Bring a poncho!

If you want to sit close enough that you can see well and get good pictures, you either have to be prepared to get wet (uh, soaked) or you have to have a poncho. They sell them there for eight dollars, or you could bring your own which probably cost less than a dollar. We didn't have ponchos. I dont mind being wet, but I prefer not to have my cameras doused in water - which then means I had to sit way up high. Oh well. The boys on the other hand, had no problem getting completely soaked - part of the fun I suppose.

So here's the Sea World breakdown:
Corbin loved Journey to Atlantis - a roller coaster with a big splash at the end.
Cody loved most everything, and was totally entralled with all the shows.
Colton loved the tide pools, which he exhibited by throwing a screaming fit when we tried to take him away.
We all loved the Sea Lion and Otter Show the best.

All in all, awesome day. A good end to our trip.

San Diego in a Day

Part of Corbin's prize package was tickets for the Old Town Trolley Tour. It basically goes ALL OVER San Diego and you can get on and off as you please all day. There are about 11 different stops - we had time for four of them. If you are familiar with The city and want to see where we went, you can check it out here. Otherwise, here is the shortened version of our fun San Diego day.

Maritime Museum - we toured a couple boats and a submarine. One of the boats was the one used to film Master and Commander, so there were pictures of Russell Crowe all over. That was a plus. The boys like the submarine. I'm pretty sure I couldn't stay in there longer than it took for me to walk through it though. I am way too claustrophobic and don't think I could share 3 bathrooms with 97 other people.

Fish & chips at Anthony's on the water. (I have no idea why they had their hands up)

Huge aircraft carrier, which we opted not to tour since it was like $20 a person. It was really cool to see it though.

Colton and Cody were obviously totally intrigued. They slept while we walked around the shops and got ice cream at Seaport Village.

Next stop: Coronado Island. The boys loved the short time we stopped to play on the beach. That's the Hotel del Coronado in the background. It was old, famous and really cool. Too bad it is only for the seriously rich.

This is the view of San Diego as our trolley crossed the San Diego/Coronado Bay Bridge.

The tour started and ended in Old Town. I wish we could have spent more time here, but it was fun to walk around for a little while. This was the original beginning of San Diego, so they had all the old time shops, etc. Now it has all kinds of outdoor shops and restaurants, etc.

We also got to see much of Balboa park on our ride through, it was really gorgeous. It has museums, Japanese gardens, an outdoor theater and the San Diego zoo. It was past 5 pm by the time we passed through there, so we decided not to disembark. We had had plenty of fun for the day. The tour was a good way to see many different parts of San Diego, although, I don't know if I would reccommend for those traveling with a one year old. Riding on mom's lap in the trolley was exciting for about the first 15 minutes, then the little pieces of trash, etc on the floor looked much more exciting. All in all it was fun, and hey, it was free, so we really can't complain. We actually loved everything we did. What a beautiful and fun town!

cold is relative

So when we were in San Diego, of course we had to visit the beach. It was barely 70 degrees, but since we had had snow in Utah just the week before, it seemed like perfect weather for putting on swimsuits and getting wet. It turned out great, because the beach was fairly uncrowded and I think there were only two other people (in wetsuits) getting in the water. I think it did get a little chilly, but the kids didn't notice, and I had so much fun watching them that I didn't really notice, so really, it was perfect.

Did I mention that the boys LOVED it?

Oh, and I took lots of video of them playing in the waves, so hopefully I will get that loaded soon. :)

How many does it take?

Our first day in California was Legoland, of course. That was what the boys were most excited about, so we couldn't wait another day. So I just have to say, if you have already been to Legoland, you may get bored with these pictures, but hopefully you thought it was as cool and fun as we did. If you have not been to Legoland, it was TOTALLY AWESOME. Obviously I loved it because my kids loved it so much. It was perfect for Corbin and Cody's age. Corbin could ride all of the rides and Cody could ride about half. There was so many different things to do and see and no lines, so the boys never got bored or whiny. Russ rode several of the roller coasters with Corbin and actually said they were really cool. So if you are ever in Southern California and have kids between the ages of 2 and 12 - I would DEFINITELY recommend it.

Corbin's favorites were the Dragon, Lego Racers, and the Lost Kingdom of Adventure. You can check out all the rides on this cool interactive map. Cody loved the Cargo Ace planes and Lost Kingdom of Adventure (the Indiana Jones ride where everyone has laser guns and gets to see who gets the most points shooting targets), and of course Cody loved the water stuff. I liked watching the boys try to drive their own cars and thought Miniland was totally cool. All over the park there was stuff made of Legos, all day I thought "I wonder how many Legos and how much time it took to make that". Some very creative people have spent alot of time on some of the attractions and exhibits. It was seriously cool and fun to see such a unique place.

So like I said before, tons of pics, which I realize might not be as fun for you to look at as they are for me, but just realize this is the reduced version and it is so hard to eliminate pictures! Hopefully you can get a good feel for how much fun it was!

We couldn't have done it without your vote!

We just got back from our awesome San Diego trip. Thanks to all who voted for Corbin! We had such a good time and we couldn't have done it without each and every vote. Thank you! Here's the basic overview of our vacation, but with at least a hundred pictures each day, I'm sure I will have to do a few more posts. ;)

Here we are, on our way - all excited, full of energy. I was grateful for the plane ride instead of a whole day of driving, but I am still undecided of whether or not airports, security, planes, renting car, etc. is easier than driving.
This was our ride for the week. For all you van lovers, although I may need a bigger car, I am still not convinced. One, it makes me drive like a grandma, two, I am vain, I can't get over the image (sorry to 90% of my friends - it's just not me). The other thing though is that, ya know how they say "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" - I think it is the same way with children. Some of them are much better off if they are within arm's reach of mom. It worked fine for this trip though and I decided that renting a car is going to be the best way to decide what kind of car I really want - eventually (but the Ford mini van is out). Anyhow, the boys thought it was fun to have a "new car".

So our hotel was totally cool, and within walking distance from Legoland, so that was awesome. Part of Corbin's package was two nights at the Grand Pacific Palisades Hotel and Resort, we added one night so it didn't seem so short and then stayed with friends two other nights (thanks Tara and Yannick!), so we were in SoCal almost a week. It was great!

Our hotel was also right above the Carlsbad Flower Fields. Here is our hotel:

This is the view from our hotel. Notice the beach in the background as well. :)

Hanging in our hotel room. We got upgraded to the deluxe room, which had a fridge, microwave, dishes etc. The first night there we picked up our breakfast goods for the next few days. It was so nice not to have to eat out every meal.

Corbin got his Nintendo DS just before the trip (another story to come soon)

So stay tuned all the fun yet to come: Legoland, Beach, Coronado Island, and Seaworld. And yes, there will be lots of pics, but that's the fun part, right?

It really is for real

Remember the trip Corbin won to San Diego/Legoland? (If you don't click here.) Well, we have Legoland tickets in our possession, the hotel is confirmed, the plane tickets were purchased, and I think we are actually going! We are going April 29th - May 4th. Yes, I know, it is coming up very soon!! We were able to add on a few days, so hopefully we can hit a few other hot spots in SoCal - or maybe just the beach. I can't wait! Thanks again to everyone who voted. I will be thinking of you every day of the trip.

Real people win radio station contests . .

So most of you have heard by now of our glorious news yesterday, and even though I had emailed nearly my entire contact list and then some, everyone asked "Did you post it on your blog yet?" So here it is with a little background to make the whole thing more exciting (as if winning a trip needs any more excitement!)

Back in February, there was this "Safe Kids Fair" in Salt Lake and it was free, so I thought that would be a fun activity for the fam and since Russ had the day off, we had to go because if it was just me, I probably would have skipped it. (Managing three little kids in crowded places is not always a rewarding experience.) Anyway, since it was free, I thought what the heck, if it stinks then we just get in the car and go home - no big loss.

It turned out to be quite fun, there were ALL kinds of vendors with all kinds of handouts, treats, games, prizes, etc. They even gave you a little bag as you entered to collect all of your goodies. Russ said he actually thought it was cool. It was at this big convention center and they had a firetruck inside and everything. I was actually going to do a whole post about this, because it was really fun, but obviously I haven't posted in awhile. So here's a few pics from our fun little outing:

Corbin riding in the bike rodeo and learning bike safety

Corbin and Cody trying out the Police bikes

Fighting with a storm trooper (not quite sure what this had to do with safety)

Cody hanging with the talking ambulance (this was really cool, because it was run by a lady that talked through a head-set like 10yards away, but the kids really thought the little robot ambulance was talking to them because it would say their name and stuff)

Trying on firefighter gear is always fun (this one seemed way too clean to have been actually used by a firefighter, but it was still cool)

So on to the real story, one of the booths was this radio station and they had this big table of legos where kids could play and build things. My boys LOVE legos, so of course we had to stop and play for a minute (or twenty). Then we saw that there was a contest to win a trip to Legoland and since Corbin has been wanting to go there forever, he got totally excited. So the deal was you build a lego creation, they take your picture, they posted it on the website and then people could vote for the winner.

The plane in progress (Corbin was very proud that it included a bathroom as well, no details were forgotten):

In the mind of a five year old, he thought "I built my lego creation, now when do I get my trip to Legoland". So when we got home, I spent several days explaining to him the nature of the contest (and basically preparing him to lose, because who really ever wins these things anyway). It took them a few days to post the pictures online and by that point we were preparing for a trip to Seattle (that post will come soon) and just busy, busy, busy. So we got back from Seattle, spent a day recovering and then it hit me! And I was like crap, I think we missed it! So I got online and realized people could still vote and there were only like 231 entries. I thought I better try - for Corbin, because he wanted it so badly and by the time we can afford a trip out to California, he will probably have outgrown the desire to go. Plus, I figured about 10-20% of the people took their pictures at the fair and then totally forgot about it, then there were probably 10-20% who voted and told grandma to vote, but that's it. So somehow I convinced myself that we had do-able odds. Long story short, I sent an email to almost all my contacts - friends, family, high school buddies, colleagues, etc, etc. And apparently a few people passed the word on and people actually voted - because it worked!! In two days we blew everyone else out of the water. Thank you, btw, to all of you who voted and got others to vote - obviously we wouldn't have won without each and every vote. It is nice to know that I have so much support from friends and family when I really need it!

So here's what we won (or you can click here to see Corbin's pic and more details):

Airfare for four to San Diego, California.

Two night stay at Grand Pacific Palisades Resort & Hotel.

Four tickets to LEGOLAND® California.

Delicious dinner for four at Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza

Four passes for the hop on and hop off Old Town Trolley Tour of San Diego.

Wahoo!! We are so excited! Russ and I both had perma-grin yesterday. And when we looked it all up online with the boys, we got even more excited. We can't wait! We pick up the package from the radio station this week and I think we just work with the travel agency to pick when we want to go. So has anyone been? Any suggestions on when we should go? And yes, I think we are going to see if we can add a day or two to spend more time there and do some of the other fun things in San Diego. Ahhh! I'm so excited!

So Corbin's uncle, who was an avid supporter and campaigned tirelessly, requested us to video tape when we told Corbin, so stay tuned for the posting of that. :)