San Diego 2013: Day One

 Brian and I don't get to take a lot of vacations, but we have gone to some pretty cool places. I think out of all the trips we have taken, though, this one might have been the most fun we've had. We went to San Diego for our 5 year anniversary, and even though our anniversary isn't till July 31st, we went Mother's Day weekend, May 12th. The reason we took it so early is because Brian was hired for an internship at his dream job and we knew we probably wouldn't be taking much time off work in the near future. He was done with school May 7th and didn't have to start work till the 13th, so he had some time off that would be a perfect opportunity to celebrate our anniversary early! We bounced around a lot of ideas for the big landmark but in the end San Diego ended up being the most doable with 2 kids, one of which was a newborn and has been attached at my hip, ruling out a trip by ourselves. (Kid doesn't take a bottle) We heard he got the job just a week and a half before we went on this trip so I did some major planning in a short amount of time.

I basically planned every minute and every attraction we were going to. We got these awesome passes from Costco that you pay a flat rate and get to visit all the attractions in San Diego for three days, and I mean ALL of them. So in order to get our moneys worth I planned out each activity for each day and we really did get to do everything we could have wanted and more! This is showing our first day in San Diego. The night we got there Brian treated me to my Mother's Day gift (since the trip was for our anniversary, he still had to get me a Mother's Day present ;) which was a shopping spree at the Fashion Mall across from our hotel. I basically spent it all at Forever 21, I seriously love that place. You can get like 10 shirts for under $100, where else can you do that!? As long as you don't mind feeling like you're lost in a maze for an hour its amazing!!

Anyways, on the way there we stopped at a spot to feed Colton and let Jackson stretch his legs, and the place just so happened to have giant dinosaurs. Jackson was in Heaven.

So our first official day in SD we headed out to Sea World. Jackson loved the whales, but was also terrified of them. It was love/hate really.

Brian took this one^ Isn't it amazing?? Nice job sweetie :)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my dad went too. It was nice having him there since he's basically one of Jackson's favorite people and we got some help with the kids.

Okay so these next pictures are pretty cool. The dolphins kept swimming right up to us to play, Brian was across the pool but luckily he had our huge zoom 70-200 mm lens and was able to capture every moment. Jackson was not at all impressed and kept trying to run away but I was literally forcing him down so he would keep playing with the dolphins. I'm pretty sure the guy next to me thought I was abusing him but I was not about to let him run away from that cool experience!!

Yeah, mom was having a lot more fun than Jackson was. He really did like the dolphins but just got bored easily :)

That's fake^

 

Of course he couldn't care less about whales and dolphins, but the penguins were the highlight of his day! He liked the Polar bear also, I think he didn't realized there was glass between us though because he was pretty skiddish around it.

After Sea World we went to Belmont Park. I think on the weekends its a pretty big tourist attraction and really crowded, but we just so happened to be there on a weekday and it was quiet. We ate dinner at this cool restaurant on the beach where you could watch these awesome guys riding the waverider. We ate fish and chips, drank coke, and watched them shred it up while the sun set. It was so nice and relaxing and a perfect end to a busy day at Sea World. After the trip whenever we'd talk about our favorite part we both agreed we loved Sea World, and this evening at the waverider restaurant was one of the best.

 

 

We ended the night with a trip down to the hot tub. Here's Colton James with his namesake, grandpa Jim :)

Colton's Blessing

Colton's blessing was on Sunday, April 14th, 2013. We felt so loved and blessed that so many of our family came to support us. In the blessing circle was Brian (who blessed him) my dad, grandpa, father-in-law, and brother-in-law. It still brings a tear to my eye thinking about seeing all the great men in my life gathered around my newborn to bless him that he will be a light in others lives and stand with his brother in the fight for good. I love my family so much, and I love my husband and sons. Life is so great right now, I swear these baby hormones have made me love everyone and everything in my life that much more, I feel so blessed. The white blanket Colton is wrapped in in some of the pictures is the same blanket Jackson was blessed in and was made by my grandma. I know she and my mom were there that day, I just wished they could've been there in person to hug and kiss him. The outfit was the same one Jackson was blessed in. Colton was an angel during the blessing and didn't make a peep. Jackson, on the other hand, pooped during his blessing and almost ruined the outfit. Thank goodness for dry cleaning :)