Sea World

Yesterday we drove down to San Diego and went to Sea World. They didn't have a dolphin show, because they are building them a new tank or something, but we did get there right when they were doing a dolphin encounter thing, so they were having the dolphins do tricks. I took a video of them jumping, because it was cool...but it won't post.

Here we are waiting to the sea lion show to start. Kylee was mad because she wanted to be the one taking the picture, rather that the one IN the picture. Once the show started she had fun.

They had a special Halloween sea lion show, and Kylee thought it was really fun. Every time the sea lion would go back-stage, she would say, "where fishie go? where fishie go?" The show was really kid-oriented, so it kept her attention really well.

They had this play pen for the kids that had a bunch of blocks in it for the kids to play with. It was funny to watch Kylee with the blocks. Someone would steal hers, and then she would come over to me and say "Mine! Mine!" as if asking me for permission to go take someone else's (there were some kids that were hogging 4-5 blocks each). So I would tell her, "Go get another one," and she would run and take one from another pile. Then it would just happen all over again.

It was funny to watch all the little kids try to run around, because the mat was sort of bouncy, but not too much. The play pen was only for kids 37 inches or less, so they were all little toddlers. They would start running "really fast" and then totally trip over their own feet and face plant into the ground. Then they would get up and run around again.

At one point Kylee got taken out by a kid that was quite a bit bigger than her. She's kind of a wimp, and just started crying instead of fighting back. Finally the kid's dad came and moved him away from her. It was hilarious.

They had a few rides for little kids at Sea World. We took Kylee on the "flying Elmo fish" ride. She thought it was really fun to watch when we were in the line, but as soon as Andy put her in, she said, "My get out! My get out!" Once it started going, she was a little more calm, but she still had a look of terror on her face. Afterwards though, I asked her if she had fun, and she said, "yeah"...but she didn't sound too convinced.

In the afternoon we went to see the Shamu show.

I only ended up taking one picture of the killer whales, because Kylee had to move over to my lap so that she could see the "fishies" better.

This is Kylee looking at the beluga whales.

Kylee is a Photographer

Kylee wanted to take a picture of daddy at the seal show. This was Take 1. She got Andy's head on the side of her picture.
I told her to move the camera over a little, and this is what she got in Take 2.

Finally, she in Take 3, she got a good picture. I actually really like this one a lot.

Then she decided to take some pictures of beluga whales. The first one she took too early, and the whale wasn't quite in front of us yet.

Take 2: She actually got the beluga whale in this one. He was swimming upside down.

The Big Hole

Here's Kylee preparing for another day at the beach. She's got her "sim suit", her hat, and her toys. Here we go!

I decided to dig a really deep hole to put Kylee in. I wanted it to be as tall as she was. This was the first time we measured. It needed to be a little bit deeper.

After I dug it out more, we put her in again.

Now you see her...

Now you don't! When she crouched down in the hole, you couldn't see her at all.

She even thought she helped dig the hole deeper. Really, she kind of collapsed the side and I had to re-dig after she "helped", but at least she thought she was helpful, and she had fun!

After we were done playing in the hole, we decided to fill it in so that the kids wouldn't fall in when they were playing. I climbed in and Andy pushed all the dirt around me. Then Kylee wanted to be in the picture with me.

More Beach Fun

Andy doesn't prefer to have his picture taken, so I had to take some candid shots of him at the beach. This is him admiring the huge hole that he helped dig.

Kylee loved the beach again. This time with no prissy reservations. She jumped right in and started digging and playing.

After Pat, Andy and Kacey dug a huge hole with a bunch of trenches, Kylee thought it would be fun to jump across.

After she jumped, she would slide down the dirt, then climb out and start over again. I have a video of her "jumping", which is hilarious...but yet again, it won't upload on Andy's laptop, so we'll have to wait until we get home and I can use my computer.

When we were getting ready to go home, we let the kids start filling in the holes and wrecking all the things that had been built.

Kylee and Zack raced to the top of the hill to see who could squash the sand castle the fastest. They thought it was so fun to wreck the stuff!

Kylee really likes to dig "holes" in the sand. Really, she just sort of moves the sand from one spot to another. She doesn't really get the concept of digging in the same spot.

Newport Beach

This week we are at Newport Beach in California. It's been super fun so far! We really needed a vacation, so it's been nice to get away. We left at 1am to drive down here so that Kylee would sleep for most of the 10 hour drive. It worked! She was awake for the first two hours or so (from 1am-3am), but she was so dazed she just stared off into space and sucked her binki. I kind of think she was asleep with her eyes open. Then she actually fell asleep, and we made it here with no problems at all. She's a good little traveler! Here's a picture of the ocean, which is about a 5 minute walk (with slow kiddie legs) from our beach house. There are dolphins swimming along just beyond the surf all the time! I've been trying to get a good photo and/or video of them, but they go up and down so fast, it's hard to get them.

Here's Kylee and Andy walking to the beach on our first evening here.

Andy was so looking forward to getting in the water! He hasn't been swimming AT ALL this year, because he had his central line for so long. Now that he has a permanent line (under the skin), and it has had a chance to heal over, he is allowed into the water. Even though it was kind of cold, he jumped right in with his boogie board to ride some waves in. We were pretty much the only ones there with no wet suits, and I think people thought we were crazy! This is the only picture I got, but I have a couple videos of him, so I'll have to post them later.

While Andy and Pat were out on the boogie boards, the kids were playing in the sand. At first, Kylee was being a big baby, and she thought it was the worst thing in the world to have to touch the sand with her feet and/or bum. She insisted on sitting on my lap, or on a towel. She was convinced that it was the worst day of her life, I'm pretty sure.

Then we decided to dig a big hole and put the kids in it. We thought it would be a good play pen for them.

Once we got the hole dug, Kylee finally got over her prissy attitude and jumped right in. The kids played in the hole for the rest of the time we were at the beach. They helped scoop out the dirt, and made the hole bigger. Some might call it child-labor. We call it easy babysitting!

At one point it got big enough that Zack couldn't get out anymore. But then Kylee and Branson collapsed the sides by climbing in and out, so he was good to go again. It was hilarious to watch him get in. He would dive in head first, and his face was so sandy!

Take a look at all the pictures of Kylee's mouth. Her tongue is always out! I guess she takes after her mama that way. When she's concentrating really hard, that tongue comes right out!

When we were getting ready to go home and eat lunch, we decided to fill in the holes. Kacey wanted us to bury her, and Kylee is such a copycat, we had to do her as well. It was funny!

Andy helped her get it all patted down...

...and then he helped her climb back out.

That's it for today! We'll have to post more after we go back to the beach, and/or do something else fun! I have some good videos too, but they won't upload on our laptop, so they'll have to wait until we get home next week.