Is this San Diego?

We survived our first family vacation/weekend away! The girls were excellent travelers and I am so proud of them! The trip down took a little over 3 hours (with one potty break). All the way down they asked "does that sign say San Diego?" I think at one point they thought just the hotel was San Diego. Our hotel was great- the girls quickly referred to it as our "home" and didn't want to leave it- even to go eat. (They did have some interesting versions of saying "hotel"- inlcuding our favorite- showtel) The best part about our hotel- it had a porcelin CHEETAH in the hall. It was hysterical and so fitting considering the girls love of animals- only we would find the hotel with safari decorations! (I"m really bummed- a series of pictures from the weekend are STUCK on my laptop and its not letting me open them or do anything with them- I'll have the computer guy at school take a look tomorrow- of course- the cheetah picture is among them along with the girls getting their camera- sigh!)

Now this is a table we need! Room for everyone!

We were right on the marina so our views were awesome and the girls loved watching the boats come in and out. We also had a lot of ducks around that the girls loved throwing their cereal to- yep- ducks LOVE Cookie Crisp too!

The girls pulled their usual bedtime delay tactics but true to form- they were asleep in no time and did well with sleeping in a new place. We put the girls to bed in the bedroom and then moved one out to sleep with Grammie and Granpa when they were ready for bed. Emily slept with them the second night. Grammie says one point in the morning Em sat up and looked around, Grammie said, "Good morning Emily, where are you?" Thinking she would say- "with Grammie" but nope- in true Emily form she gave Grammie a "Rick" look and said, "In San Diego!" (like duh grammie!)

We laughed a lot this weekend! Sea World was a HUGE hit and the girls seemed to enjoy it all (except poor Maddie who was less than impressed with the Shamu show- I think it was sensory overload- it was loud, people were clapping, Shamu was splashing- Rick took her out toward the end; she did much better with the dolphin show and pet show). We took the above pictures at the end of the day and she was fine with seeing Shamu up close like that.

Maddie and Emily got to touch dolohins! Ashely thought they were sharks and wanted NOTHING to do with them!

Emily getting splashed in the face by a playful dolphin!

Waiting for the Shamu show It was Opening Day for the Sesame Street "Bay of Play" so lots of characters and fun things to do and see!
The weather was great! We were supposed to have rain all weekend- besides a 20 minute shower on the way down we maybe had a few drops here and there- otherwise the weather was great- not too hot, not too cold- perfect! Lots of stories and pictures to share (including pictures the girls took with their new Fisher Price digital Camera! Thanks Grandpa!) Keep checking back all week!