San Diego

We had an awesome trip to San Diego. We drove, which was a big undertaking for us with a 2 year old and a 2 month old. I know...I know ...others have gone longer with younger children in car seats but for us with very active 2 year old it was an accomplishment. We rented a mini van to have more space to fit our double jogging stroller, and a little more room to stretch. We had a great time. Here's the run down of the trip with pictures below. We left Tuesday around 4pm and drove to Las Vegas. We stayed at the Stratosphere, we got lucky since we stayed during the week the room was only $30. We walked along a little bit of the strip that night, and we watched the water show at the Billagio, we actually watched it several times because Jacob liked it so much. The next morning we went swimming in the awesome pool at the stratophere. Then we headed off to San Diego. We got there in the afternoon and after checking into our hotel we went right to the beach. Later we went to Old Town San Diego for dinner. We ate in the same Mexican restaurant that I ate in when I was on a band trip in high school. There was a mariachi (sp?) Spanish band serenading to different tables and Ivan had them sing a love song for me it was really sweet. The next day we went to San Diego Zoo from 9am to 6pm. Then we went to Mission Beach. Ivan went running on the beach, which he had really been looking forward to, and I played with the kiddos. The next day we went to Sea World from about 10:30 am to 6pm. We loved both the zoo and Sea World. Jacob kept saying "more animals!" He couldn't see enough animals, he is facinated with any time of animal. After Sea World we drove by the temple which is under some major renovations (pics below) and then headed up to Anaheim. We stayed with friends that night and the next day we went to New Port Beach, which was actually in one of my areas on the mission. Jacob loved playing in the "big water" (ocean). We had a great time. We were able to eat at one of our favorite Peruivan restaurants that day too. (We have only found one Peruvian restaurant in Utah that we like.) That evening we stayed in Hurricane and the next day we went to Zion's National Park. We went hiking. We didn't bring our hiking backpack this time for Jacob, because he would rather hike himself than be carried. We did the hike to the three emerald pools (about 2.25 miles round trip) and Jacob did the whole thing on his own. Ivan only carried him for about 100 yards. We had a great trip, but the best part was just being together.

Jacob loved the water show at the Billagio. We watched it several times.

Our first night in San Diego we went to the beach and Jacob played soccer. We just couldn't get enough of the beach while we were there.

We loved San Diego Zoo. We decided to go to the Zoo and Sea World while we were down there because Jacob is facinated with animals. The zoo was a lot cheaper and there is a lot more to see. But we definitely enjoyed both places. One of the few times Jacob rode in the stroller. Joshua was a very happy and complacent baby the whole trip (not out of the usual).

Jacob really enjoyed the zoo and all the animals, but I think the elephants, lions, and monkeys were his favorites. He even has a special elephant walk now that he likes to perform.

The pandas were so cute.

Jacob loves monkeys. I can't even remeber how many times of monkeys we saw at the zoo.

Anyone who knows Jacob knows he loves lions so here he is with the lion.

tired boys

We went to a couple of beaches in San Diego. This is Ivan and Jacob playing at Mission Beach.

Touching a star fish.

Here are the penguins. One of the only pictures from San Diego zoo or Sea World with Jacob looking at the camera. He was more interested in looking at the animals (with good reason :))

This is Jacob up close and personal with Korky the killer whale. For some reason Korky kept coming right up face to face with Jacob and we were able to get some pretty cool pictures.
We also saw a shark exhibit, sea turtles, sea lions, and seals. We went to several shows and had a great time at Sea World.

This is what the San Diego temple looked like. I don't know what type of renovation they were doing.

Jacob drying out in his bee hooded towel

Jacob and Ivan playing in the ocean. Jacob loved the ocean!

Going swimming at New Port Beach

Here we are at the court of the Patriarchs

I just love this picture it was also on the way to the three emerald pools.

This picture doesn't do justice to this beautiful upper emerald pool. Jacob hiked the whole thing except for about 100 yards that Ivan carried him. It was about 2.5 miles round trip and parts of it were pretty steep (especially for a 2 year old).