Emma Goes to Sea World San Diego (2016)

Back when I was pregnant with Addison, we decided that we needed to take Emma on a trip....a just her with mommy and daddy trip. The questions popped up.....should we go to Disneyland....Lake Tahoe....Monterey Bay...etc etc etc. After perusing many a travel site and shopping all the deals we decided to go to Sea World. Darin and I had never been together and it was a great opportunity for our family to experience something new together. We spent two nights down in San Diego and did all things Sea World related.


Day one was a drive day. We managed to get down the state in about 3.5 hours. Just in time to check into the hotel and mosey over to Sea World for lunch and a half day of piddling around the park. Let me tell you....IT WAS HOT! I wanted to climb into the stroller with Emma to get some shade. We kept cool by going through all the exhibits and seeing all the fish. We also watched the dolphin show, which Emma fell asleep watching. Poor thing, the sun will do that to you.

 

After getting all of our ocean fill in at the park, Darin wanted to take me to the resort that he stayed at as a child. We parked at the resort and had a wonderful dinner with a live band. Emma didn't want to eat her dinner because she wanted to go and play and dance with all the other kids in the restaurant. Also I think she wanted to climb right on top of the subwoofer and play the guitar with the musicians. After dinner we took a walk along the wharf and watched the sunset amongst the boats.

  

 

 

 

 

Day Two was planned as a full day inside Sea World. We planned to do all the things that we didn't do the day before. Emma's favorite exhibit was by far the shark exhibit. She stared at the majestic creatures for at least 45 minutes. We were ok with it because it was in air conditioning. This preggo mama needed to stay cool and it seemed extra hot down at the wharf. The next favorite thing, I think it was more mommies favorite, was the tour of the park. We paid for a tour and we got to see exhibits and animals that were recued off our coastline and are being rehabilitated as well. One of the dolphins just gave birth and we were able to see the little baby swimming around. It was so cute. We also saw some penguins that were not for public view and lots of other interesting things about the park. After the tour we went and sat for the Orca show. Since that summer was the last summer of "traditional Sea World" animal shows we knew we had to get the last show in before we called it for the trip. It did not disappoint! Emma ooed and aahed through the whole show. She even saw a real life "Bailey" the beluga whale (Finding Dory reference). It was so cool to see how agile those gigantic creatures can be! We fed some sea turtles after dinner and just thoroughly enjoyed our family trip!

Annnnd finally and favorite joke from Darin and I. Because Emma loved the shark exhibit so much we needed to go home with a souvenir. We wandered through each and every store looking for the perfect one. We found this shark and we put an "I love Dolphins" sweatshirt on it, because that's our sense of humor! For the next 60 years Darin and I will forever giggle and the stuffed shark with the sweatshirt!

Family Photo Shoot and a Visit 2016

We had a wonderful visitor back in March. My stepmom flew in from Florida to spend a week with us. To see our home and explore our town and just spend time with us. We had a great time exploring our little town on the first day shopping for her summer rental properties in Montana finding cute antique wall decor, going to the train museum and having lunch. We spent our evenings snuggled under blankets and watching MMC and other kid friendly shows.

We went and had wings in tribute and tradition, laughed, reminisced and talked all about how big Emma is and how great living in our area is going to be for her. We went to the park and played with all the kiddos and even had a meal with my parents to celebrate her visit, and Daryl got a sewing tutorial and made some of her own wall hangings for the rental.

We also trekked out to our old stomping grounds to have a photoshoot with our favorite photographer. She took our family photos last year, that I inadvertently forgot to post here! OOPS! She moved out of state, but would be in town that weekend and I thought that it would be perfect timing to have a nice family shoot with Daryl since we have never gotten professional photo's done. She got some wonderful shots and too many to post so here is a snippet.

We always love spending time with Daryl and are always sad to see her go. I cant wait for our next adventure together!

First Trip and the Custom Cradle

When little miss was about 10 days old we went to spent a couple of days up at my parents house. It was of course just a quick and relaxing trip and we didn't go anywhere but my dad (Papa) hadn't met Emma yet and we just felt that we needed to go. We of course brought the camera, but most of the photo's ended up on my mom's cell phone so I don't have many shots! It was great to visit with my parents and of course this is when we discovered the dairy intolerance also. It was wonderful to introduce her to Gracie, my parents 70 pound boxer who was super protective over her all weekend. So adorable. Emma also got to be a part of her first party! Her daddy turned 31 so we had a cake and candles and sang him happy birthday! He told me that Miss Emma was the best birthday present I could have given him! <3

Sleeping with Grandma

Snuggling with Papa

Happy Birthday Daddy

Gracie on watch

We did end up getting great shots of a truly special gift that Emma received at the baby shower. My uncle built a custom cradle for her. It's truly an amazing piece of furniture. Of course my mom proceeded to make a custom mattress and bumper pads for it in my favorite colors...grey! We like to put her in it when she catnaps and it will be a perfect place for her to rock her own baby dolls to sleep when shes older! I can't believe that this beautiful piece of carpentry belongs to her!

I know that we have many more adventures to come and we can't wait!!!!

Lake Tahoe Vacation (Part Two)

We're coming to a close on our anniversary vacation. The hubby is packing his suitcase as I write this (mine gets re-packed every time I take something out or put something in.) I figured I could give you a little recap of our last couple of days.

The smoke was gone until Saturday night and then it returned. It was sad, but it was still a great trip. Saturday we spent most of the afternoon talking and enjoying time with D's grandparents before we headed into Reno for their annual Rib Fest. We went to The Summit (an outdoor mall) for a little shopping first. Once at rib fest we people watched, listened to country music and of course ate ribs. We met up with both of D's cousins and just enjoyed each others company. We also got our first pair of cowboy hats. Albeit cheap and fake non-authentic, they still work and can be used for years to come! Bring on a country concert!

Sunday was our anniversary. We awoke and went to a local casino for breakfast with the family and then managed to get in some gambling as well. D's grandma was the only one with luck that day as she won well over two hundred bucks. I managed to last on $10 for about an hour but eventually lost it. Next stop was a local feed type store where we ALMOST bought cowboy boots. They didn't have the hubs size, so we will visit Boot Barn when we get home. D is turning into Johnny Cash, you know "the man in black." He continues to want all things in black. It's pretty funny. We went back to the house for happy hour then made our way to Reds 395 for a makeup 21st and anniversary dinner. I'll have to tell you another time about D's 21st birthday. We preceded to have the saltiest chicken wings ever, and were disappointed that they weren't like The Abbey, but honestly no wings compare to the wings we get in Florida. After we just had a nice relaxing evening playing cards and visiting.

Oh I forgot to share with you. We did manage to find the spot and take an "after" photo. I did a side by side comparison and belly laughed looking at it. It's obvious to me that our styles haven't changed that much when looking at the photo and we haven't nearly the identical outfits on that we did 11 years ago. I smile now remembering how far we have come and still love each other so much.

Hope you all have a safe and happy Labor Day. We will be bearing the traffic trying to get home with everyone else!

Lake Tahoe Vacation (Part One)

The hubby and I took several days off work for our anniversary. This year we decided to come up north to Lake Tahoe to visit D's grandparents. Thursday we took the six hour drive up to Carson City, but when we passed the lake we were greeted with the smoke from the great Rim fire that is burning in the Yosemite mountains. The haze was pretty thick around the lake and when we got into Carson city it was worse. We went to the store for happy hour supplies and then went and spend the rest of the afternoon playing with the pup and having a nice dinner with D's grandparents, mom and cousin. Then we went to rent Big Wedding, saw some wildlife that have made their way down the mountains to escape the smoke.

Friday we went to breakfast and played a little slots. My lucky mother-in-law was already up $200. We took a drive into Lake Tahoe and had lunch at a hopping spot called The Beacon. Some drinks and a lite lunch while listening to music and enjoying the view was perfect. The wind blew the smoke out toward the east and it ended up being a perfect afternoon. We drove into Emerald Bay and got some pretty scenery shots for Instagram and some on my little point and shoot. We did a little shopping and toyed with the idea of going to see the Brad Paisley concert that was being held at Harvey's casino. We decided that we didn't have time and just went to have dinner and to see We're the Millers, which I actually enjoyed. While the hubs was waiting for us to get the movie tickets he put a $5 in a penny slot. He hit the spin button, won a game and walked away with $100. Lucky! We did a little gambling after the movie and the went back to crash out.

Stay tuned for more updates from the trip! Happy Labor Day weekend!