San Diego 11.30.08

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This was our last day.  After eating breakfast and checking out of the hotel we decided to take in The Wild Animal Park on the way out of town.  Knowing that we had to travel we decided to just do the tour train through the wild animals.  It was amazing and definitely worth the stop.  Then it was back to the road.  This time the trip lasted a little longer than before with a lot more, "Are we there yets? and Are we in Utah yet? and Are we out of California yet?"  but we made it home around 9:00 PM exhausted and not ready to come back to "real life"!

THANK YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA ABBOTT SO MUCH FOR SUCH AN AWESOME VACATION AND FOR ALL THE MEMORIES WE MADE.  WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!  YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!

San Diego 11.29.08

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Today we decided to go to the San Diego Zoo.  We rode the tour bus around the park and the boys loved it because we were on the top level.  We then took in some animal attractions finding many different type of zoo animals.  We ate lunch at the Raintree Grill and then headed over to the Children's Zoo portion.  The kids had a blast there going from animal to animal, going to the petting zoo where Brekken got goat pee on him (totally gross especially for my OCD on cleaniness and hygiene), cleaned Brekken up, and headed to the Skyfari to ride it.  We saw some more animals, rode the Skyfari back and took the kids to buy them their souvenirs/toys from the zoo.  After the zoo, we headed back to the hotel to swim and relax in the hot tub.  After the kids were tired from swimming we went back to the suites and they stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while Nate and I went on a date.  We ate at The Cheesecake Factory, which was delicious and well worth the wait.  We were going to take in a movie but decided that Dan and Kathy were probably pretty wiped out from the days adventures, so we just headed back to the hotel to crash.  Another awesome day!!

San Diego 11.28.08

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Today we decided we wanted to go back to SeaWorld because we weren't able to take in all the shows and rides.  We awoke, ate breakfast, and headed out.  Today SeaWorld was packed!!!  They had all their holiday decorations up and it was beautiful.  First show we went to was The Pet Show.  The kids absolutely loved this one!!  We saw sharks at the Shark Encounter, penguins, turtles, manatees, eels, flamingos, rays, and so many sea animals.  We ate at Shipwreck cafe where a seagull pooped in Nate's lunch.  Needless to say afterwards it was dubbed S***wreck Cafe by someone who shall remain nameless:). We watched the Elmo in 4D show which the kids also loved!!  After that we headed over to ride Atlantis.  Dan, Nate, Karter, Traevn, Brekken, Peyton, and I hopped on and rode.  Brynlei was upset and cried because she was two inches too short to ride Atlantis.  She would have loved it.  I was a little shocked that the boys wanted to ride especially after seeing the huge hill we would be going on but they shocked me and boarded on.  The ride was awesome!!! We had to buy the photo that they take at the ride because the boys faces were priceless!  I think this may have been a once in a lifetime experience for Brekken but who knows.  Peyton LOVED it and kept saying that it didn't freak him out at all.  Once again we were there until dark.  After purchasing the kids some SeaWorld souvenirs/toys we headed over to the Skytower to take in San Diego.  It was beautiful to see the ocean, etc.  We left SeaWorld and headed out to eat at Sammy's Woodfired Pizza, which was very good.  As you can tell, this was an extremely long day and once again we crashed upon hitting the hotel.

San Diego 11.27.08

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Thanksgiving Day!  We all woke up early headed downstairs and ate breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa.  The kids were full of excitement awaiting the days adventures.  The weather was a little on the rainy side so we decided to take in a movie before heading to SeaWorld to see if the rain would let up.  We watched Bolt in 3D, the kids loved it!!  After the movie, the rain was gone and sun was beginning to shine through so we headed over to SeaWorld.  For Thanksgiving dinner we "Dined with Shamu."  This was a neat experience where the kids were fascinated by their up close and personal experience with Shamu (or rather Corky:)).  This day was perfect at SeaWorld because there wasn't very many people around so we were able to enjoy the park almost to ourselves.  We checked out the animal attractions and the boys rode Shipwreck Rapids getting wet of course.  Then we watched the Dolphin show where we sat in the splash zone (why go to SeaWorld if you don't get wet right?) but didn't end up getting splashed too much.  We were prepared with our ponchos though.  Then we headed over to the Seasame Street rides.  We rode Abby's Sea Star Spin, Oscar's Rocking Eel, and Elmo's Flying Fish.  The kids loved the rides especially Brynlei, she has absolutely no fear and didn't even mind when the spinning stars went super fast!  She also kept trying to stand up when her flying fish was high in the air,  I guess she feels she has to live it up like the boys.:)  After that we took in some more attractions and then headed over to get our seats for the Shamu Believe show.  Again we sat in the splash zone decked out in our ponchos.  The show was amazing!!!  It is unbelievable what they can train these animals to do.  By the time the show was over it was dark but the kids didn't want to leave so we headed over to check out the aquarium.  We ended up staying right until closing time.  Since it was Thanksgiving the only place open to eat was Jack in the Box, so we ate there.  Once again we all crashed back at the hotel at the end of another fun-filled day!

San Diego 11.26.08

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Today we left for San Diego.  Grandma and Grandpa Abbott came over bright and early to help us pack the truck and van up bringing with them hot dog shaped donuts for the kids breakfast.  The ride down went pretty smooth without too many, "Are we there yets?"  The kids watched a few movies, slept, ate snacks, and tried to contain their excitement.  We stopped for lunch in Barstow and then headed on our way again.  We made it to San Diego around 3-4 PM and checked in at the Marriott Residence Inn in Hotel Circle.  After getting our suites situated and vehicles unpacked we headed into Old Town to eat at Casa Guadalajara.  The food was good.  Back at the hotel we all crashed after a long day of driving and traveling.