San Diego Vacation

Before I get to blogging about our fabulous vacation, I have a few miscellaneous pictures from before we left.  First, we went to breakfast the other morning and Bryant got the special of pumpkin spice chocolate chip pancakes.  I think he was happy with his choice!

 

He also had a couple accidents at daycare and I hadn't brought any spare clothes in awhile, so he came home in super short spare daycare clothes...

 

Now for vacation...

We decided to head back to San Diego for some warm weather and to spend some time with Travis' sister and family.  Bryant has been so excited to see his cousins since we decided to go and early Thursday morning we started our drive down. 

 

Our new portable dvd purchase came in very handy.  Bryant was very serious when he started watching and by the end of the trip he was giggling at everything.

 

We actually made it farther for our first stop than last year.  We made it all the way to Mesquite, NV.  Since Bryant wasn't old enough to partake in the gambling, he played in the arcade and won stickers!

 

We were able to sleep in, have a nice breakfast, and still managed to make it to San Diego by about 4:30 pm.  We were trying to get a lot of cousins pictures, so here is the first one.  At least everyone is looking.

 

Probably only because we bribed them with cookies:)

 

On Saturday, we headed to Legoland and had a blast.  Here are the three kiddos standing in line for their first ride.

 

Bryant watched Uncle Brian and Madeline on the slide and thought he would give it a try.  He did well on all other rides, but the slide was a bit intimidating.

 

And of course you get to play with legos at Legoland!

 

They had a small trick-or-treating area with little legos in costume.

 

They had a big play park with slides and tunnels and rope ladders.  Bryant was really nervous with all the bigger kids around, but once he found this tunnel, he became very possessive.  He told every kid that walked by "no, my tunnel".  He actually was brave enough to climb a ladder and go down the slide by himself, which was quite a feat for our shy little boy.

 

Watching the behind-the-scenes building of lego statues.

 

The cousins all had a blast running around and chasing eachother.

 

We went for a safari ride...look out Auntie Heather...Olivia's driving!!!  (Sorry Heather, it was too good of a picture not to post!)

 

Bryant loved waving to all the lego statues on our boat ride.

 

Cousins dancing after the boat ride.  If Bryant's cheeks look red, they were.  I think he had a bad reaction to the sunscreen, but he was all better the next day.

 

Right toward the end of our time at Legoland, Bryant fell asleep in his stroller.  The games were calling Travis' name and he came through with a big win.  They had three cans stacked in a pyramid and if you knocked 4 stacks down, then you won a big and little monkey.  Travis went 4 for 4, so Bryant got to wake up to a HUGE monkey!

 

He had to sleep with his monkey, which took up more room in his crib than him!

 

 

The next day we headed to the San Diego Zoo.  This was a favorite of Bryant's last year and he was just as impressed this year.  It was really cute when he would wave and say bye to all the animals.

 

This little sleeping monkey was so cute!

 

Cousin hugs!

 Look at these crazy koalas!

 

And a not so crazy koala.

 

The baby giraffes were still so tall!

 

"Lion, roar"

 

We rode the skytram back to the entrance and got a great view of the city and the zoo.

 

At night time the cousins each got to pick a book and pick someone to read it.  And of course they had to snuggle with their new toy animals.

 

What does a walrus look like?

 

What does a monkey say?

 

The next day we all got to walk Madeline to school, which Bryant had to (there was no arguing with him on it) go drop her off and pick her up every day.  They had short days at school, so we were busy both before and after school.  The first day, we went to the park by the school.  Bryant and Olivia had a blast on the slides. 

 

 

That afternoon, we headed to the Children's Museum.  They all liked driving the cars

 

Bryant loved the bouncy house - it had quite a bit more spring than his castle at home!

 

They got to play in bubbles outside

 

And make their own paper.

 

They have a play area for younger kids - aren't these two orange slices just adorable?!!

 

That night we headed to the park that oversees the beach and ocean and watched the sunset.

 

What a fun park!

 

How do you get 3 kids to look at you and smile at the same time?  Have the run towards you and tackle you!  I definitely got tackled, but I got 3 smiling kiddos!

 

This looks like they are dancing at sunset:)

 

The next day we picked up little pumpkins for the kids to paint.

 

And then headed to the Pumpkin Station for some evening fun.  The swings didn't seem to be a very big hit...

 

But the cars were so fun!

 

And then Bryant found the goats.  If you remember from previous posts, Bryant LOVES goats.

 

"Tickle, tickle"

 

 

Then it was time for a train ride...look at Bryant just chillin'!

 

Carousel rides!

We attempted a picture with the pumpkins, but that was wishful thinking.

 

 

He rode the airplanes by himself, which seemed to go pretty fast and pretty high.  He didn't smile once, but he didn't cry...

 

The last ride of the night was the teacups with Madeline. 

 

We figured we tuckered the kids out pretty good that day, so Travis and I got to go on a double date that night with Heather and Brian after the kids went to bed (don't worry, we got a babysitter).  They took us to Cineopolis...the most amazing movie theater "experience" ever.  You get reclining leather seats and a waiter to come bring you food and drinks.

 

 

On Wednesday morning, we took the little cousins to the beach.  They had so much fun splashing in the water!

 

 

Olivia and Bryant are so funny together.  They feed off each other which leads to big old belly laughs from both of them.  So fun to watch!

 

That night the shopping center that was close by was having trick or treating from all the businesses.  The kids got all dressed up.  Bryant was Curious George, which was a great Montana costume, but a bit warm for San Diego:)

Our pirate, Olivia the Pig, and Curious George

 

On Thursday we started our trek back to Montana, but first walked Madeline to school.  Bryant and Olivia were of course being silly, but according to the video, the daddies were being silly (listen closely and you can hear Olivia between when Bryant is talking...as I said earlier, they just feed off each other!)

 

 

We made it back to Whitehall about 5:30 on Friday and stayed the night with Grandma and Grandpa Handl.  Since Friday was Halloween, Bryant got dressed up in his costume again and went trick-or-treating in Travis' old stomping grounds!

 

Look at all his loot:)

 

We left for home on Saturday morning

 

We had such a fun trip to San Diego and it was so fun to watch Bryant play with his cousins.  Every waking minute that they weren't in his sight, he was always asking "where my cousins, where's my Olivia, where's my Madeline"  It was really hard to leave, but I'm so glad we made the trip.  Thanks Auntie Heather, Uncle Brian, Madeline, and Olivia for showing us an awesome time in San Diego.  Can't wait to see you again soon:)