San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo is awesome.  We did this on our third day in California.  By this point, we had been to SeaWorld, LegoLand, and the Zoo, so we were pretty tired and it was lots of walking, but the kids did great and didn't complain....too much.  :)

 Outside the hippo place

 outside the arctic place

 my two crazy seals

 always my favorite, the elephants

 guess who lost her first tooth in California?  Keagan was so excited!  It had been loose and she wiggled it all the time, so it fell out faster than Easton's first tooth did, which seemed to take a couple of months.  She was eating a cinnamon roll for breakfast and it came out in her cinnamon roll!  The tooth fairy said that meant her tooth was extra sweet.  She was so concerned that the tooth fairy wouldn't find her, but she did and she got $2 for her sweet tooth.

 we stopped midday to get some lunch at a zoo cafe.  holy. overpriced.  It was ridiculous.  $8 for a kids meal?  seriously?

 this set of pictures makes me laugh every time I see them.  She is supposed to be a paleontologist, and I asked her why she was shooting and she said, "I kill the animals and then I find their bones."  hmm...okay.

 Easton showing me his rhino horn

 flamingos

Easton showing me how he can balance like a flamingo

 At the end of the day we were so tired and didn't want to walk all the way back to the front, so we took a bus to the sky ride and rode it to the front gate.  Then we went into the shop and let the kids pick out souvenirs...well, Easton did.  Keagan spent all her money the day before at the LegoLand princess section. surprise, surprise!  

Easton+StarWars+Legos=happy little boy

Easton was in heaven when we were in the Star Wars section at LegoLand.....there are a ton of pictures.

 Darth Maul

 "Whoa!  That is awesome!"

 the little battle scenes from the movies

 Anakin

 Yoda

(Easton trying to look like Yoda)

 Darth Vader and Easton trying to look like Darth Vader

 Lea....and Easton not happy about taking a picture in front of Lea

 Ewok and Easton...making an Ewok face?

 Luke

 Han Solo

 Chewy

 R2-D2---and Easton trying to be small like R2

 Darth Maul

Chewy, Easton, R2-D2

I think we missed Parker the most on this day. 

(He couldn't go to California because of work)

LegoLand

The second day in California we went to LegoLand.  This was my favorite with my kids.  It was so much fun.  They are at such a fun age and love legos and to our surprise there were tons of rides to do.  Keagan was at the minimum for almost every ride and Easton could do most of them also, so it was a blast.

 right in front of the gate

 We started with a little boat ride around the park and saw some fun displays.

 Buddy and Easton on the boat ride.

 Mt. Rushmore

 Statue of Liberty

 Keagan with Sally from Bob the Builder

 Easton with Bob

 My dad took them on this big slide ride.  It was so funny, at the bottom of the ride Keagan's hat flew off and her face was priceless. I wish I had been able to get it on camera.

 The kids with a real Lego man.  He was walking around and we happened to catch him before the line by him got long.

 They had a whole Star Wars section.  My nerdy kids knew who every character was and loved it.

 There was a knight and princess section.  Guess where Keagan wanted to be?  She was so excited to meet the princess.

 We went and made princess wands with Keagan and Saylem and got to meet another princess!  

 One of the knight rides.

 Don't know why knight Easton is shooting me....

I could have stayed there all day with my kids.  It was so much fun and they loved it.  They are roller-coaster kids, which was a surprise to me because they are usually so cautious.  One ride we did was a fast one with a big hill and I was sitting next to Keagan and she was screaming, "I don't want to ever do this one again!"  Then right when it was over she says, "Let's do it again!"  My kind of girl.

There was a pirate section at the park and we stopped to watch a little show.  They were looking for volunteers from the audience to teach how to be a pirate.  Keagan shot her hand up so fast and they called on her.  That ticked off Easton!  HE wanted to learn how to be a pirate!  But, he was a good sport.

Vegas and SeaWorld

At the end of July we took a family vacation with my side of the family down to San Diego/Oceanside.  It was so much fun and the weather was beautiful.  It was a LONG drive, but we stopped in Vegas and spent the night and did the rest the second day.

 chilling in Vegas after a long car ride and a swim in the pool.

 The first full day we were in San Diego we went to SeaWorld.  It was awesome and the kids had so much fun.  We went to see a few shows, and they had a Sesame Street section that had a few rides that the kids went on.  It was tons of fun.

 The two pictures above are from the Cirque de la Mer show. 

 Keagan at the seal show.

 Easton wanted to try and get wet, so he wanted to sit up front.  He didn't get splashed though.

 At the end of the day---the dolphin show.  This show was the best one we saw and Keagan loved the princess that was in it.

 Keagan and Saylem

 Easton and Keagan with the prince and princess from the show.

Keagan and Saylem with the prince and princess.

Easton's first day of school

Easton had his first day of school -- 1st grade.  He is in the Portuguese Immersion class.  He is super excited and we are excited for him too.  (I am a little nervous, but mostly excited)

We dropped him off at class and his teacher started talking to him in Portuguese and indicated that he should take his backpack off and put it in the cubby.  I panicked.  I started thinking, "What are we doing?  Why are we putting him in the Portuguese class?  We don't know Portuguese!  He is too little, he can't be gone from me for all day!"  Lots of crazy, panicky thoughts traveling through my brain.  He finds his name on his desk and we leave.  The principal is standing outside the door and says to us, "We will all learn together." (this is the 1st year for the Immersion program in Easton's school)

Keagan and I head off to Costco and I start crying in the car.  More panicky thoughts: "What if he can't open his Capri-sun for lunch?  What if this program isn't good for him?  What if he doesn't know it is okay that he doesn't know all the answers?  What if he doesn't have someone to sit by at lunch?"  I don't know why, but the lunch thing has been hard for me.  I like to know if he is eating his lunch and with him being gone from me during lunch, I can't watch over him and make sure he is eating.

Now that I am home and calmed down a bit, I know this program will be good for him.  I know that he is at a great age to learn a new language and I think he will do very well.  I do get nervous for him, but I think that it is my insecurities about myself coming out.  He can be like me in a lot of ways, and that makes me nervous.    I hope he will love this experience and that it will be good for all of us.