San Diego Mini Vacation

"Look, there's Shamu!"

Underwater View

Just hanging out...

Touch tanks...

Starfish hugs...

Daddy with a thrilled Zoe...

Sea Lion Show

Cirque Del Mar Show on the water...

Shamu Show

Watching the dolphins up close :)

Loving the show...

Taking pictures of the sea animals all by herself.

Silly girl...

Safari Zoo...Weasel basking in the sun :)

Gorillas...the baby was sooooo cute!!!

Mommy and the girls...on the tram

Daddy and Kylee

Look at the baby elephants!!!

Mommy elephant nursing baby elephant.

 San Diego Zoo...bus tour

 Baby giraffe...only a few days old!!!

 Kylee loves vacation!

 Bikini Babies

 Playing in the pool

Back to Sea World...silly penguins!!!

 I love that Mommy and Daddy took me on vacation!!!

I am soooo happy!!!

We went to San Diego the Sunday (June 10th) after Shaun finished school.  I needed to get away and so did he, so I decided a mini vacation would be really fun.  Costco has a ticket for 99 dollars and you can visit Sea World, the Safari Park, and the San Diego Zoo unlimited for 7 consecutive days.  It was awesome!  It was Kylee's first trip and she did great!  Zoe absolutely loved being on vacation.  She thought staying at a hotel was the coolest and really enjoyed all the parks.  We stayed until Wednesday, so the 4th day, we decided to take Zoe back to Sea World for just the morning.  Zoe really learned a lot and can identify so many more animals now.  She loved the Sea Lion show and Shamu show, so we saw both of those twice on the trip.  During the late afternoon on two days, Zoe was able to swim with Daddy.  The pools at the resort were perfect for her!  They had the gradual pools, where Zoe could walk in and the further she went, the deeper it got.  She had a blast playing in the pools.  Kylee was happy and content the whole trip and slept well, so she didn't wake her big sis.  Sleeping in the same room with everyone was a little tough this year because Zoe wanted to stay up with us and when Kylee woke to feed, I tried to be super quiet, so we wouldn't wake up Zoe.  It was a great little vacation and we plan to try it again, maybe next summer!

Zoe and Kylee Updates

 Getting more comfortable...hopping around all by herself!!!

 Notice the "bunny ears"...I have no idea where Zoe learned that already!

 Kylee enjoys hanging out on Zoe's bed...

Auntie Diana bought a super cute outfit for Zoe for her birthday...she looks so BIG!!!

The last week before Daddy was off for the summer was a quick, but extremely busy one...as usual!  We could not wait until Daddy was home for the summer.  It is nice to have an extra set of hands and patience to take care of the kiddos.  I really have no complaints. 

Kylee eats, sleeps, and you know what like clockwork...She only cries when she is hungry, just about to fall asleep, or needs a diaper change.  Most of the time we are able to take care of those things before she cries, so hopefully she continues to be laid back.  Both girls seem like they are growing like crazy...I am already missing the tiny baby that was born a little over 2 months ago.  Kylee is beginning to smile a lot and watches her sister go everywhere.  She is also cooing and she is ticklish, so she is starting to giggle too...it just makes me melt!!! 

Zoe is continuing to expand her vocabulary and is amazing how creative she is.  Melt downs are escalating, but as we talk to a lot of our friends they have had the same issue around 3 years old.  It makes Shaun and I second guess our parenting from time to time, but we get through it because we know it is just a stage she is going through.  As long as we continue to let her know it is not acceptable, she is learning. She got used to the pool in about 2 trips in.  Now she hops around, puts her nose and mouth in, kicks a bit, and floats in a tube.  We are still trying to encourage her to go all the way under the water and to "swim" more to get more comfortable.  In a month or so, we hope to put her into a swim lesson with 2 other kiddos and have her feel comfortable enough with the water, so she can focus on swimming skills.  



Our Pool

Shhhh...Sister is sleeping!  It's time to swim!!!

Our Little Peanut and her New Pool

Soooooo Excited!!!!

Daddy and Zoe

Kicking

I got a super deal on this pool, so I couldn't pass up all the fun we could have.  After last summer I was browsing in Target and happened to run into the pools on clearance.  They are 2-300 dollar pools and I saw the tag marked $49.99.  I also had a coupon for 10 dollars off a purchase or 75 or more, but we had to get the essentials still.  So, I look at it as a 40 dollar pool.  What a deal!

We put it together between last weekend and now and Zoe was so excited.  We filled it on Friday night and Saturday morning and Zoe could not wait!  Saturday was overcast in the morning, so we were trying to tell her to wait a few days until the water warmed up, but that is just not a reasonable  request for an excited toddler.  Daddy told her he had to balance the chlorine before she could get in and she agreed.  Once Daddy gave the go ahead, she was gung-ho until..........she felt the water!  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!  It was freezing!  I was not going anywhere near it and she just cried because of the temperature.  I felt bad so I ran the hot water in the house and poured bucket after bucket of hot water into the pool until Shaun said it was a little better.  Zoe tried again and was thrilled to go in with Daddy.  It was still cold and she shivered from time to time, but still loved swimming.  We will have a fish by the end of the summer, I am sure.  Once they were having a ball, Mommy got brave enough to go in too.  Of course we had to make sure the baby was sleeping soundly.  It was nice to have fun with Zoe and give her our undivided attention for a little bit.

First Official Bath!!!

 LOVIN' the Warm Water

Big Sis Looking On

Kylee got her first official bath.  I know it seems like it is really late to be finally bathing her, but the umbilical cord stump just fell off on Tuesday morning!  So that night I was eager to give her a full bath and forget that sponge-bathing.  Kylee loved it!  She sat there and soaked her little self and stayed nice and calm throughout the whole bath.  While she bathed, Zoe watched on just to make sure her baby sister would be okay and that Mommy didn't forget to clean anything.  I think Kylee now realizes, "Ooooh, bath time...that means massage time after, Yippee!"  When she finishes her bath, we usually lather her up with lotion, just as we did with Zo, and I massage her little legs and arms and she smiles and coos at me.  She LOVES the massage part!

Memorial Day Weekend

 BBQ/Swimming at Papa and YiaYia's for Papa's Birthday

Playing with Steven and Kiara

Memorial Day Weekend is always a great time to go swimming and Zoe got her opportunity at Papa and YiaYia's house.  I am always uncertain about how Zoe will react to new things, even though she swam all summer last year.  Well...she was so excited to go swimming, she wouldn't even let Shaun finish eating.  She got right in and loves playing on their steps.  We are stoked because we worked on her pool for the backyard this summer and were hoping she would want to spend a lot of time in it.  (The pool is an above ground pool with a metal frame...about 2-3 feet deep and 12' in diameter...best part is I got it at Target last year, after summer, for $40!!!  It retailed over the summer for $300!)  It was Papa's birthday, so Zoe also got to help Papa blow out his candles and eat a whole bunch of delicious goodies.  Happy Birthday Papa!

Also, Monday we went to a BBQ at Jeff and Wendy's new house and Zoe played with Steven and Kiara after she warmed up to them.  She had a blast!  They were tossing her in that big pillow up and down and she would just cracked up.  They were such good sports because Zoe had them playing everything and they just went along with it.  She is still talking about playing with Steven and Kiara.