San Diego

This is another picture over load warning....I would make one of those cute little collage things that everyone is doing....if I only knew how. Enjoy!

Day 1 Sea World

This is the wave (or tsunami) that Shamu sent out way.

Yes,I sat in the soak zone. I know you are thinking "how did you sit in soak zone with your hair problems?" But I decided not to worry about it and just enjoy this trip. Oh and I purchased an $8 shamu poncho to protect my do.

I thought Tim did a good job and protecting Kayson...until I say this picture.

The little guys got soaked. He didn't mind, he just kept watching the show. Such a trooper!

Dad thinking Brad is going to make a great shield

Oops, I guess it didn't work out so well!

Happy Birthday Dad! His birthday was yesterday so we all got together at the hotel restaurant for dinner. It was GOOD food.

Day 2 Beach and San Diego Zoo

I love this picture....even though I wasn't there to enjoy it. This is kind of a sensitive post for me (only joking...a little.) The plan was for everyone to wake up this morning and head to the beach. Well, the more I got thinking about it that didn't sound like lots of fun with mr. won't sit still these days Kayson. My Mom had this great idea and says "why don't you just lay him on a blanket?" Oh man if it was only that easy....So, Tim, Bryce, Kayson and I decided to ditch the family and head to the San Diego Zoo. It was bitter sweet because I had a great time but was missing having Braiden with us and missing being with the group!
Oh well, they had a great time at the beach and we really enjoyed the zoo.

While at the beach they decided to do the skurfing or fake surfing...or something like that. Brad, Les, Braid, Brianna, Riley, Brinley and Rebecca all tried. I am not going to lie, it didn't look like much fun to me (refer to the above photo) They all loved it and couldn't stop talking about it!

And, this is Brad's lovely toe that was broken on that super fun activity. Again, not sure that looks like a super fun thing I want to be trying any time soon!

Loved the San Diego Zoo. Man, that place is massive. At one point we said "let's just take the shuttle around and hope we can see everything." Bryce (and even Kayson) really got in to it and loved the shows.

Day 3 Universal Studios

Okay so not the cutest picture of me (it didn't quite turn out like I envisioned) but the best story of the trip. Let me start off by saying "I am not prejudice!" I promise.
So Leslie and I are hanging out with the little guys while everyone went in to see Shrek 4D and I look over and see this shark. Hello, great photo shoot. So we start heading over to it. There is nobody around. Not one single person. So I get over to the bloody shark and get ready to walk up to it and BOOM, there are chinese people everywhere. They are seriously swarming me. It was a tour group and chinese people going off in chinese and wanting their picture by the shark. Ok, no big deal I was here first right? I walk up ready for the pic and 2 by 2 the chinese people started walking up with me. I waited for 2 of them....waited for 4 of them. Shoot, I think I ended up waiting for about 20 of them. Finally Leslie had enough of them butting and yelled "wait, it is her turn" One of the little chinese ladies smiled and nodded so I walk up ready for this amazing photo. I get ready to sit down and up walks this little old chinese man and stands right next to me and turns to his misses and smiles from ear to ear. Seriously, did he really not care that I was posing (literally posing) in his photo? Ugh, Leslie ends up losing it and yells (with some hand gestures) "NO, NO it is her turn. Stay back". Oh my hell, I don't think this picture was worth what we went through. And, did I add that the as soon as this group walked up to me and the shark the jaws music started playing....Dun nuh Dun nuh. I am not making this up people. It was hilarious!

I will admit it, I was like a little kid on this tour. I thought the whole thing was so cool but when we got to Wisteria Lane I lost it. I jumped up on my knees for a better view and loved every minute of that quick ride through Wisteria. I would have give anything to get off the bus and walk around!

This ride (more of a bus ride) was loud and scary at times and even a little bumpy and Kayson was not letting that mess with his nap time. He fell asleep in the line while waiting to get on the ride and slept through the whole thing. Thank goodness for Aunt Lisa!

Best picture of the trip hands down. This pretty much shows how these two spent the whole trip. Smiles, smiles and even some laughs. Dad kept saying "we are doing everything. There isn't anything we aren't going to do. This is probably my last trip to Universal so I want to do it all." And, they did do it all. I had fun watching them have fun!

Day 4 Sea World (again)

I really got my use out of this Shamu poncho. We went on the (crap, I forgot the name) crazy tube river ride and got drenched. They have machines along the way where spectators can pay a quarter and squirt the people on the ride. I think Grandpa spend $30 sitting there letting Bryce and Brighton squirt people (they were too little to ride this one).

After Sea World the kids (who am I kidding, it was Jodi) really wanted to go back to the beach. Again, I opted out with Kayson. They had a great time and Braid actually said this was one of his favorite things on the trip!

Drive Home or attempt to drive home!

Yep, that is Tim's baby on a tow truck. You are probably thinking it is on a tow truck because it is a Volkswagen but that is not the case (this time).
While driving at a high rate of speed directly behind Leslie (see, in Cali you have to follow really close while trying to follow someone or a Cali drive will jump in between you) we hit a huge piece of wood in road. Leslie was able to go around it but we were not so lucky. It was the loudest band and thank goodness Tim was able to keep his cool and keep the car in our lane.
Long story short....we got towed to a VW dealership and waited for the rest of the family to leave San Diego and come pick us up. They got to the dealership and we loaded our stuff and our bodies in everyone's car. I rode in Lisa's van with Lisa, Alex, Kayson, Braiden, Cori and Kaylee and Tim and Bryce jumped in with Jo, Brad, Ling, Sissy and Riley. Full cars make for a fun ride home!

These two were so close growing up and it is fun to see they still love each other (or maybe it was just because there was NO room on that back seat) Either way, I think this is my other favorite picture of the trip!