We left on Saturday the 10th of May and drove to St. George where we stay the night. The boys had zero potty accidents on our way, (proud mama moment) and didn't nap at all. The first thing they did when we got there was jump on the beds. They thought it was pretty awesome. We took them swimming in the pool, at first they didn't want to do it, but they had so much fun. They loved jumping from the side of the pool into our arms. They were exhausted at bed time. Mackay was really confused about the whole hotel thing. He kept crying saying he needed to go outside. Once outside he said he needed to go home and he needed to go to his bed. Poor kid. We told him we were sleeping in these bed and finally got him settled down. Luckily we brought their blankets, pillows, and Poohs from home, we think this helped. Nolan had no trouble. Finally they calmed down and went to sleep.
The next morning Mackay was up before Nolan and mama took him down to the continental breakfast. He loved all of the options. We got pastries, doughnuts, and Fruit Loops. Mackay took a bit of everything and then settled for the cereal. When Nolan got up, he was excited about the doughnuts and treats for breakfast. We quickly showered and set off for San Diego.
We packed movies, books, (bought new books), and Grandma Charlotte had sent new shark toys for entertainment on the long drive. We started a new game of finding trucks and shouting who's window they were in. The boys loved it and were sad when something cool wasn't coming in their own window, but we always found something to balance them out.
We stopped for lunch just outside of Las Vegas and headed the rest of the way to San Diego. We were shocked at how much traffic we hit and decided we never wanted to live in California... ever. We had two accidents that day, but we planned on a few so we were happy with one a piece. We made it to our hotel at about 8:45 pm that night (9:45 pm Mountain Time). It was a really long, hot day. We bathed, let the boys watch TV while mama set up their bed and went to sleep.
The next day was Sea World day. We were up early, stopped by a grocery store for lunch, and headed into the park right as they were opening. It was perfect. Not crowded at all and great weather.
We initially brought their umbrella strollers in, but quickly learned the boys wouldn't sit in them long so daddy ran them back to the car. They had just put in a new "petting" area right inside the gates. The boys thought it was pretty awesome, though they didn't actually want to touch anything. They liked putting their hands in the water though. They had a Flamingo Parade walking through the park and a marching band in celebration of their 50th anniversary. The boys thought the flamingos walking past were hysterical and the marching band was fun, though they felt it best to keep their distance. Every time there was a pigeon (or any other small bird) on the ground, the boys felt it in their best interest to chase them. "I want touch it" they would yell as they chased them around.
The seals were very social, and very loud! Of course, the maniacs loved this. They had little stations were customers could purchase fish to feed the seals so they just kept calling out for more. The boys thought it was so funny.
Lunch time! We had our hands stamped for re-entry and headed back out to the truck around 12:30 where we had Uncrustable sandwiches thawed perfectly, chips, and water for lunch. Then went back inside the park.
We saw the dolphin show, which the boys thought was awesome! They loved watching the dolphins swim, and jump, and splash. They included some Macaws in the show, one of which flew directly over Nolan's head, which he thought was really cool. They sat so well through the whole show and clapped for every trick. Every time people in the bleachers clapped, the boys knew they needed to do it also.
We also saw Shamu, which they boys enjoyed but not as much as the dolphin show. It was a little hard since the trainers can no longer be in the water with the fish, it didn't have as much going on. But it was also 2:00 pm and we'd been walking in the sun all day. That's a lot for two year olds, especially when they haven't napped in two days.
After we'd been there awhile, and Nolan was used to things, he touched everything. Sting Rays, weird shark squid things, and the star fish. Mackay touched the star fish and was so proud of himself, but had zero interest in touching anything else. We visited the loud talking seals once more before grabbing a souvenir for the boys and heading back to the hotel for some rest.
(These are the fish stealing Egrets. They also stood right on the outside of the enclosure, and were not afraid of people... which translated to even more awesome than just the talking seals for our boys).
Sea World was so much fun and the boys ask to go back every day. The sting rays, dolphins, seals, penguins, and Shamu were definitely their favorite.
We went back to the hotel just to sit and rest for a couple hours before dinner. Nolan fell asleep for a little while, but we had to wake him when we went down to the ocean side for dinner. After dinner, we found a large grassy area and let the boys just run to get out all of their remaining energy before bed time.
The boys thought the phones in the hotel room were really fun, so we disconnected them and let them play. "Hello, this is Nolan", "Hello, this is Mackay".
The next day was our first beach day. We headed across the bridge to Coronado Beach. It was beautiful. Perfect weather, pretty quiet, not at all crowded. We had our own little slice of the beach all day. At first the boys weren't so sure about it, but they couldn't stop themselves from digging. The sand called to them. They didn't love the water (it was a little cold). Mackay loved looking for "she shells" with mommy but they ran from the water.
Lunch time! We had Uncrustable sandwiches and chips for lunch again. There were seagulls all around and they boys thought they were hilarious. We threw one scrap of food, away from us, just so the boys could watch them swarm around it and boy, did they think it was funny.
We left at nap time. They poor kids hadn't napped in three days. They napped so well. After nap time, we headed down to Ocean Beach (which was the closest to our hotel). It was pretty, but more rocky and dirty than Coronado Beach and we were glad we didn't chose to spend our day there. We walked down the pier, the boys enjoyed having space to run around.
We stayed until it was dark and headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we got up and did the continental breakfast thing. By this point Mackay was really digging the idea, though he ate Fruit Loops every morning. He loved walking to get breakfast and sitting at the table chatting and eating with mommy (as we were usually awake before daddy and Nolan).
We packed up and made our way toward Newport Beach where Lindsay and Eric and the boys' cousins were. We were all so excited to see them. Not too long after we got on the road, traffic was at a dead stop. After a few minutes we used the phone to see what was going on. We called grandma Denese, as she's proven quite resourceful in these situations back home, and between the two us we learned that a tanker had rolled over and caught on fire. That fire had jumped the freeway and started a new wildfire in the area and the entire road was closed. Cars were slowly moving, mostly from the left lane so we started to inch our way over. There was a highway patrol officer who had opened a gate in the fence between the two directions of freeway traffic and was letting cars U-Turn to get back. After sitting in the hot sun for almost an hour, we were finally moving again... but in the wrong direction. We had to go way out around and way to close to another fire.
The drive that should have take us just about an hour, ended up being just over two (plus not moving for an hour).
We were sad to lose that time seeing the Richards, but were so happy when we got there. We ran into their hotel room to change into our suits and walked the two blocks to the beach. The boys had so much fun with their cousins. They tried hard to coax them into the water, and weren't successful until about an hour before we left. Finally, Nolan began playing and having fun in the waves. He held his daddy's hand and jumped over the waves as they came in. He thought it was so funny. Mommy and daddy did some boogie boarding. The kids had a great time together, throwing sand, jumping, running, and just playing.
Snack time!
Poor thing was trying so hard to get the boys to hold her hands and time their jump with her... but they couldn't be bothered to wait for that. They just wanted to jump.
We left the beach and walked back up to the Richard's hotel room to change clothes. We went back down to the beach to get dinner and treats and have each other take a family photo. The kids enjoyed this last bit of time with their cousins before we headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we got up and drove back down to the beach for one last look, so mama could gather some sand in a bottle, and to buy the boys a car with a surfboard which Mackay had seen everywhere we went and was obsessed with. He always remembered where they were and would run to them when we were by them again. We had been in the area the night before... when it was dark. When we went back the next morning, mama was still trying to figure out just where we were when he ran back to them. Rather than the VW bug with the surf board on top, they chose a VW hippie van with a surf board on top that said "Newport Beach" on it and were obsessed with them the whole way home.
We drove back to St. George, got pizza, and went swimming. Then got up the next morning (Friday) and headed home. We made it back with zero accidents (woo hoo) but it took a week to get them back on track, sleeping wise, potty wise, and just in general.
It was such a fun trip. And we are so excited to go again some day. The boys did so well and frequently ask to go back, all we can say is "we wish".
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