Anniversary Trip!!!

Since TJ and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary, we decided we would take a trip just the two of us!  With Easter right after our anniversary, we chose to go after so we could be with our kids on Easter.  So on Tuesday we picked up Grandma Lisa and Cassie from the airport.  Grandma was so kind to come stay with our little ones and Cassie came to enjoy her Spring break for the first half of our trip!  We could not be more grateful to Grandma for taking our munchkins so we could get some alone time!  We left Wednesday morning early and got to San Diego around noon.  We got our rental car and headed to the Old Town Inn where we stayed. 

 At the airport about to board on our getaway! 

 After we checked into our hotel, we headed to Old Town San Diego.  We really enjoyed seeing all the old time shops and buildings!

 Our first taste of San Diego was at the Cafe Coyte.  It was great Mexican - we were less than an hour from Mexico after all!

 And while we ate, we were serenaded by these two talent men!

 After lunch we headed to the Mormon Battalion museum.  They redid the museum a few years ago and it is really cool!  They have created a tour that takes you along the journey of the battalion as you pass through the rooms.  Then you can pan for gold!  Yes that is right GOLD!!  And though we struck it rich in Iron pyrite, we will still continue to work our regular jobs so that we don't get to carried away with all our riches!

 As we continued to walk around Old Town, we stumbled upon one of our favorite places there!  We liked it so much that we made frequent stops there and became recognizable to the employees!  We tried several types of Rood Beer and enjoyed them all. 

This is one of the three shelves of flavors they had!
After we left Old Town, we went and got ready so we could go to the San Diego Temple to do a session.  We were going to go to the 7:30pm session so that we could be in the session that my Uncle David would officiate.  We were also able to be the witness couple for the session.  It wasn't a very full session, but it was an amazing experience!  My Uncle David looks so much like my Dad and my late Grandfather.  It was like I was at the temple with all three of them.  This was a very special experience!  Then when our session was over, we waited for him in the Celestial room and he took us on a tour of the temple.  It is beyond beautiful!  There is an atrium that is gorgeous!  I have never been in a temple like that one!

 I dreamed of going to this temple from the day I first saw a picture of it when it was first built in the 1990s!  I think every girl dreamed of this fairytale castle!

 And I got to go with my Prince TJ! 

 This picture does no justice to this temple at night!  It is such a beautiful temple!

Day TWO we went to Sea World.  It was a perfect day to explore and experience Sea World! 

 The first thing we did was watch the trainers feed the dolphins!  I was already in heaven the minute we saw the dolphins!  I would have stayed there all day! 

 I was once again in heaven when we went to Turtle Reef!  I love the Sea Turtles!  They are so big and amazing! 

 We really enjoyed the shows and were able to sit close.  The dolphins were hard to capture as they flipped so fast and swam even faster!  They were incredible to watch though!  They are an incredible animal! 

 And then there is the SHAMU show!  WOW!!!!  These are magnificent animals!  I have always loved these killer whales!  They are beautiful and HUGE and just incredible!  The show was our favorite!  It amazes me every time to watch them flip out of the water!  THEY ARE HUGE!!!!

 After the Shamu show, we headed over to the Sea Lions feeding area.  If you are looking to be entertained, watch these guys!  They show off and compete with the other Sea Lions for your attention so you will feed them.  I remember doing this from my childhood some 20+ years ago! 

 We tried twice to go to the Sea Lions and Seals show!  The first time it was completely full and the next time we went even earlier and were able to get in.  This show is very funny! 

We had Super Clyde save the day!  He dove into the water from up there which was pretty cool!

 Here he is soaking the bad guy!

 Seamore competing against Clyde in the Survivor challenge.  He jumped over the bar with the ball never leaving his nose!  Now that is talent! 

 That night we headed to Petco Park to watch the San Diego Padres take on the Arizona Diamondbacks.  We met my Uncle David at the trolley station right by our hotel and rode down to the game with him.  It was a great evening visiting with Uncle David and watching the game.  Sadly the Padres lost the game.

 Day THREE we spent at the San Diego Zoo.  There were some pretty amazing things and then a few that were a little disappointing.  Overall it was a great day.  The weather held out and didn't rain until we left!!!  But it was pretty chilly. 

 From the advice of my uncle, we took the bus ride first so we could get a feel for the zoo and where we wanted to go.  The bus tour was great!  We got close to a lot of the animals and they were a lot more active as we were on the bus than they were when we walked the zoo.

 This picture was taken from the bus.  We got very close to the polar bears on the ride.  They were playing and moving around. 

 Also taken from the bus.  I have never seen an elephant with tusks like this one before!  At most I have seen the little stubs.

 So after we left the bus tour, we started to walk around.  We came to the Hippos and WOW!  This is one of the best parts of the zoo!  The underwater viewing was incredible!  And to top that they were doing a demonstration when we got there.  The trainer was spraying water and the Hippo LOVED it!  It was unbelievable to be that close to a Hippo with his mouth open so wide! 

 This might be why TJ has a fear of Hippos!  Or it might just be because of how mean they are and they could kill you in no time flat!  I too would not want to meet a Hippo outside of the zoo!

We also took the tram across the park!

 It was so cold that I ended up wearing TJ's sweatshirt and he ended up in a new one!  I wasn't very smart and I forgot mine in Colorado!

 If you look close you can see a Koala.  I was a little sad that they were hiding and not more exposed. 

This Panda was what disappointed me the most.  This was the one Panda you could see.  The other one was hiding behind a tree.  I was so sad that they weren't out moving or at least up in the trees eating.  I have always LOVED Pandas and so I was really sad when they were just sleeping and hiding. 

 The jaguar.  He was having fun playing round right by the fence.  Usually the big cats are laying around so it was cool to see him up and playing around!

 After we left the Zoo we went to the hotel and watched a movie while it poured rain.  Then we headed back to Old Town for dinner and some more Root Beer and homemade candy!  We ate at Miguel's, which was my favorite place we ate at!  They have heaven in a white cheese jalapeno dip!  Oh I could have sat there ALL DAY LONG eating that stuff!  The rest of the food was good too!  This place came to us as a recommendation from Sister Massachusetts (the Sister missionary from the Mormon Battalion.)

Day FOUR we went  to the Safari park.  This place was really cool!  The animals were all so active it was a great day!

 This picture is for our Lily girl who's favorite animal at the current moment is flamingos!  This has just changed from her old favorite the giraffe! 

The first place we went was to the African Tram ride.  Along the way, we saw these guys sleeping.  They were right up at the window!  They are massive animals!  I loved seeing them this close!

 Once we were on the African tram, which we rode twice it was so cool!, we got to see a lot of animals in big open spaces.  They let the animals live in the same habitats for the most part.  It was crazy to watch a White Rhino (which there are only 20 left in the world and they don't bread very well so they will be extinct soon) walk right past the giraffe and the wildebeest!

 The Black Rhino mom and baby.  This is only the 14th Black Rhino to be born at the Safari Park.  There were a lot of Black Rhinos and only one White Rhino.  They are as closely related as we are to a chimp. 

 This is one of two White Rhino at the Safari Park.

These are Black Rhinos our chilling.  I wish this picture wasn't blurry.  It was really cool to see that many together!

 More of the Black Rhinos at the park.

It was incredible to see these animals together.  It was closer to the wild than the zoo exhibits and so they did more than just lay around and move every once in a while.  We got to see the giraffe run down the hill and other animals jump and run.  It was amazing!

 The Safari Park also had a butterfly exhibit going on.  We actually saw it on the last day.

 Besides the African Tram, the Gorillas were my favorite!  They have a baby Gorilla and he was so cute to watch!  Watching him I started to miss Logan.  They both climb on and in everything and  are both a little wobbly still! 

 This little gorilla was so fun to watch with this box!  There had to have been food or something in that box!

Day FIVE we spent at the USS Midway.  This is an aircraft carrier  that functioned from the 1940s until 1992.  Now you can tour it and see how the Navy live at see!  What amazed me the most is the size and this is the smallest Aircraft carrier!  It was very cool to see.

 These are the enlisted Navy sleeping area!  Let's just say I would not want to be an enlisted Navy on the ship.  If I could hand pick my position I would pick a Chaplin.  They get their own room and bathroom!  And their job doesn't determine if the ship is going to crash!  Plus I would think they would get more sleep than the Captain!

 We got a little out of hand and they threw us into the Brig!  Luckily we got out for good behavior!

 This is the officer's cafeteria.  Uniform is required to eat in this room along with an invitation!  They also ate a lot better than the enlisted.

 This is one section of the enormous laundry room where they process thousands of bags of dirty laundry each week. 

 These are a few of their dryers.

 And then you have the pots they cook in!  They fed a lot of people three meals a day.  That kitchen would be a mad house all day long getting everything taken care of!

 And if you are sick, they have a full ICU and OR.  They said that the most common injury is head lacerations. 

 They have EVERYTHING on the ship!

 TJ had a dental apt while we were there!

 That is right!  I am the BOSS!  This is the chair that the person who is in charge of all the flights take off and landing sits.  This is a very big responsibility.   They land plans every 30 -45 seconds and take off every one minute.  A little longer at night but you get how important it is for this person to be perfect at his job!

 TJ being the captain and driving the ship!

 After the Midway we went to IN-N-OUT for dinner.  And then we headed back to Sea World to catch the night shows!  Those shows were awesome!

 The Sea Lions and Seals show spoofed all the other Sea World shows.  It was pretty funny!

 Clyde being Shamu

 Clyde riding the Journey to Atlantes

 While we were waiting for the Shamu show, we went back over to the dolphins.  They were swimming around the pool close to the edge.  I got to touch a dolphin!  Yeah I was pretty excited about that one! 

 We also watched this girl put a stuffed dolphin up to the glass and raise it up and the dolphin would copy it.  It was even more funny when the dolphin spit on the girl!

 

 The Shamu show was awesome!  The whole show was set to music and the Killer Whales just swam and flipped and pose!  It was great!

 Day SIX was spent at the beach!  A couple of different beaches actually!  We started the day at Torry Pines State Park where we hiked down to the ocean.  We collected a lot of shells along the beach that Lily is now very much enjoying!

It was really pretty along the way.

 Yes that is my BLING!!!  I found an awesome shell that had a hole to wear it like a ring! 
After we finished hiking, we were about to pull out our picnic lunch when Uncle David called.  He told us where better beaches for lounging on the beach were.  Torry Pines has a lot of rocks and so he directed us to La Jolla Shores and La Jolla Cove.  We headed over to La Jolla Shores first and played in the water and the sand.  It was BEAUTIFUL!

 TJ went into the water up to his knees, it is after all Spring still!  I went up to my middle calf.

 Next we drove downtown La Jolla to the Cove and Children's Pool.  It was so gorgeous!

 The Children's Pool is where all the Seals come ashore and sunbath.  They were so cool to watch in the WILD!  They bounce to get where they want and then they turn onto their side to sleep.

Such a beautiful place!  We had such a great day at the Beach.  That night we met up with Uncle David and Aunt Claudia for dinner at La Jolla Shores.  It was beautiful and a perfect evening for a picnic on the beach.  We had a great time visiting with them.  We were glad we got to see them while we were there!

Day SEVEN we spent the morning at Loma Point Lighthouse and Cabrillo National Monument.  It was very cold with the ocean breeze blowing in.  This is where Juan Cabrillo, the first Spanish explorer came to the present day United States.

 

Then we headed to the airport to fly home.  It was a FABULOUS vacation!  We had a great time just the two of us!  I was excited to come home and see my kiddos too!  Next time we hit San Diego we will take them with us!