Thursday, May 21, 2015

Vacation Time Again :)

We went on an awesome trip to San Diego this past week and had such fun. Mia was a real trooper with everything that we wanted to do.

There were lots of firsts on this trip for Mia. We went to the San Diego Zoo and ended up going two days.





Mia has a love for statue animals. She must study them, poke at them and sit on them.






Staring at the penguins.





On the Skyfari ride across the zoo. She was really anxious before getting on but once we got going she really liked it.






We visited the elephants and it was raining, but Mia looks particularly cute in her poncho that we tied up to fit her.





As I noted before, she must sit and poke the statues.







Here are the elephants putting on a great show for us. as soon as it started raining they came out and went straight for the water. one was diving under and doing flips and splashing up a storm.


Even the Gorillas were posing well for us.

At the end of the day our little girl was pretty tired. 


Another first for Mia was Sea World. She liked it but was easily distracted and had to use her monkey harness to keep her safe. she would start walking and suddenly turn and run right in front of people. It really made our lives easier while we were there. 





Waiting for the shows to start. this was the first one so she didn't know what to expect. she was not the best at waiting, but had fun when the show started.


This is her "I don't like waiting " face.






She enjoyed the kid zone and especially the music, bridges, water, and climbing.


She really wanted to do the rope netting, and she would have done well, but her little feet are so small they kept poking all the way through, even into the second "safety" layer. Next time baby.

Mia went on her first rides. the first one was a boat rocker/spinning ride that she LOVED and asked for more. Then we went on the Muppet ride. She didn't want to get off. 


Then we went on the Sea World version of the "Teacups." She was excited at first, but the spinning got to her. 


Poor baby, I think she was a little dizzy.  

But nothing a little water play wont fix :) 

And some sharks to touch. This was another favorite. Probably because it involved water.  

Mid-day she needed a nap and completely conked-out. During that time mom and dad decided to have some fun and take turns going on the coasters.


Then just as we finished our rides she woke up again and we were off running. 
Looking at fishes, turtles and penguins.  

And trying to figure out why the rocks were stuck to the ground and couldn't be picked up.  

We hugged some penguins, but we left them there so they could stay with their friends. 

And, of course, we had a tour of every "EXIT" sign in the shark encounter.  Yes, Mia started saying the word "EXIT" on this trip and had to find all of them. Actually there are a lot at a theme park. 
Who knew? 


And the thing she liked the very best.... the BEACH! Another word she learned while on vacation. 

If you ask her what the best thing about her vacation was this is what she will say... Beach!

First time on the sand. she didn't know what to think at first. 

And then she saw the water and RAN full speed to it. Dee had to catch up to her before she got too far. 

And playing in the sand is the best too. 



 And Collecting seashells too. She wouldn't let us carry her shells, Only she got to hold her treasure. 


The water was pretty cold, so we didn't venture in too far. Maybe we will have to go back when it is warmer. 




We also were really close to a park on mission bay and we biked over to it. A playground on the beach. Doesn't get much better.


And since the ocean was too cool to swim in our condo had a pool to enjoy. 

But Alas, all good things must end. This was our glorious sunset looking out from our condo on our last night. We couldn't have asked for a better view outside our window.  


We miss you already, our San Diego vacation, we miss you!





Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Easter 2015

We had a fun time this Easter with Mia finally being old enough to participate in activities. She wasn't ready to dye eggs yet, as the cups would just get dumped, but maybe next year.

This is how Mia was when she woke up. She was tired and just wanted breakfast. She didn't want to go on a hunt for anything.

But after breakfast she thought it would be OK to look for her "surprise" that was waiting for her.  

This is her when she had found it. I love her surprised and excited look.  

She went right to work emptying out her basket and finding all the treats in the eggs inside. The toys got pushed to the side 
Then the paper itself became a great toy. 

The Easter bunny left me a treat too.

And didn't leave Dee out either 

We went to Grandma and Grandpas house and tried to take pictures, which was difficult due to the wind. Mia didn't want to sit for pictures, she would rather run around. But we did our best, and I think some of them were pretty cute even with Mia looking distracted. 





Mia loves the flowers at their house.  

She wanted to share them with all of us. 


We took a break from pictures and had a musical interlude with the clay birds. She just recently learned to blow on them to make noise. before she would hum to mimic the noise we made when we blew on them. she is getting better at her breath control.  

Grandpa was showing her all the tricks, and they played a duet.  

Then we were off to the Easter egg hunt.  

Mia didn't want to just collect them, but she wanted to each one to see what was inside before trying to find the next. It was so cute seeing her little face when she found each egg.  







With a little help she managed to find the more hidden eggs too.  



Here is her excited, I found something face. A big high pitched "ooo." 
It really was a beautiful day. Easter time is generally so lovely in Tucson, especially this year.