San Diego!!!

When Jason and I first started dating and then every year after we got married, we liked to go down to San Diego at least once a year. Ever since Liam has arrived, we have planned on going to San Diego at least three different times and EVERY time something has come up a day or two before the trip that has prevented us from going. So, we finally tentatively decided that when we sold our house we would take a little bit of time and money to go down to San Diego with Liam. We picked a date, tentatively booked a room, didn't buy tickets, and hardly told anyone we were going since we were afraid that once again we'd have to cancel our trip! So, the day came, we loaded up the car, loaded up Liam, and Jason went to get his wallet which he found and which we soon realized, was missing his credit card. But, fear not! It was still at the restaurant we ate at two nights previously, so after an hour delay we were finally on the road!

Not sure about all this sand...

Our first stop, after the hotel, was the beach! Liam was not thrilled about getting back in the car and was very skeptical of all that sand! However, once we took him out to the water, he was SO excited. This little boy loves water. Liam went out into the ocean over and over again and was shivering like a little leaf he was SO cold! But, he didn't want to leave! It was pretty cold and windy, so finally we bribed him with a warm bath and some pizza and headed out to dinner. Sleeping in a hotel with Liam proved to be difficult the first night and we got very little sleep. We took Liam to the buffet for breakfast and he picked out his own cereal, you know those cute little boxes of cereal? He was thrilled! However, he got impatient waiting for me, so he got down a bowl for himself, plopped down on the floor of the dining room and tried with no luck to pour the cereal into the bowl all by himself. It was pretty cute.

Liam pointing to the Gorilla, who made sure to show me his "good" side.

Then it was off to our next adventure, The San Diego Zoo! It was mine and Liam's first time at this zoo and Holy Cow that is a lot of walking!! Especially when you are six months pregnant and running on very little sleep. If you've ever met my son, though, you know about his love of ALL animals. Seeing his face light up when he saw a REAL LIVE monkey for the first time made the whole trip worth it! He got pretty sad when we wouldn't let him hold any of the animals. He would coo and talk to them and reach out his two little hands, palm up in a very inviting manner for them to be cuddled, but we decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea. Especially with the giant gorilla.

Liam was just as thrilled about the statues as he was about the actual animals.

After about two hours, we left to take a drive so Liam could catch some zzz's in the car. We got some food and then went to the hotel in hopes he would take a rest there (which he did not). Then we headed back to the zoo to take in the last of the important animals, like the giraffes and the panda bears! When we got to the panda bears, there was a big crowd standing around watching the Mama and baby panda chow down on some bamboo. It was really quiet as everyone seemed to be pretty awestruck when all of a sudden, Liam very loudly exclaims, "AWWWWWWWW!" ...and reaches out his hands to cuddle them. Such a sweet boy! So, we went and bought him a little stuffed Panda at the gift shop which he was able to cuddle and rock in his arms to his hearts content. We then went back to the hotel where we got a good night's sleep. Well, Liam and I got a good night's sleep, but unfortunately my pregnant snoring kept Jason up.

Note, the elephants in the background, but Liam just really wanted to go play with the elephant statue some more!

The next morning I took Liam to the hotel pool even though it was still freezing cold, and then we headed back home. The ride home was a lot harder for Liam because my Nook had run out of batteries and so he could not play any of his cool apps and of course toys and books would not cut it! However, we made it home safe and sound and now we have some wonderful new memories of San Diego.