First Family Vacation

So we took our first official family vacation. By this I mean, not back to Wisconsin and with no other extended family members. It was just Ryan, Peyton and I...trekkin' it to San Diego. Luckily for us it is only about a 5 hour drive, so pretty close and easy.

It is sad that Peyton will not really remember any of it. I have a million pictures to remind him (about 850 all together). I know, I was a little camera happy.

We drove out there on Saturday, got our hotel room, and relaxed for the evening. We set up Peyton's pack'n'play (best invention ever!!), went to get some dinner and watched TV. We knew we'd have a long week, so it was good to start it out relaxed.

On Sunday we started the week out at SeaWorld. I just love that place! Peyton loved to see the animals. It is funny to watch him because unless the animal moves, he doesn't see it...but when it does, look out...he gets so excited. There is a play area there for little kids (bigger than Peyton, but still fun) that was Seasame Street....and ELMO!!! Peyton LOVES Elmo. We got to go on an Elmo ride, see Elmo dance and sing, and take a picture with Elmo and Abby. He loves to look at that pictures still and recognizes himself in the pictures. He points to the pictures, then himself, then the pictures, and back and forth to show me that it is him. Of course we saw the Shamu show and dolphin show, but Peyton's highlight was Elmo.

Monday brought the San Diego Zoo. There are a zillion animals at that zoo. It took us the whole day, but we saw them all. Peyton was a trooper, and even with very little nap. He loved all the animals. He seems to have a fondness for Flamingos, Pandas, and of course his monkeys. If the animal was moving, he could see it. The scariest part was when we looked at the mountain lions. They just stared at Peyton as if they were seeing a steak...yummy dinner!! They would pace back and forth just looking at him. Luckily there were two fences between them or I would have run away!

We thought we would need two days at the zoo, so Tuesday ended up being an empty day. We decided to go to the USS Midway. It is a air craft carrier that was in service from WWII until about 10 years ago. My great-uncle was an electrician on that ship for three years. It was very interesting to look at how tiny those living quarters were and how much ship a person would have to cover to get from one area to another. All I kept thinking is how stinky it had to be on that ship...a bunch of men in tiny conditions, working, and sweating all day. YUCK! It was a very interesting and informative tour. Peyton liked the planes on the flight deck, but could have really cared less about the rest.

Tuesday night we went to a Padres game. We just wanted to go to Petco Park...didn't matter who was playing. We sat in the all-you-can-eat seats (a new thing that some parks are doing)...and we ate all we could eat! The park was beautiful...great stadium. We didn't stay until the end, because we didn't care who was playing (Padres vs. Astros for those who do care), and Peyton needed to go to bed. It was a good time anyway.

Wednesday began the last bit of the animals. We went to the Wild Animal Park....it is an extension of the zoo, but with more space and different animals. By this park we were pretty animal'd out, but we got to go on a safari tram and see the different African animals...hippos, rhinos, giraffes, gazzelles, etc. This was about the time that Peyton began showing his annoyance with everything. He had very few naps over the last few days and it was beginning to show. Luckily by this point, we were just about done and ready to head back to the hotel. We went back, took a nap, and got ready for dinner. We went to Junior Seau's restaurant. For those of you who don't know him....he was a football player for the Chargers. The place was just a sports bar, but it was good food and good atmosphere.

Thursday brought a day of whatever and relaxation. We drove to Seaport Village...a small shopping area for the cruise ship tourists. They had stores for everything you could imagine...think Downtown Disney...or Wisconsin Dells. It was very nice and relaxing until Peyton knocked Ryan's contact out during a fit of annoyance. We had to go back to the hotel and get his glasses...damn kids! Again...luckily we had seen just about everything down there. After we got the glasses, we decided to go to Coronado Island...the hoity, toity home of Hotel Del Coronado. We of course didn't fit in...HELLO TOURIST!! We took our stuff and headed to the beach. Peyton LOVED the sand and ocean. We brought him out to the water...letting the water hit his feet and such. He kept wanting to go in deeper (mind you, the water had to be like 50 degrees)...until it hit his belly and that was the end of that. He screamed and wanted to be picked up. Then there was no more water after that. The sand however was a blast...we all had sand everywhere...no thanks to Peyton throwing it and grabbing on to us. He had it in his ears, his eyes, his neck fat, his butt cheeks...you name it, there was sand.
So back to the hotel we went to clean up and get ready for dinner. Nothing fancy for dinner this night, only Outback...but always a great backup.

Friday was our departure day...but I wanted to hit one more beach before we left...we went over to La Jolla (talk about a city I will never be allowed into or afford..yikes). This beach was very fun because it had small little tide pools and flattened rocks to climb on. I found some shells while Peyton and Ryan chased the seagulls. We then went to eat lunch and the trip back home began.

It was a great trip and Peyton learned so many new things....he learned what a monkey says, he is starting to walk on his own...even standing up by himself, he learned who he was and can point to himself when asked, and he learned about many new animals. I am sad that he will not remember any of it, but I know he has life-long learning experiences that he will never forget.

Until next year!!!


If you want to see the pictures, head to Snapfish to check them out. If you don't have an account, just let me know and I'll send you an invite.