sea world (san diego - part 1)

Gabe and I had a great vacation to San Diego over President's Day Weekend. We went down on Thursday night and stayed until Monday morning. For Christmas, Gabe got us each a 3-for-1 pass that got us into Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and the Wild Animal Park.

We went to Sea World first. It was a beautiful morning full of sunshine. We didn't bring any umbrellas to the park because it was so nice outside.

During Shamu, it started clouding up...

After Shamu, we visited the dolphin pool. The dolphins were swimming and playing. I tried trying and trying to get the dolphins to come over by us so i could pet one, but I was unsuccessful. Gabe did get to pick one... he pet the dolphin's fin! (sorry, no pictures of this fun experience)...

It started sprinkling during our dolphin visit. We didn't mind very much. We went from the dolphins to the sea lions. We fed the sea lions! That was pretty cool - there was one guy that was jumping up and catching the fish in his mouth.

After petting a bat ray (totally strange feeling), we visited the shark encounter.

look at those teeth!!

Gabe set off the alarm by trying to touch the teeth!

Then we watched the sea lion show...

After the sea lion show, we headed to the tide pools and aquariums. En route, it started POURING. We were so drenched - and poor Gabe didn't even bring a jacket. Luckily, the aquariums offered a nice warm, dry place.

Cow-a-bunga!

After the aquariums and the tide pools, we visited the penguins, polar bears, and beluga whales. When we got out of the exhibit, the down pour started again. As we walked to the car, we got so soaked. It was like we had jumped into a pool with our clothes on.

Despite the rain, we had a wonderful visit to sea world.

Stay tuned for further reports on our adventures in San Diego!

yo ho, yo ho.

last saturday, gabe and i took lil' miss Emily to disneyland. we both have passes and it's free to get emily in until she's 3 years old, so we decided to take her for the afternoon/evening.

we all had so much fun! we rode the monorail, small world, the carousel, the train, pirates of the caribbean, and dumbo.

hope we can take her again really soon!

ah, yes. i remember the silver bells of my youth.

Merry Christmas!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year! We had a fantastic Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve with the Johnsons. We baked and delivered cookies, saw True Grit, read the Christmas story from the book of Luke, and opened presents.

Gabe had been sick a few days before Christmas and then I got sick on Christmas day. I felt so awful that I didn't even want to open presents when I woke up. I took tons of medicine to try to feel better. We went to Momma Linda's for some Christmas Brunch with the Medina's. We opened presents. I was still feeling pretty sick in the afternoon, but felt well enough to have Christmas Dinner at Mike and Janica's. Janica did a great job on her first roast!

Because I wasn't 100% on Christmas day, I only have pictures from Christmas Eve. Here they are:

the bounty of presents!

awww. mike and janica!

Emily was sooooooooooooo excited!!

Allyson was just happy to be around. Happy to rock back and forth in the chair and pet the dog. :)

Emily loved reading her new books.

and Mr. J is so proud of his new ski helmet!!

a day at the park

these pictures are about a month old, but i wanted to share them anyway. Emily and I had a saturday afternoon date. I told her we could do whatever she wanted and suggested a trip to the park, a trip to target, or a trip to my house. she chose the park and my house.

We went to a park near my house that I drive by all the time and think is super cute. George Washington Park is right off Lincoln and Anaheim. It has a gazebo, rose garden, and arbor walkway.

Emily and I had a great time playing. She's so brave and adventurous on the playground equipment.

I told her she was a cutie pie. she said, "no! i'm not a cutie pie. that's allyson!"

twenty-five.

a few weeks ago, i had my 25th birthday. just before my birthday, i had a home hair-dying mishap that required me to dye my hair darker... so here's what i looked like as i turned 25.

i celebrated my 25th birthday with two consecutive nights of Brandon Flowers, courtesy of one lovely EAK (who was celebrating her birthday as well!) Brandon gave us amazing performances at the Fox Theater in Pomona and the Wiltern in LA. i absolutely LOVED the concerts. my sister has always made me feel special on my birthday and i love having a birthday so close to hers! (on my 15th birthday, she took me to a Dixie Chicks concert. it was my first concert and it was such an amazing experience with my sister.)

on the day of my birthday, i had to work and gabe had to go to class so it was just a normal day. Mike and Emily came by for a little visit too. the weekend of my birthday was shopping and dining fun.

i'm not sure i'm grown up enough to be 25. when EAK was 25, i thought she was such an adult. i looked up to her, her intelligence, her independence, and let's face it, she was COOL. and now i'm a grown up too!

according to Wikipedia - 25 is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_(number))

hey there, pumpkin. care for a cupcake?

this past weekend, we enjoyed our two favorite Halloween traditions. 1 - carving pumpkins; and 2 - decorating halloween cupcakes/cookies.

saturday, we had Mike, Janica, and Elizabeth over for pumpkin carving. we had a "nacho bar." pretty much the best thing ever.

(chips, guacamole, onions, jalapenos, olives, tomatos, sour cream, chorizo, queso, and hot sauce.)

Janica finished first, as usual. and without a pattern or using a marker, she always makes perfect pumpkins!! Mike won't carve with us, he thinks we'll tease him. i don't know where he would get such an idea!



Gabe took the longest, as usual. And his was another work of art. He did the angry scarecrow...

the whole gang - all lit up.



gabe's scarecrow.

my haunted house.

eak's jack-o-symmetry

Janica's cute spooked pumpkin!

We spent Sunday with momma Linda, decorating cupcakes and cookies with Aunt Kim and cousin Kiera (kim's granddaughter).

Kiera was such a good decorator. and she's remarkably good at sneaking candy after Kim has told her no more!! (notice she's got a candy corn in her hand....)

sweet girl.

behold the delicious fruits of our labor:

are we seriously almost done with October??

mickey's halloween party!

last night was a fun night at Disneyland! EAK found out about a special event called "Mickey's Halloween Party" (see here.) it was such a great family Halloween activity. Discounted tickets to the park, exclusive entry, trick-or-treating, costumes, Halloween festivities everywhere!

I have been to Knott's Scary Farm before and I thought it was just about the worst thing ever. over-crowded, over-priced, over-creepy guys going after 14-year old girls. when I went, it was so crowded that in 3 1/2 hours, we only got to go on 1 ride.

so for those of you who have young children and enjoy good clean family fun (that's good clean family fun, cotton), you should check out this event for yourself!

mickey-o-lantern

pretty emily in her bee costume!

janica did such a great job making her costume!

this is Halloween! this is Halloween!

Emily buzzing around on EAK's head. (giving her a lovely hairdo as well...)

Mickey!!

Emily was very amused by the umbrella!

Mickey's Halloween Party = Success!