Douglas Family News: November 2011

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Last Day in San Diego

On our final day in San Diego, the kids woke up nice and early. So, we managed to get up, get everyone fed, showered, bathed and all packed up and out of the hotel by 9:00am. After that we headed downtown to do a little walking along the waterfront to see the sights. Karen and Katya met up with us too. Then we did some playing and resting at their house (notice I didn't say sleeping) before heading to the airport. Everything appeared to be on time and we boarded on schedule ... THEN, we sat on the plane for 45 minutes due to some mechanical problem. Then, they made everyone get off the plane and, long story short, we left 3.5 hours later than planned. The kids were fantastic and handled it all very well. Other passengers even complimented them. We were very proud!

Stopping for a snack by the fish market

USS Midway and an absolutely awesome statue

Jason, Alia and Katya stopping for a little break along our way

In Katya's defense, I said make a silly face :-)

Our attempt at getting a picture with all 4 of us in it!

Sea World - Day 2

The big excitement on our second day at Sea World was that Jason decided to take Max on the "Elmo's Flying Fish" ride. Max was pretty laid back the whole time and then as soon as they came off, it was clear that it was a big hit. He'd point and clap his hands and generally get very excited every time it started going again. They ended up going twice. Alia was a little concerned about the whole process. She gave them both a big hug when they came off of the ride. She also clearly stated that she MIGHT go on that ride when she's 4, but right now she is just 2 so she won't.

Daddy and Max on Max's first amusement park ride

Lunch break ... lots of fun makes for hungry kids

Daddy decided to go on a grown up ride too ... Alia, Max and I watched.

Alia and Daddy way up high checking out the view

Max enjoying a little snack after a stroller nap

We ran into some friends while we were at Sea World! What are the odds?!

Playground Fun

The third day in San Diego was a complete rain out. It poured all day long! We went over and played with cousin Katya in the morning, napped and then went downtown for dinner that night. The following day was absolutely gorgeous. We went back to our day one plan and spent the early morning playing at the park and then went back to Sea World for round 2.

Kicking and playing and being silly

Some climbing with a little help from Daddy

Daddy had fun at the park too ... (I managed to try this and no one took a picture :-)

Both kids love to swing ... Alia likes to hardly move at all and just hang out. Max craves a little more action. You can tell just by looking at the faces in this picture. So funny!

Max and Daddy on a funny little rotating seat thingy

How cute is that look on his face? Seriously!

Taking a break to shake the sand out of Alia's shoes

Riding the purple dinosaur, with a little help from Mommy. Alia was happy just hanging out on there. Max was bouncing and making all the movement happen.

Chasing after the pigeons signing bird and yelling "bu!"

San Diego Zoo

On Day 2 of our trip we went to the San Diego Zoo with Karen and Katya! We met up in the morning, Zoo-ed for a while and then attempted to go back to the hotel to take naps. That didn't work out so well, so we went back to the zoo in the afternoon. We saw lots of neat animals that we don't have at our zoo and even rode the Skyfari. Alia wasn't wild about it, but she did it and we were really proud of her!

Aunt Karen, Alia, Max and Cousin Katya checking out the Koala bears

Silly girls with Jason eating rice cakes under the elephant statue at approximately 11:11am on 11-11-11. Pretty neat!

Our little monkey, being a monkey in front of the monkeys

It's hard work walking around the zoo. Sometimes you just have to sit down and take a break ... right in the middle of the road!

Sea World - Day 1

Our first full day in San Diego was spent at Sea World. We saw a couple of shows, lots of animals and discovered a great little play area there. We borrowed a stroller and a backpack carrier from Karen, Eric and Katya. It was so wonderful! We had Max in the backpack for most of the morning and then put him in the stroller so that he could take a nap. Alia was able to ride in the stroller when she got tired of walking or when we had a long way to go. It was great!

We saw one of the killer whale shows right before lunch. Alia was interested but I think was overwhelmed by the big "stadium", all the people, lights, music, giant tvs etc. Max was more interested in trying to climb the stairs, get on top of the benches and chasing the pigeons! However, it was very cool!

We were all absolutely starving by lunch time. We inhaled a ridiculous amount of food!

Alia enjoyed the sea turtles. "Hello turtles! How ya doing in there?"

The "Sesame Street Bay of Play" was a big hit with both kids. Lots of neat things to run around, bounce on and little kids rides.

Max passed out in the stroller after lunch. I walked him around to keep him asleep while Jason and Alia went to see a dolphin show.

Alia LOVED playing in the little bouncy area!

A fun, big girl treat while Max was napping!

After naps and snacks Max was happy to get out of the stroller and run around a bit. He was a complete wild man on the loose ... he laughed and ran and fell over then got up and did it again!

More bouncy fun!

San Diego

Let me begin by assuring you that I have lots of pictures of our trip and there will be SEVERAL blog posts :-) We had a great time on our vacation! The kids did very well on the plane rides - even with a 3 hour delay on the way home. For the most part, the hotel room sharing thing went well, although there was not nearly as much sleeping as usual. Overall, we think that San Diego should be a regular vacation destination for us. We had so much fun and there was so much left undone!

On our first full day in San Diego the kids woke up and were ready to go long before anything opened up, so we went to Balboa Park to walk around, take it in and enjoy the beautiful weather before heading to Sea World for the day.

After breakfast each morning, we would go back to the room and Jason would help the kids say hello to San Diego out the window :-)

In the kids part of the room, there were bunk beds. Alia slept on the bottom bunk and Max slept in a pack n play, but Alia really enjoyed climbing up on top and hanging out.