San Diego - Day 2

Friday was our SeaWorld day.  There are three things I really appreciate about SeaWorld.  First, it's only open 10am-5pm.  Squeezing every minute out of a day at Disney World is exhausting when the park is open for 15 hours.  But getting your money's worth out of 7 hours at SeaWorld?  Much more doable.  I'd rather pay half the price of admission and spend half the time at the park, thankyouverymuch.

The second thing I appreciate is that it is decidedly not crowded.  The closest things to crowds we experienced were at the dolphin training session (where I had to actually put a little effort in to get the kids close enough to touch the dolphin at the end) and at the shows (and there aren't very many shows, so it's no surprise that everyone in the park gathers at the same times).  We had very short lines (if any) for rides and for food and were able to see pretty much everything we wanted to see.  (It's good to reserve one attraction for the next visit, right?  I'm talking to you, penguins.)

Third, I love that it has such a great variety of attractions.  How fun to visit a place that's 1/3 amazing animal entertainment, 1/3 theme park, and 1/3 interactive aquarium.  Also, the (reasonably priced) food is actually pretty good.

SeaWorld, you get my vote.

Cat's piano teacher strongly advised her to do some practicing while we were on our trip.  So this was the first of two mornings when Cat did a little bit of practicing.  On a beautiful piano.  Located in the hotel restaurant.  If I didn't feel bad enough about making her practice while on vacation, having her do it in such a public place really did the trick.  But I compromised by allowing her to do the very minimum.  She only went through her pieces once or twice each, so that she wouldn't forget anything.  It didn't take very long and she played very quietly.  But a few people walking by did compliment her, so that was nice.

Upon arrival at SeaWorld we fell victim to the oldest trick in the book: bog visitors down just inside the entrance.  The kids LOVED the touch tanks with the Southeast Asian dead-skin-eating fish and the sharks.  It took some convincing to move on into the substance of the park.

The dolphin training session began right after we arrived, so that was our first stop.  It was really cool to be close to the tank, learn how the trainers work with the dolphins, and try using the same hand signals.  At the very end, Jack and Luke even touched a dolphin.

(Jack with the red sleeve.)

Then the Dads took the big kids to ride roller coasters while Amy and I took Luke and Sawyer to the Sesame Street Bay of Play to ride some rides and play in the enormous playground.

Since there was pratically no line, the older group got their fill of roller coasters - to the point
that the Dads weren't interested in riding anymore and the kids kept going without them.

We met up at the dolpin show, which we all loved.  A special guest at the show was a Pilot Whale (which is actually in the dolphin category, like Killer Whales).

Then we spent some time exploring, riding some more rides, and eating lunch before the Killer Whale show.  We saw crabs and an octopus, rode on the swings, went on the 4D Arctic ride, and saw Beluga Whales.  The Killer Whale show was both very interesting (much more educational than the last time I was at SeaWorld) and incredibly impressive.

I really wanted to ride on Shipwreck Rapids even though the weather was just barely on the chilly side, since I really like those types of rides.  It took some convincing, but eventually everyone decided to go.  We figured that even if we got wet, the park would be closing before long so we wouldn't be freezing for very long.  The one who was the most worried about getting wet was Amy, but she declined my windbreaker and faced the rapids like the strong and brave woman she is.  Can you guess who got the most wet on the ride?

The last part of the day included the stingray touch tank (we were there for a while!), checking out the shark and sea turtle viewing areas, and the always hilarious sea lion/walrus/otter show.  Jack really wanted to take me on the Manta roller coaster, and Luke wanted to try it, so we rushed over there just before closing time and were the only three on the ride.  The operator even included a special message to Jack over the loud speaker, telling him to enjoy his ride.  Jack had been saying that he wanted to ride in front but started to change his mind when we were getting on.  I convinced him that he should do it, while I rode right behind him with Luke.  I'm glad I talked him into it - he loved being in the front and it was a great way to end the day.

That night we took advantage of the hotel's supervised children's area and let the younger kids play video games, watch movies, and do arts and crafts while Cat joined the adults at the hotel restaurant for dinner.  Win-win-win.

San Diego - Day 1

We were all excited when the day for our San Diego trip finally arrived.  We were up early and on our plane at 8:15.  The flight is pretty short so we had a full day ahead of us when we arrived in San Diego.

The forecast predicted rain that day but when we landed and checked again, the rain wasn't expected to start until 2pm, so we decided to go ahead and see the Zoo.  First we stopped at the hotel to meet up with Andy and Amy and Sawyer, and drop off our bags.  When we arrived at the zoo a little before 11 it was overcast but very comfortable outside.  The first thing we did (after taking a few pictures) was get on the bus that goes around the zoo and lets you see a lot of animals in a short amount of time.  It was about 30 seconds into our bus ride that the rain started, and it didn't stop for the rest of the day.  It was really just a constant drizzle, but still.

Even though we were all cold and wet, the rain had two major benefits.  First, the animals were very active and we were able to see just about all of them (instead of having lots of animals hiding in the backs of their enclosures, napping).  Second, there were no crowds to deal with.  In fact, we practically had the whole place to ourselves.  I really appreciated this when we arrived at the Panda area.  There was a long queue that we just breezed through, and even felt comfortable lingering for a moment to take a few pictures before letting the people behind us have their turn.  AND Bai Yun, the mama Panda, was very close to the observation area.  She was maybe 6 feet away from us.  Very cool.

It's hard to see in this picture, but the mama gorilla is actually nursing the baby.
The baby would nurse with the mother, then the father would come break up the
party and the baby would walk away, then the baby would wander back
to the mother to nurse again.  It was really neat to watch.

Another mama and baby.
The picture doesn't do it justice - the hippos are HUGE.  The video below might help.

This guy came over to us to say hello.

  

Rain-soaked but happy about our day at the zoo!

We left the zoo in the mid-afternoon and went back to the hotel.  I took Cat to the San Diego LDS Temple to do baptisms there while the rest of the crew went swimming at the hotel.  Last spring when Pres. Durrant spoke in General Conference about his wife wanting to go to temples while on vacation (read it HERE) I thought I should do a better job of that myself.  And after the experience Cat and I had in San Diego, I am even more convinced that it's a good idea.  It was so special to show up at our appointed time and have a small group of temple workers man the baptistry just for us.  The matron came and talked just to us, giving us a beautiful devotional that made the experience even more meaningful.  I hated the thought of the workers coming to the baptistry just to do the few names we brought for Cat, so I ended up being baptized also, thinking that would make it more worth their while.  (This meant that I did the family names and Cat did temple file names, but that was fine.)  It really was a wonderful experience for both Cat and me, and gave us an excuse to talk about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the purpose of temples to a couple of Lyft drivers.

Once Cat and I battled the evening traffic and made it back to the hotel, we all left together to eat at a restaurant someone recommended called "Mona Lisa" in Little Italy.  We didn't think the food was that remarkable but I had to appreciate the atmosphere, and the coloring pages the kids received.  

By the time we left the restaurant, the kids were so tired they were falling asleep in their seats, even though it was only about 8:30 Utah time.  I guess we wore them out.  Day 1?  Success.