check out the night shows and just keep taking advantage of our passes to SeaWorld.  When we got there, Olsen, Olsen's Grandma, and Olsen's mom all rode the teacups.  Then Olsen and I rode Elmo's Flying Fish ride.
Olsen, Momma, and Grandma on the teacups

Momma and Olsen spinning

Olsen and Dadda ready to ride

Grandma and Jovie

After the rides, we headed over to the Bay of Play again so Jovie could be in the baby crawling area and Olsen could have fun running around.  We think the Bay of Play was both kids' favorite part of SeaWorld.
Jovie with blocks

Yellow Blocks Baby

Crawling happy baby

Olsen danced all the way to the shark tank.
Dancing Olsen


After the Shark Tank we went to the Sea Lions night show.
Olsen was happy waiting for the sea lions

Otter doing tricks

Otter on a ball

Sea Lion balancing a ball


After the Sea Lions we went to the Shamu night show and saw fireworks to end the night.  Jovie fell asleep in the excitement.
Shamu doing a backflip

Shamu greets his guests (no one wanted to get wet)



The next day, Friday the 27th, the family went to the Zoo for one last time while I was at the last day of my conference.  They finally got to see the pandas.
At the zoo with Grandma

Panda walking around


The tigers were apparently really active.
Tigers walking around




July 27-28 Coronado Island and Pacific Beach

After the zoo, they picked me up and we went over to Coronado Island.  We saw a nice view of the San Diego skyline and also saw someone with a pet monkey
San Diego skyline

We saw a pet monkey!

After touring through Coronado, we headed back home to relax and pack up for the next day.  The next day was Saturday the 28th.  We wanted to go to Pacific Beach one last time to take some pictures.
Family on the beach for one last time

Jovie and Olsen on the beach 1

Jovie and Olsen on the beach 3

Jovie baby on the beach 4

Jovie baby on the beach 8



July 28-29 Las Vegas and driving, again

Getting back on the road to head to Utah is so difficult.  Leaving beautiful and comfortable San Diego is too hard to do.  But all good things must come to an end...  We headed towards hot Las Vegas again.  We got there really early and were planning on staying the night in St. George, Utah, so we decided to stop somewhere and play for a bit.  For some reason I thought that Circus Circus would be the best place for Olsen to run around and play.

We went to Circus Circus in like 2003/2004 and saw acrobats and a large arcade.  That was what I was thinking when we pulled up.  But we ended up just "playing" in the Adventuredome, which is the world's largest indoor amusement park.  It was a pretty gigantic place but really hot and really crowded as well as really expensive.  Olsen had a good time doing the bungee trampoline thing
Olsen ready to bungee-trampoline jump

Olsen doing the bungee-trampoline jumping 3




Jovie had a good time looking at people and Olsen got to ride on a Ferris wheel
Jovie and Momma in the Adventuredome

Olsen on the Ferris Wheel

Olsen got a funny hat (and tried on others)
Olsen trying on hats

Olsen tries on Merlin hat

Just before we left, we saw a clown doing tricks


Clown in the Adventuredome 5

After Las Vegas, we stopped for the night in St. George and finally made it home the next day.  It was a super long drive.

Friday, October 12, 2012

NaBloPoMo Day 12: San Diego! (2 of 3)

It's day 12 and I'm a little bit behind.  This is a continuation of the last post about our San Diego trip.  Click here for the previous post.  My NaBloPoMo's theme for this month is "past adventures that we haven't been able to blog about as well as what's happening currently."  I originally had this post broken into about seven sections but I'll put in bold which sections the current post will be about.


July 20-21 Las Vegas and driving
July 21-22 Pacific Beach and SeaWorld
July 23 San Diego Zoo and Pacific Beach
July 24-25 SeaWorld (visit 2), Seaport Village, and San Diego Zoo (visit 2)
July 26-27 SeaWorld (visit 3) and San Diego Zoo (visit 3)
July 27-28 Coronado Island and Pacific Beach
July 28-29 Las Vegas and driving, again

Following up from the last post, it's Monday, July 23rd.  I had to go to my conference today while the rest of the family went out and had fun (but that was the point of them coming).

July 23 San Diego Zoo and Pacific Beach

They all went to the famous San Diego Zoo.  We hadn't gone to the zoo since 2005.  Lisa, Olsen, and Olsen's grandmother all got week-long passes to the Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, and SeaWorld.  They got to see monkeys, orangutans, gorillas, lizards, hippos, sleeping babies, polar bears, and sea lions.  Jovie's favorite animal were the hippos.  She was very excited to see them swimming around the tank and kept saying, "wook! wook!"
Olsen by the monkeys at the zoo

Olsen comparing his hands to that of an Orangutan

Olsen tackles an ape

Gorilla eating lettuce

Olsen checking out some colorful lizards

Hippo in the water

Jovie got pretty tired at the zoo

Jovie and Grandma get eaten by a polar bear

Olsen with a sea lion

They also got to see a Chinese dragon parade.  Olsen really wanted to take a picture with the acrobats but had a super serious face on when it was finally his turn to pose.
Serious-Olsen poses with the dragon




Olsen found some goats that he could pet and brush.
Olsen with his goat

Olsen brushes his goat


Olsen and his goat



Later that day when I came home from my conference, we all decided to go down and play at the beach.  Jovie had a great time playing on the water and in the sand.
Jovie likes the water

Jovie splashing at the beach

Olsen wanted to try out his boogie board.
Olsen hops on his boogie board

Olsen boogie boarding

One really funny moment was when a humongous wave came and just ate up Jovie.  See the series of pictures here.
Hear comes a huge wave! Jovie doesn't know what's about to happen Jovie gets ambushed by a huge wave Jovie is missing -- inside the wave

Jovie got pretty wet, to say the least.
Wet baby and wet Momma

Wet baby on the beach

Olsen continued to work on his boogie board.
Olsen boogieing

Olsen tackles a wave

Boogie boy and beach baby



July 24-25 SeaWorld (visit 2), Seaport Village, and San Diego Zoo (visit 2)

The next day, the family went to SeaWorld when I went to my conference.  They went to the shark tank, saw sea lions, played in an ice cave, rode a tram, and got to meet Elmo.  Olsen also had a caricature drawn of him.  We were a little disappointed in it, since we feel that he is much cuter than the caricature showed.  They also went to a little 4D Sesame Street movie that Olsen loved.
The shark tube

Sea lions

Olsen in the ice

Olsen and Grandma riding together

Olsen met Elmo

After my conference, I was picked up and taken to Seaport Village.  It was a nice day for walking along  the coast.
Olsen looks through the telescope

We went to the carousel.  Only Olsen got to ride but Jovie had fun watching
Stroller baby

Olsen and Dadda on the carousel 1

Oh, and today, the 24th, is also his birthday!
Olsen get a present for his birthday!



The next day, Wednesday, the 25th, the family went to the zoo again, taking advantage of their week long pass.  They got to see a hula hoop demonstration and try some hula hoops out.
Olsen checking out the hula hoops

Grandma with Olsen




Olsen got to see some giraffes, ride a bird, saw a huge elephant statue, got stomped on by an elephant statue, and ride a saber tooth tiger.
Olsen and giraffes

Olsen riding a bird thing

Olsen and Jovie and an elephant

Olsen was destroyed...

Olsen riding a saber tooth tiger


Here are all the pictures from our trip to San Diego.