Ken and I have quite a bit of free time in May, so we decided on a fun family road trip. We didn't think Makenna was quite old enough for theme parks or rides, or things like Disneyland quite yet. But she is very into fish.....so we decided on Sea World! That was the beginning of the idea anyways, and we just wanted to have a bit of an open-ended trip, with some fun things for the kiddos to do and see.
We left on Saturday, May 12 to Phoenix. Aunt Leslie's home there is the perfect half-way stopping place, AND it has a pool. We came prepared with life jackets and floaties. We're looking to get Makenna into swim lessons soon too. Leslie and her friend Marilyn were in town - they were in the pool when we got there so we joined them. We swam and swam until the kids got the "wiggles" out and were exhausted!
The next morning was Mother's Day, and Ken treated all of us to pancakes and bacon. Yum! The kids and Ken had cards and gifts for me, it was the perfect Mother's Day! Back in the car, and on to San Diego. This trip wasn't too bad, we only stopped one time for lunch and gas. Makenna is pretty happy watching movies on her little DVD player. When Kellan got fussy, I'd hand him snacks (graham crackers, Ritz cheese crackers, goldfish) and milk over the back of the seat. He's still facing backwards, so he doesn't get to watch movies quite yet. We had JUST pulled off the exit for our hotel in San Diego when Makenna felt sick and threw up down the front of herself, soaking the car seat. POOR KID! We got to the hotel, I got Makenna partially cleaned up, and we got to our room. Ken washed the car seat in the shower (ha!). Seriously....the thing wouldn't come apart without a screwdriver and a mechanical engineer. We ordered a family pizza/pasta pack that Ken went and picked up, and we got settled in. We stayed at a Comfort Inn, with a king size bed and a bunk bed with a sliding door in between. PERFECT! Sleeping with kids in a hotel room is one of the most difficult parts of traveling. Kellan got a little goofy after we had dinner. He was picking up a dirty sock in his mouth, then swinging it back and forth with his head. These are a little blurry, but it was soooo funny!!!!!
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| RAWR! PA-SKETTI! |
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The next day was SEA WORLD! It didn't open until 10am, so we waited until after Kellan's first nap to get going. We watched the Shamu show, ate lunch (that took a LONG time!), then walked around looking at dolphins, penguins, a polar bear, walrus, beluga whales, and finally, we ran into a lizard out for a walk.
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| The Orca show was pretty impressive! |
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| Here comes the soaker!!! Ken took Makenna and sat in the splash zone. I sat up above with Kellan and my camera. |
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| Kellan did this most of the day! |
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| Penguins. The big guys were standing so still, I though they were fake. |
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| The puffins were pretty hilarious to watch. They must be very light, they could barely swim straight if there was a stream of water. |
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| The polar bear was one of Makenna's favorites. He was napping most of the time. She found his cave too! |
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| Walrus, up close and personal. That is one large creature! |
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| Beluga whales. These were pretty cool! They did lots of swimming right by us, and at one point, one was eating right in front of us. They were feeding him up top, so he was vertical, and SO BIG! (Makenna is holding her stuffed penguin souvenir.) |
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| As we were making our way to the exit, we came upon this lizard out for a walk. His name was "Pancake"! Makenna is a brave soul - maybe a little TOO brave for me - she tried to stick her face right next to his face, and the Sea World employee asked that she not do that..."just in case". YIKES! |
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| End of the day sibling bath. Self-censored! |
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Sea World Day 2! Just as we were leaving on Day 1, Makenna saw the Orca whale tank from down below, and was so excited that she talked about "WHALES" non-stop that night and the next morning. So the first thing we did on Day 2 was....
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| ....go see the WHALES! |
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| Makenna could have watched the whales for HOURS! She loved them. |
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| Kellan was pretty enthralled too. |
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| This whale was fun to watch. He was swimming counter-clockwise, and he was being fed up above, directly across from us. He would go get food, then turn upside down and swim past us this way. |
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| Makenna showing Kellan the whales. |
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| The obnoxious sea lions. Man, those guys know how to do tricks for food! |
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| The sea turtle exhibit was pretty fun! Here they are eating lettuce. There were tons of fun fish in these tanks too. |
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| Cute little pink fish among a million yellow fish. |
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| The new Sea World turtle bucket hat, and a ride at the park. |
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| Carrying all of our new-found goods. | | | | | | |
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We just spent the morning at Sea World, then ran over to Mission Beach, grabbed Subway for lunch, and had a picnic on the beach.
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| From the parking lot, there was a grassy knoll, the paved walkway, and then the sand. Makenna went sprinting over the grass and fell onto the pavement. She got some good "boo-boos" on each knee which we fixed up with Neosporin and Band-Aids. She wasn't much of a happy camper after that. |
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| Lunch on the beach. |
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| Ken and Makenna building sand castles and playing in the water. |
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We got the kids nice and tired at the beach, then put them in the car for the drive to Burbank. We hit prime traffic time, and it took us 3 full hours. Luckily, the kids slept most of the way. We got to stay at Uncle Kelly and Daniella's "new" house (newly remodeled and moved into) and break in their guest rooms.
Wednesday morning, all those with "normal" jobs (heehee) had to work, so we took the kiddos out to Santa Monica Beach. It is about a 40 minute drive with no traffic. We headed to the Pier, had lunch, walked around, went on the Merry-Go-Round, and had a nice afternoon adventure.
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| Hot dogs, hamburgers, and french fries at the Pier. |
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| Oh no! Makenna fell again, and got an "owie" on top of her "boo-boo". Will those knees EVER heal? |
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| Cleaning up the new "owie". |
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| Kellan enjoying the scenery. I don't know why I bother putting shoes on this kid! |
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| The mini carousel... |
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| ...and the big one! She was a little nervous the first time, so Ken took her on the carriage part. |
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| As soon as the first ride was over, of course she then wanted to go on the horse! |
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Thursday, we went out to lunch with Grandma Carol, then had a BBQ over at Kelly and Daniella's.
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| Note: the BBQ had to actually be put TOGETHER first! Kelly and Daniella teamed up on the construction. |
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| Kellan opening a birthday gift - TONKA TRUCK! Can you tell how excited he was!?! |
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| Velcro ball catch with Papa. |
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| She did pretty good throwing and catching! |
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| "NO Buddy!" |
Friday, we went out to lunch with Aunt Leslie and Uncle Dave. Then we left Kellan in the hands of Kelly and Daniella, and took Makenna to her first Dodger game! We went with Ken's friends Greg, Sylvia, and two of their three daughters, Shaylee and Lucy. Shaylee is a mini-mama, and was so good taking care of Makenna. (These photos are a little blurry, they were taken on my phone.)
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| The gang outside of Dodger Stadium. Add another ballpark to my list! Thanks for the pic, Sylvia! |
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| Goooooo Dodgers! |
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| Gotta have a Dodger Dog! |
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| Lucy, Makenna, Shaylee. |
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| What's a ball game without some blue cotton candy to top it off?! |
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Saturday morning we packed up the car and drove from Burbank to Phoenix. Stayed at Leslie's house again, swam in the pool, then drove home on Sunday morning! WHEWWWWWWWWW! We made it home around 7:30pm on Sunday evening, unpacked, fed the kids, got them to bed, and did a little laundry. What a fun-filled, adventurous, family road trip!!! Thank you to everyone for their hospitality and help along the way.
