if everybody had an ocean, across the USA....

The good ole' California Sun. I think it's healthy to catch some southern California rays every now and again. And the weather there is WONDERFUL! Nate had a week off, so last minute we got a STEAL on a Marriott in Del Mar (on Priceline of course) and took the kids for a few days to get out of the HEAT WAVE here in Arizona. And it was such a nice break. We went to the beach, spent tons of time for a few days at Sea World, went to the USS Midway, etc... (Ok, so we didn't pay $17/each to go IN the USS Midway...but we SAW it up close. :oD) It was a wonderful family vacation and the girls were great! Now it's back to real life in the heat I guess.

Emma LOVED this hole Nate dug. She wanted to be in it nonstop.

Abs and Ems..this is about as close as Abby liked to be to the waves. For some reason she just didn't enjoy the crashing surf much. Caitlin, on the other hand, was tossed about a few times by big waves...she loved it!

Yes, Abby's hiding her face. Wow..the REAL beach sand is sooo different than the sand at our 'beach' here. The sand there was sooo fine...and it got EVERYWHERE! Caitlin enjoyed it though.

Emma wasn't afraid to get a little sandy either. She had so much fun!

Well...we drove by the beautiful San Diego Temple several times, but the only picture we got was from across the freeway in this parking lot. So in your mind just crop out the fence...

The girls favorite show...the sea lions (and walrus).

Abby holding a starfish BEFORE they told us not to take them above water. Whoops...

Shamu! Shamu! (Ok..if you've seen the show you'll get it...) How can you not think this show is amazing? Seriously...TRAINED Killer Whales that perform amazing things WITH trainers? I loved this show. These dolphins are sooo obedient...I said to look at the camera and smile, and there you go! (Ok..so Abby has a candy in her cheeck...she really doesn't have THAT big of cheeks.)

Sesame Street playground in Sea World. So cute.

Caitlin petting the bat rays. They were MUCH bigger than the sting rays at our zoo that we can pet. Pretty cool.

I think this was Emma's favorite part of the whole trip. Anytime we'd come out of our hotel room she wanted to hold Caitlin and Abby's hands and they go running squealing down the halls. I'm sure all the other guests appreciated it.

My LEAST favorite part of the trip...(and Caitlin's favorite) The Bayside Skyride. It's the skyride that goes OVER the bay. Yeah...afraid of heights, especially a million feet above the ocean. White knuckles, the WHOLE time.

What Mom?! It's FUN!

Caitlin holding the starfish UNDER the water. Phewf.

Elmo's Flying Fish...girls loved this ride too.

Emma's 2nd favorite part of the trip...this little kid area at Sea World. She pretty much was the boss.

We went on this ride SO MANY TIMES! This was both the girls favorite ride...Oscar's Rockin' Eel. Pretty fun..and YES Emma got to go on...she's a thrill seeker, what can I say.

They made a ride JUST for Abby! How sweet of them...

Caitlin could have frolicked along this beach for hours by herself...she was having a blast.

The Star of India ship...maybe?

There are countless pictures from our trip with Caitlin striking all sorts of poses..sheesh.

Another cute baby gecko we found in our house. This is #3 in a year...so I guess I can't complain. He was so tiny and cute, Nate caught him (in the process chopping off part of his tail) and Caitlin named it Lizzy and kept it on her dresser overnight. Then she would take it out back and let it play outside the bowl and then put it back in. After a couple hours I found her on my bed just sobbing. Apparently she tried to scoop up Lizzy the last time and crushed it. Sad! I don't think I've ever seen Caitlin really sob sad tears from something like that. It was a cute little lizard though while it lasted.