Day 4, Wednesday--LEGOLAND

I was a little apprehensive about taking Ellie to LEGOLAND. Frankly, I thought the whole idea about a Lego theme park was kind of cheesy. Boy was I wrong. Honestly, I think this was the most fun that Ellie and I had the entire week. This place is unreal!! I have never seen such works of art with Lego’s in my life. There was everything from fairytale theme statues, kid area water fountains, and even city skylines made from Lego’s. The park also had a ton of rides. Although Ellie is only 34 inches tall, we were still able to ride at least 15 different rides. There weren’t too many shows to see but the rides alone kept you busy. After every ride Ellie would say “more ride—more ride”. She is fearless!

By early afternoon it started to get a little warm (80 degrees) so we headed for the splash zone area to cool off. Ellie had so much fun running around getting wet and I had even more fun watching her enjoy herself. My favorite was when she would bend down and put her face in the water sprinkler anticipating the water to come up from the fountain. The first time she got splashed she jumped up and was a little bit started but after that she was an expert. She would laugh hysterically when the water would surprise her. You would think that after 10 times of getting splashed it would get old but nope…we stayed in the park for about an hour and that was her favorite. All I could do was laugh with her as she laughed because she got splashed. It was also really fun to see her interact with other kids that she had never seen before. She made some many friends in that little water park. The innocence of the kiddos playing was so much fun to experience.

Well, our day at LEGOLAND had almost come to an end. We rode lots of rides, watched a 4-D Lego movie, got wet in the splash park, and played in the kidde playground so it was time to head home. Okay, maybe after a late night greasy burger at Ruby’s Diner. YUMMY!! Then after only 5 minutes in the car, Ellie was passed out and went to sleep.

Day 5, Thursday--The San Diego Zoo

Believe it or not, I was debating on whether or not to take Ellie to the famous San Diego Zoo. I know…I know but I was exhausted!!! I gave her a choice the zoo or a museum…she said multiple times “zoo” so I guess zoo it is. Thankfully the bellman at the hotel gave me a great tip about visiting the zoo. The zoo offers a guided tour on a double decker bus that allows you to see most of the zoo in about an hour. So off to the zoo we went and boarded the double decker. Let me tell you, if you ever have the chance to visit the San Diego Zoo this is the only way to go. We saw about 80% of the exhibits from the bus so there was no need to walk for miles up and down very steep hills to see the elephants, lions, tigers and more…oh my. (Sorry couldn’t resist). Anyway, Ellie’s favorite was the chimps and mine was the panda bear exhibit.

I have to share a short story about an incredible encounter we had with the chimps. We met this couple that was having a full on conversation with one of the chimps. Apparently, they visit the zoo several times a week just to visit this chimp. Weird, huh? Anyway, they had several items laid out in front of the glass wall and the chimp knew exactly what to do with them. They had a tube of chapstick, bottled water, lotion, and a brush. The chimp would point at an item and the couple would pick it up and use it. So if the chimp wanted the lady to put on some chapstick she would point at it and point at the lady. When the chimp was ready to see them brush their hair she would point at the brush. They literally sat there for about an hour playing this game with the chimp. I was fascinated by how much the chimps know and how people actually do this. Strange but interesting…I guess.




Ellie, Mommy & a friendly turtle

Ellie had so much fun climbing on the turtle












I’m so glad decided to take Ellie to the zoo because she really did enjoy it and so did I.


Ellie making a fish face

Day 6-Friday Sea World AGAIN!

Daddy was done with all of his meeting for the week and wanted to take Ellie back to her favorite place, Sea World. Although we had already been to SW, Ellie was acting like she had never been there before. We started by visiting the pacific white dolphin that is grey, black and white spotted. Ellie kept calling it Shamu because they look a lot alike. Keeping in the black and white theme we stopped by to see the penguins and then the polar bears. Unfortunately, she wasn’t too impressed with either so we moved on to see other exhibits. So we took her to see her favorite thing at Sea World…Shamu. The stadium was very crowded but Ellie didn’t care if she got a glimpse of him from a corner seat on a bench. She was just so excited to see him AGAIN!

Then, we popped in to see the star fish which she loved and the other fish in the aquarium.

By the middle of the day she was pretty tired of being in & out of the stroller so we took her to the Sesame Street Place play area. We rode all of the rides again and she got to run around with the other kids. That’s exactly what she needed.

Earlier in the week we talked about maybe going on the Skyride at Sea World. There was no better time to do that than during a beautiful San Diego sunset. The ride overlooks SD's Mission Bay and part of the park. That was a pretty neat experience.

After dinner we got lucky and found a tiny spot to watch the night dolphin show and then to the night time “Shamu Rocks” show.

Ellie started off really excited to see the Shamu show but I think he just too long to come out. She got very fussy about 5 min. into the show and fell asleep. Yup, she fell asleep with the music blaring and a couple of thousand people cheering Shamu on. We felt so bad that she missed the last show but there was no waking her up. She was done!! Chris and I slipped out to beat the crowd in the parking lot because we were tired too.

Day 7, Saturday-Coming Home

The day had come for us to pack our bags and head back to Texas….HOT Texas. The original plan was for us to spend the morning visiting Coronado which is across the bridge from San Diego but that didn’t happen. Instead Ellie & Daddy went back to the golf course and hit a few balls. She just loves to play golf with daddy. As soon as we told her she was gonna go play, all she would say was “golf--dad??...golf--dad?” It was very sweet. Then we ran around the Gaslamp Quarter’s for a little bit in the downtown for some last minute shopping and headed towards the airport.

Now for the mushy stuff…this was our first real vacation as a family. I mean, we had gone on several trips to visit family and such but this was the first time we were all about Ellie having a good time. Even though Chris was not able to join us for all of the activities, it was still great to see Ellie have so much fun. She is growing so fast I wish there was something I could do to truly soak it all in. It seems like just living it day by day isn’t enough. Her strong personality is definitely shining through and it’s so much fun watching her experience new things. At one time during one of the several Shamu shows we went to, I looked over and just watched her expressions as she stared at the whale in amazement. I will never forget her expression. We are so blessed to be able to share these great experiences as a family. I thank God everyday for all of the amazing things He as done for us and especially for the biggest blessing that He has given to Chris and I…our growing little girl.

XOXO,
Michelle

July 4th Party on the 5th

Since we were in McKinney on the 4th we decided to have a little soirée to celebrate the 4th of July on the 5th. We had several of our friends come over with the kids and celebrate. The kids had a great time running around outside in the pools and keeping cool from the heat. The guys had a good time getting to know each other better over a few beers and the girls had fun catching up on the latest gossip. J This was one of the best 4th of July weekends we’ve had. Can’t wait to do it again next year!

July 4th

What a fun weekend. We started off celebration the 4th with an All American down town parade downtown McKinney, TX. My sister Veronica & her husband Scott invited us to tag along as they spent the day with them. Daddy was going to come but decided to play golf with our neighbor instead. Ellie and I jumped on the invitation and had a blast. Even though it was really hot…I mean Texas HOT…Ellie was a trooper. She dressed in her patriotic outfit from head to toe was waiving her little American flag proudly. I know she doesn’t know why we celebrate the 4th of July yet but we want for her to be as proud to be an American as we are.

After spending the morning downtown and having every possible treat that she could ever want (which always happens when she is with her Tia Vero) we headed home for a BBQ. Ellie had a great time playing with her cousins Andrew & Peter. They even took out the silly string for a grand finale. Tons of fun!

Finally to polish of a great day we drove down to the Frisco High School to catch a glimpse of the firework display that was going on at the soccer stadium. We had a GREAT day!

Girls Weekend in San Antonio

The boys had a golf tournament so my neighbor Shannon and I decided to take the girls (Ellie & her daughter Marin) to Sea World in San Antonio. We headed south on I-35 towards San Antonio and popped in a couple of movies in the dvd player and got ready for our road trip. Surprisingly the girls did great on the road. Although we hoped they would fall asleep sometime during the 5 1/2 hour drivebut no luck...until we were only 1 block away from the hotel that is. We finally nestled down at the Hotel Palacio del Rio for the weekend. The room was great and it was right on the river walk.

Since there is lots to see and do at Sea World we went ahead and splurged. We got the 2 day pass so that we could experience it all. The first stop was at with the Anheuser Busch Clydesdales: Bush, Bud and Diamond. Believe it or not, the horses were the biggest hit of the weekend. Who would have thought that we go all the way to San Antonio's Sea World and the girls can't get enough of the horses?? Go figure!

Diamond was our favorite horse. He was a ham and loved to have his picture taken. Gorgeous!

We also got to see some dolphins up close and personal at the "Feed the Dolphins" exhibit. Although we didn't stay for the feeding, they were really neat to see. After a couple of hours of walking around the park we were ready to cool off so we headed to the splash area. There was a HUGE wave pool, a lazy river and lots of other water activities. It was so fun to see Ellie go up and down with the waves. She just loves water!! Then it was time for the night time Shamu show "Believe". Ellie just loved "Amu". She danced along to the music and would cheer when Shamu jumped up out of the gigantic pool. My favorite was when at the end of the Shamu show Ellie yelled "Iluvuamuuuu!!" I'm not sure how she knew to say that but that alone made the whole weekend worth while. I really wish we would have had a video camera to capture that moment. Priceless!!

waiting for Shamu....

End of the 1st night...see you tomorrow Sea World!

Saturday morning we started off the day with a walk around the River walk and a boat ride which was way too hot. I'm sure it was over 100 degrees out and 110% humidity. YUCK! So we headed back to our hotel room to rest up for fun filled 2nd afternoon at Sea World. The girls must have been exhausted from the night before because we had no problems putting them down for a good nap. When we finally got to Sea World on Saturday, we saw another really neat colorful acrobatic show called Viva! which was lots of fun. We also got to see another adorable show filled with sea lions, walrus and other little creatures. And for the weekend encore we caught up with "Amu" again for the last show of the night and said stopped by for a quick goodbye to our new friend Diamond.

Hangin' out on the River Walk

Getting ready for our 2nd day at Sea World

Sunday we packed our bags and got ready to head back home. Both Marin and Ellie behaved incredibly well. We never really had any melt downs or fighting. They were just best buddies all weekend long!

Chattin' It Up!

Let's go home

What a fantastic weekend with the girls. This one will go in the books....

XOXO

Michelle