making quite a splash

i hate to admit it, but after a few hours at seaworld i was really beginning to think that it is way overrated, until i saw him ...

it was love at first sight!

oh, and happy birthday to my mom - wish you could have joined us!

pink heaven

i just can't seem to get enough of these beauties ...

those soft, luxurious feathers in more shades of pink and coral then i could ever dream up ...

what fun, gorgeous creatures

that san diego zoo never disappoints

a tale of two disneylands

the first is a happy story - a mother and daughter riding space mountain and the tea cups - enjoying the sunshine and drinking in every last minute they had in the magic kingdom.

the second tale is not so happy, it is of a father in the process of losing 18 pounds due to intestinal difficulties, and his two sons and oldest daugher forging their way through disneyland so that the above mentioned mother and daughter could enjoy their last day at the park. sweet little thing 1 just rode in the stroller the entire day, the boy was not chosed to be among the jedis in training, and the king was just done.

so which tale do you want to hear?

seal beach

so what do you when you have been stuck in a hotel room allllllllll day with a sick hubby? you go stir crazy, brew your first ever pot of coffee to cover the stink of the room, and with all the pity in your heart completely edged out by cabin-fever, you pile everyone into the minivan, even the sick man, and drive to the ocean.

sunset at the ocean is a beautiful time, very healing, very rejuvenating, and it did the trick for me, at least. too bad bert had to deal with a crazy wife driving around all over the place, unable to find our hotel, but we finally got there (after he kicked me out of the driver's seat). and i wish i could say that he was a new man by the next morning, but he wasn't. a slightly smaller man, yes, but not a new man.

poor, poor bert!

oh, they're happy now

but just a few short hours from this photo we were filling the midway of california adventures with more of ourselves than anyone ever wanted to see ...

the king started it off,

then the boy,

and by the time we got the boys bathed and settled into their hotel bed - bert was a party as well.

too bad we had good italian that night - you can just never think of certain foods the same again after such events.

(but on a funny side note - when i called the italian restaurant to order the food, i gave my name and the young man on the other end of the phone somewhat stuttered and i realized he might have thought i was a certain hollywood a-lister with a similar sounding name - ha ha - it was a good laugh for all of us)

my happy place

this is quite possibly one of my happiest places ever ... sailing on a little boat through a castle of cute little puppets singing "it's a small world" surrounded by my small little family. which i found out is not so small in california - people kept asking me if they were all mine - ha ha.

this was the beginning of a fairly "epic" vacation ... great way to start it off in my book.

arriving in style

that's the kind of welcome we like to receive ... fireworks filling the palm tree lined sky!

and it was a great way to cap off an 8 (should have been 6 - but we didn't have a map until we purchased one in Whittier - ha ha - seriously!) hour drive.

as we were unloading the car and filling up our new home for the next four nights, the sky was filled with the excitement of what awaited ...

unfortunately, at the same time, thing 2 was busy filling the toilet with what was ailing her ... and she missed the show. we had no idea that what we thought was probably a turn of motion sickness was actually a fun little intestinal bug that she brought with her  - wow! we might have turned back then if we knew what the next several days had in store for us - good thing, too. because it was totally worth staying and a fairly good time was had by all (at some point in time).

anyhow - thanks disneyland for a proper welcome and for heightening our anticipation as we got ready for three days of hopper heaven!

a rather different birthday

so when we woke up this morning, all we were thinking about was making a pretty cake for a pretty girl ... however, we found ourselves here instead:

turns out that we finally got our return from our taxes deposited in our account. so, that long-awaited trip to southern california was a go ... immediately!

we arranged and paid for all our passes and hotels, packed and were on the road by that afternoon. kind of a fun birthday surprise for all of us.

so, no birthday cake on her birthday, but her dimples don't lie - this was a very acceptable substitution for a birthday party!