Looking Through The Kaleidoscope: California 2009

Every year we take a trip somewhere warm to escape the cold winter here. This year we went to California again!

Jeremy's Aunt Irene and Uncle David were kind enough to house us for the first couple nights and the last couple nights of our stay. Natalie loved playing with their tiny dog Masako, and Kai colored up a storm. I'm not sure if they have any paper left.

Our first full day there it was pouring rain so we decided to go to the children's museum along with the rest of the world (it was a rainy holiday in California)! The kids had a lot of fun; Kai really liked the building blocks, and so did Irene.

That night Jeremy got some tennis in. He's so fast even the camera can't capture him. ; )

David even said he won most of the games. I wasn't there to witness this though, Natalie and I were still feeling sick.

The next day was mostly clear with a few rain showers during the day. We decided to head up to Point Loma. Here's our pictures at the lookout point by the visitor's center.

Quite the view! We watched a few boats leave the harbor, and a few jets take off from the naval base!

Next we hiked up to the lighthouse you can see behind Natalie and Kai.

Inside the small lighthouse.

Next door in a small house where the original lens is. The children are really loving learning about history, can't you tell?!

We walked around the lighthouse to the whale watching station and swear we saw whales in the water below so we drove down to the shore to investigate. But when we finally got there we couldn't see anything and it started raining again .So here's the token photo to prove we were there! Once again, the children are thrilled! haha

By now, we were hungry and searching for food. We ended up at Sea Port Village and walked to a pizza place where we shared lunch with the birds. The kids thought the birds were pretty funny and liked feeding them.

Kai had seen lots of boats on our various drive and told us he wanted to go on a boat that moved. So we boarded the ferry to Coronado Island! Not soon enough though, I got stung by a wasp while waiting in line, ouch! We found some ice cream and a snack on the island and came back. On the return, we stopped at the naval base to pick up some marines and sailed past a huge carrier; that was cool. By then we were all worn out and went to the hotel to crash!

The next day was a big day too, we went to Sea World with Uncle Kael and Aunt Heather! Kai and Natalie got to feed the seals, but the birds there are fierce and kept stealing the fish right out of our hands!

Here we are waiting for the Sea Lion show having a snack. Apparently five sandwiches makes a picnic at sea world and is frowned upon. ; )

We took the kids to pet the dolphins. Kai had fun, but Natalie....

just wanted to wash her hands! She didn't like touching the sting rays either, too slimy I guess.

We also got some rides in that day! I think that was one highlight for Kai.

But the most exciting thing to him was his sword! He had wanted one all day! Natalie got a Shamu puppet.

Shamu!

We went back to Sea World the next day, too. This was mommy's favorite part that day. Kai liked the walrus the best, and Natalie still liked the dolphin show. However, we had to leave early that day. About 30 minutes after this picture was taken Natalie threw up all over the cafe and all over Jeremy! Poor kiddo.

They slept so good every night and went to bed so early! Ah, aren't they cute?!

Our last day there Jeremy drove me to Oceanside for my workshop and took the kids to play at the pier. Kai really liked watching the surfers and Natalie liked meeting Charlie the Pelican.