Vacation at San Diego, California

We were lucky enough to get to make a trip to California this summer and while we were there we enjoyed a fabulous five day trip to San Diego. We visited several theme parks and the beach and ate lots of good food. It was a great trip.

Legoland

Ryan and the boys consulted the map before heading out to explore. Lisa charmed us with her "I do not want to wait in line one more minute" face, but forgot all about the waiting and thoroughly enjoyed herself once the rides started. She had herfirst ever car driving experience. Hence the need to say her last goodbye's to Marmee. She did make the car go for a few seconds, but encountered some difficulty using the foot pedal and the steering wheel simultaneously. She was also so cute when she met the Lego Princess and climbed up on the throne to sit with her. There was a line of other kids, but I think she assumed she could just hang out for awhile. We saw mini-models of New York City and San Francisco made completely of legos that were very impressive and got some great pictures with Marmee and the grandkids.

Carlsbad State Beach

We loved all of our time in the sun and playing on the beach. Lisa had a funny way of playing in the waves. She would run toward them then bolt away as they got closer. So she and Ryan ran a lot of circles together. Her favorite was just playing with the sand toys. And eating snacks, of course.

San Diego Wild Animal Park

The Wild Animal Park was HUGE but we were able to see quite a bit and make a fun day out of it. It was a pretty hot day and Lisa took any chance she could to rest on whoever would let her. Cade and Cameron were very sweet and helpful with her. She was elated when we came across the little splash park and even though we hadn't brought a swimsuit, she just got soaked in her clothes. Lisa did NOT like the dinosaurs. At all. At one moment she had two dinosaurs growling on either side of her and looked as though she might have a panic attack so we quickly made our way out of that part of the Park. But I found them amusing, as you will see in the picture. Fortunately, Lisa has become much more comfortable with petting zoos. She actually touched a few of the animals while we were there. Her first visit in the Idaho Falls petting Zoo was not a success--those goats were scary! Her favorite part of the day may have actually been the carousel. Lisa, Cade and Cameron rode on it several times. The animals were actually quite beautifully crafted.

Mission Beach near Sea World

It was fun to meet up with Derek and Allison at Mission Beach. Lisa loved playing games with them and making them her personal jungle gym.

Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, San Diego

Sea World

Shamu the Whale was the first show we watched and Lisa was entranced. I am so amazed at the relationship of trust the trainers have with the animals at the park. Then Ryan and I found the sting rays and enjoyed feeling their smooth skin as they swam by. Marmee and Katie kept Lisa for awhile so Ryan and I could spend a little time together which was nice. At the end of the day, Lisa and Marmee picked out matching necklaces. We left the park at 10:00pm to make the long drive back to Yuba City. Good thing Katie had enough energy to drive. The rest of us were totally wiped out!

A camping we will go!

This weekend we went camping at the oh-so-kid-friendly Warm River Campground. Aunt Aimee came along with us--it's been so nice having her in Rexburg while she's been going to Evan's Beauty College. We were a little worried about battling with the rain, but the storm's timing was actually perfect. It didn't rain until after we'd set up the tent and shade cover and then it stopped right after dinner so we could go for a walk and enjoy a campfire in the evening. Lisa is at such a fun age for this kind of stuff. She eats it up! When we told her we did not bring marshmallows and that we would be pretending to roast marshmallows, she got so excited and helped me find just the right sticks and went at it for quite awhile. She has not been quite as interested in fishing, but will still humor us for a few minutes. Ryan would catch a fish and then have her reel it in. She seemed to enjoy that. She had even more fun just pretending with the net.She got a little nervous when the fish flopped on the ground a little, but she was still willing to touch it. My favorite part of camping with Lisa so far has probably been her campfire singing performances. Give her just a little encouragement and she's off to silly land. She learned "The Farmer in the Dell" from listening to a nursery rhyme CD every night going to bed. I didn't even realize she knew the song, but she certainly adds her own touches to it. For example, her new verses include "The wife takes the mop and the mop takes the cheese." I'm not sure where she got the "mop" idea. She certainly doesn't see her mom doing a lot of that. She ends her songs with quite a flair too. She's picked up on the concept of embellished finales. I love it. Lisa got herself dressed for bed and apparently slept in wet socks all night without us realizing it. Her little toes were so cold in the morning! We spent a good amount of time just relaxing by the fire before we cleaned up camp.

Summer of smoothies

Lately we have been trying harder to eat our fruits and veggies and one of our favorite ways to do this has been experimenting with smoothies. So far we have made Strawberry-orange-banana, Watermelon Strawberry and orange julius. (ok...so the orange julius is not really healthy, but it sure tastes good!) To get some of our veggies for the day, we usually blend in a few handfuls of fresh spinach leaves. At first the color (unappetizing, pinkish brown) made the drink unappealing to Ryan, but he tried it and now he loves a smoothie every day. I tried to include the basic recipe below, but it is really fun to just experiment and see what you like. You really just need some kind of fruit, some juice, yogurt, and spinach. Two other spinach recipes we've enjoyed recently is spinach lasagna and spinach quiche. Lisa looked at the green quiche really funny and didn't think she should eat it, but liked it once she gave it a try. It was a very "Green Eggs and Ham" moment for us. Here are those smoothie recipes.