Legoland!

(Start two posts down at the beginning of our trip ;)

We spent our last day in San Diego at Legoland. This place was so much bigger and more impressive than I thought it would be! We took one look at the map and knew we were in for a packed, fun day.

I thought it would be cute to take a picture next to Lego mom. ;) She sure has an easy job!
Jacob was really interested in the map. He held it wherever we went, wanting to know where we were and where we were going.Jacob and Gavin digging for dinosaur fossils
Gavin could have spent the entire day squirting water at these lego animals!
Seriously... thank goodness Gavin was 36 inches. This was the height requirement for almost all of the rides!
Jacob wasn't so sure about this ride, holding on for dear life... however, Gavin was smiling from ear to ear! These lego cars were like go-carts and so fun to ride (once Jacob figured out how to step on the gas ;) He even got an official lego license to take home with him.
Gavin loved galloping through the forest on his horse. Giddy-up!
Half-way through the park, there was a pirate-themed area with a water park and waterslides. Jacob and Gavin got in their swim suits and ran around like crazy. If you were in the wrong place at the wrong time though, this entire bucket of water came down on you!
This was my favorite ride by far... especially since I couldn't go on the roller coasters. ;)
Our last stop was mini-land, where entire cities had been built out of legos. Adam and I took a picture outside of the Luxor, where we last stayed in Las Vegas.

New York City
The Sydney Opera House
Mount Rushmore
Who could forget Bob the Builder in legos?

Jacob went on a Dragon roller coaster with Adam and wasn't interested in any rides that appeared "roller-coasterish" afterwards. The funniest thing was when we asked him what he favorite part of Legoland was, he smiled in excitement and said, "The dragon roller coaster!" Who would've thought? It was a great day though... we only waited in one long line for a pirate ride. All of the other lines were ten minutes or less!

As for the airplane rides? They went really well, mostly because of this.

Hanging out at the Beach

We decided to take the day in between SeaWorld and Legoland to relax at the beach. It was fun that you could walk across the street to get to the ocean, but we spent most of our time at the bay. The kids loved playing in the calm water, without the scary waves crashing at their feet. (Although they were pretty brave with the ocean waves, as long as their hand was clutching ours ;)


Here is a picture of Mission Bay as you walk outside of our hotel. They would even bring lunch right to you on the beach!

We rented a powerboat so we could ride around and explore Mission Bay. There is nothing I love more than being on a boat, with the cool wind blowing. The boys were statues, looking around in awe but not moving a muscle. I guess they were scared of falling in! At one point, Adam had to go to the bathroom so he jumped in the water. Jacob started screaming (he apparently thought Adam couldn't swim or would get eaten by a shark, leaving us to fend for ourselves :)


There was a carnival on the beach just a mile from our hotel. On Tuesday nights, all of the rides were half-price so we went to check it out.
Jacob will go on any scary ride imaginable, but he WILL NOT ride a horse on the carousel. How crazy is that? He chooses the seat everytime! At least another little boy his age felt the same way and they talked the entire ride. ;)
We couldn't figure out why Gavin was crying until we saw that Jacob wasn't letting him ring the bell.

Sea World

We made lots of fun memories in San Diego. Here are some pictures to capture our vacation at a glance. Our hotel had a rainforest theme, with trees, parrots, waterfalls, pools of enormous fish, and ducks waddling around the pathways. It was a beautiful walk from our room to the swimming pool or the bay.


We had breakfast at our hotel and then were off to SeaWorld! (Jacob loved that the placemats could be used as a pirate mask :)
We headed straight for the Shamu show as soon as we got there. At the beginning of the show, there was a huge tribute to the heroes who serve our country and the audience applauded for families in the military. I was in tears of course, not only as our family stood, but everytime I saw a "Here's to the Heroes" sign around SeaWorld.

Jacob is clapping with the music to Shamu
Gavin and Jacob couldn't get enough of watching the sea lions swim and play
Here we are at the dolphin show... they can splash almost as far as the orca whales!
SeaWorld was definitely kid-friendly, as this entire Sesame themed area was filled with fun things to play on and climb! It was a great break between the shows, but you had to stay latched to your kids so you wouldn't get separated.

This was a cat and dog show that Jacob and Gavin loved. Dogs were jump roping, cats were leaping from high structures... it was pretty entertaining!
We walked through the shark, penguin and polar exhibits. In this picture, Gavin was in a polar bear cave and just heard the loud howl of a polar bear!
We let Jacob pick one treat for the afternoon, whatever he would like. Leave it to a four-year old to choose blue cotton candy!We ended the day at a tidepool, where you could touch all of the sealife (as long as it stayed in the water ;)

So far, so good!

We had planned to put Gavin in his big boy bed as soon as we got back from vacation. So last night was the night, for several reasons.

1. We wanted to adjust Gavin to a big boy bed with plenty of time before the baby was born. We didn't want him to feel "kicked out" of his room.
2. I wanted to wait until summertime, when I wasn't working.
3. Adam still has two more days off before he goes back to work, so we can be in it together!

The transition into a big boy bed went fairly well for Jacob, so we wanted to go through the same routine with Gavin. We starting bringing some things into Jacob's room, so Gavin would feel like it was his room as well. After going through the familiar goodnight routine of brushing his teeth, reading a story, and singing a song, we told Gavin how his new big boy bed would work. Most importantly, he was not allowed to get out once we tucked him in. He could ask for help or call for us if he needed anything though.

Then, we camped outside of his room. The first time he tried to get out of bed, we would clap our hands and say, "NO!" This completely startled him and he scrambled back into his bed immediately.

I did not think this process was going to go smoothly, but I found myself pretty surprised. After trying once to get out of bed, he just laid there quietly. At one point, I heard him softly singing "the bi-ble tell me sooo." When I went to check on him, he started talking like crazy so I wouldn't leave. "I see Marlys and GG and Grampa and Evan and Grammy and Heidi and Maddie and Travi..."

Later, I heard him call, "Mommy!" When I went in his room, he smiled and said, "This not Jacob's bed. This Gavin's big boy bed!" Then he continued with, "Want corn. Want broccoli. Want more apple juice."

While Adam was watching him, his blankie fell to the ground. He wasn't sure if he would get in trouble for getting it, so he said, "Daddy! Need blankie!"

This went on for almost three hours. We were waiting until he fell asleep to put Jacob to bed, but at 9:30 we decided to lay Jacob down in another room. I'm not so sure how it will work to have them share a room. Whenever they are in the same room at other houses, they chat it up and it takes forever to fall asleep. Our plan is to put Gavin to bed first and put Jacob to bed once Gavin falls asleep. So hopefully, Gavin doesn't take three hours to fall asleep tonight!

Here he is in his new big boy bed!

Happy 4th of July!

We flew in from San Diego on July 3rd and headed straight up to spend the 4th of July with our family. Here are some pictures of our time together!





After spending the afternoon with my side of the family, we went to Adam's parents for dinner and fireworks. Gavin is a total pyro, just like his mommy. He was absolutely entranced by the fireworks from beginning to end and couldn't get enough of the sparklers!