Fun and Sun

Celebrating the end of tax season, both of our birthdays and our anniversary this year began downtown. Beau was able to get tickets to Wicked, the musical. I had been looking forward to it for months. I loved it when I saw it in NY a few years ago, and vowed I would see it when it came to SLC. I'd been telling Beau about it, and everyone he works with saw it, so he was pretty excited to see it too (even thought it was a musical). It was just as great as I remembered it, and Beau liked it (and stayed awake during the whole thing!). There was some kind of disturbance during the second act up near us, but after the lady was taken out by family and ushers, we were again able to focus on the show. We highly recommend that if anyone gets a chance to see Wicked that you do. The next morning we were off to California! Beau's dad lives there, and Cameron decided to make the 6 hour drive to meet us there. It was great! Nora loved meeting Cameron. Don't they look cute together. Thanks Cam for making the drive and hanging out with us. We can't wait to see you again.
Nora and Grandpa Phil were so fun to watch. It was love at first sight, on both sides. When we arrived at the airport, I didn't even see Grandpa Phil until he was holding Nora. He was so excited, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
Here we are just hanging out at Grandpa Phil and Grandma Katie's house.
Grandpa and Grandma have two dogs. It was a good time with them and Nora. Bailey was so excited to have Nora around, and Nora loved watching them and wanted to touch them all the time.
Sorry Bailey and Maddie that you had to be banished so often. We loved getting to know you, and going on walks with you.
After a weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, we headed down to San Diego. This is our first vacation where we didn't stay with family. It was fun to have our little family together for 5 whole days. On our way down, we stopped at the Wild Animal Park and saw lots of fun animals. It was a hot day, so Nora got to cool her feet off at the splash park there.
Here we are on a Rhino, we were able to see some real Rhinos as well as other exotic animals. Who knew there was even such a place? Not us, but now we know... and knowing is half the battle.
Our hotel had a swimming pool, so we tried to take advantage of it. Most days we came back too tired to swim, but there were a few mornings we were able to try it out. Nora loves to swim (just like her dad), but for some reason she didn't like it as much. She looks fairly happy here though.
Nora spent a lot of time in the stroller on this trip. (Thanks for the use of the awesome stroller and car seat Katie and Phil!) Most of the time we'd look at her and she'd be eating something. This is her hat she's chewing on. Silly girl!
We spent one day of our trip at Sea World. What fun that was. I went there when I was in high school, but Beau had never been. We both love it! We ended up staying the whole day, and saw everything (including some shows twice). We forgot to bring the sunblock, so we both got fried. Luckily Nora had sunblock on before we left, and spent most of the day in the stroller, so she didn't get much. For future reference or for anyone going to Sea World, there is very little shade, so be prepared!





The last full day in San Diego, we went to the Zoo. It was so big! We had fun seeing the animals they have there. Nora enjoyed eating sunglasses.
We walked all over the Zoo for most of the day, and we were all pretty tired.
We saw Flamingos in each park. We thought that was interesting that all three parks had them.
We didn't take many pictures at the Zoo, so we tried to get one before we left.
On our way back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, we stopped at the San Diego Temple. It was a beautiful day, and we enjoyed our time there.
Here's a funny story (at least we thought it was funny). While we were walking around the Temple grounds, there was a bunch of people waiting for a recently married couple to come out. They were all waiting in one area. We decided to go check out the area, and got a grand welcome. Everyone was talking to us, the photographer was snapping pictures, and Nora was the center of attention. They all thought we were there to see the couple, and when they found out we were just tourists, they said the would stop taking pictures of us. We hurried and snapped a picture (the one above) and got out of there. We laughed for the rest of the day...
We were able to go spend a few more days with Grandma and Grandpa. They took us to the beach so Nora could meet the ocean. I have great memories of going to the beach when I was young, so I wanted to take Nora there. She fell asleep as we were walking, but I really wanted her to touch the water. So, being the stellar mom that I am, I woke her up and took her out to touch the sand and feel the water. I put her feet on the sand, and she did not appreciate it.
I know, I'm mean because she's looking at Dad and trying to get some help, and all I can do is laugh.
The water was really cold, and Nora did not like it. It was fun for me though.
We loved being out at the beach, even if the conditions were not perfect. Thanks for taking us Phil and Katie. It was so great!
Then we spent the rest of the day relaxing and hanging out. Beau and Grandpa Phil played the Wii together, and it was fun to watch them play. Grandpa and Grandma were able to spend more time playing with Nora too.
Still good buddies right before we left.
Thanks Grandpa Phil and Grandma Katie for letting us crash your house, and for taking such good care of us. We loved spending time with you, and we miss you. We are excited to see you again!
It was a wonderful vacation for us. We hated to see it end and have to go back to real life. However, Nora is sleeping through the night again, so all is well.