Vacation #3 - Sea World

Day 2 in San Diego consisted of Sea World for over 12 hours! Sea World is my all time favorite place to go in California (my dream when I was little was to be a dolphin trainer... how in the heck did I end up being an accountant??) so I was probably more excited than Bladen.

Patiently waiting for the girls to get ready so we could leave

My mom should have been born a baseball player... whenever you turn around she has a mouth full of sunflower seeds.

Sea World had the cleanest grounds and it was so pretty with all the flowers everywhere.

I wish my hanging pots looked like this

State flags... it's sad that I wouldn't even know what the Illinois state flag looks like and I've lived here for 5 years

B watching the dolphins being fed before their big show

Sesame Street Bay of Play - this is a new addition to Sea World and it was definatley Bladen's favorite. It was super cute for kids.

Elmo's Flying Fish

Oscar's Salt of the Sea

Abby's Sea Star Spin

Play Area

Brandi and Bladen climbing through the nets

Blue Horizon Show - birds, whales, dolphins and acrobats

Clyde and Seamore Show

Shark Encounter

The one thing I learned at Sea World is that the reason Flamingos are pink is because they eat a lot of Beta Carotene.

Believe - Shamu Show

We were all paying attention to see if the trainers would get in the water with the whales, after the accident in FL, but they did not and didn't really get that close to them either.

Arctic Express

I wondered why it was so cold in this area... the walls were really made of ice.

Pet Show - I had know idea that you could train a cat to be like a dog... let alone a pot belly pig.

Cirque de la mar

Elmo in 4D - it rained, our seats splashed water in our face, wind raced through the theater and our seats vibrated. Bladen kept on reaching for the characters because it was like they were walking right in front of you and then he'd take off his glasses and wonder what was going on.

It started to get chilly after dark so we all went and bough sweat shirts.

The boys and their matching sweat shirts and B's awesome sword Papa bought him during the Rock Out with Shamu Show/Fireworks

The girls and our matching shirts - we all got a little fried from sitting on metal bleachers most of the day.

Vacation #2 - Wild Animal Park

Our 1st major adventure out of Cedar was our family trip to San Diego. We hopped in the truck and drove 7 1/2 hours to sunny Cali-forn-I-A. Bladen did AWESOME and didn't make a peep the whole way.

B started off watching "Dora"...

and before we knew it he was out like a light haha!

Getting to our room!

We stayed at the Bahia on Mission Bay. B and Papa coming in from collecting sea shells on the bay.

Day 1: San Diego's Wild Animal Park

Bladen LOVES his Nana and Papa. You would think that Bladen gets to see my parents everyday based on his love for them! It's sad he only sees them a couple times a year!

I have no idea what the 2 babies are looking at!

Foot massage anyone?

They had the coolest flowers! Of course, my mom was in love with them and wanted to take them home and plant them in her yard.

He's still my baby... he doesn't measure up, YET!

Ape

Bird Show

The view of the African Safari. I really enjoyed this park much more than the zoo because the animals were free to roam around this big spacious area together. It was pretty neat seeing all the animals in their natural setting.

Train ride through the Safari

Giraffes

Lion

Lion with her tongue out

Bladen loves to get wet. There was this spray area for kids and of course I told him NO because he would be whinning the rest of the time because he would be soaked, but of course Nana and Papa let him go :)

These Kenyan guys were amazing and super flexible

Elephants

Month Long Vacation

Brandi, Bladen and I packed up our bags on June 12th and left Champaign en route to Cedar City for a whole month of VaCaTiOn!

We started our trip by attending my cousin, K.C.'s, farewell. He left for the MTC on June 16th and will be there for 9 weeks and then will head out to Paris, France. I am so proud of him and can't believe he is old enough to go on a mission!

The fam over at KC's having hobo dinners, the last dinner he wanted before he left.

Walking the MTC grounds. He looks so grown up!

Our next adventure was the Summer Games rodeo. Bladen has never been to a rodeo before so we rumaged through Nick's closet and found this old Cowboy hat for him to wear. He thought he was quite the stud in it.

Why do you need pants when you have a cowboy hat?

Mr Attitude!

He was pouting because Papa stole his cowboy hat and was teasing him!

Kapri, Bladen, Me and Mom at the Rodeo

My best friends!

Uncle Ben knew all the right people... he knew the trainer to the clydes dale horses so he got to go back and sit on them and then also got to go meet many of the cowboys.

We then had the opportunity to spend Father's Day with my dad. We had a BBQ with Ben and Laur's family over at my parent's house.

B and Uncle Nick

My dad and all us kids and the ONLY grandkid

My cute family