Family Vacation Day 7

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.

Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,

I don't care if I never get back,

For its root, root, root for the PADRES!

If they don't win it's a shame!

For its One!

Two!

Three strikes, you're out!

At the Old Ball Game!

Friday, April 22

Ah, the joy of a baseball park. I love love love going to baseball games. Watching them on tv is not entertaining, but being at the ballpark is AWESOME! This was Brad's first time at a professional baseball game. He enjoyed a chili cheese dog to make his visit official. The game was alright, but the Padres can't hit to save themselves, and they lost. Whitney and Kristen spent the game visiting. Preston and Stuart spent the game talking baseball and learning more about it. Emma was the star of the night. The people around us loved her by the time the night was through. She was the Padres greatest fan that night. She was yelling, and getting into it. She even started a "Lets go Padres" chant that caught on with the crowd around us. As people were leaving after the game we had many stop to comment on how awesome they thought she was, and they were right. One even gave her the ball she is showing off above. The upside down hat picture was her rally cap to try to help her team come back and win it. They came up short, but it was a great way to end an amazing vacation.

(If you've hung with me this long, thanks for being patient. I'm documenting this for journaling purposes.)

The next morning we were up early and on our way home. We had to watch Zach crying his poor little eyes out as we drove off. I wish we could have stayed longer (like forever) but real life was waiting for us at home. Thanks again Brad and Whitney for an amazing week. It would have been lame without you!

Family Vacation Day 6

Thursday April 21

Thursday was supposed to be the last day of our vacation. However, Brad is very convincing. He used his words to get us to stay one more day. That and a last minute decision to change our outing to the baseball game to Friday instead of Thursday. By Thursday I was starting to hit the wall, and I was getting tired. I ended up taking a nap due to a headache and woke up to the kids being gone to the park with their aunts. Yay for amazing Aunts. They played for an astounding 3 hours at the park. I joined them after my nap. Once we had found a babysitter for Friday nights baseball game we were left to making cupcakes, and playing games. Good times.

(Whitney and Emma planned to make cupcakes while we were gone to the game, but when we changed out plans for the game, they still wanted to make their cupcakes. Please and Thank You!)

We had fun, and after what may have been the shortest fight in Humes family history, we also had some awesome, thought provoking conversation while Stuart and I stomped Whitney and Kristen at Canasta. Good times indeed. Poor Brad had to be responsible and go to bed, which came after the fight, but before the good conversation.

Family Vacation Day 5

Wednesday April 20.

Highlights of the day, since I don't have any pictures. Sad, sad story.

• Another beach day! Yay. Coronado is a beautiful island, and I wish we had time to stay and explore.


• The sand was soft and fine and warm and felt fabulous between our toes.


• The weather was crappy, but we had fun anyway.


• Watching the kids conquer the waves and have fun in the cold water. Even Stockton got in, but he didn't feel brave enough to go far on his own. What a relief.


• Watching Stuart playing in the waves with his sister and the kids. I loved it.


• Playing hot box and catch in the sand.


• People watching.


• Getting to spend a few minutes by myself in the ocean just taking in the feeling of the waves.


• An awesome double date that night with Brad and Whitney. Dinner was great, the company was better, and the movie was weird. Thanks again Kristen for being the
  best aunt in the world!

Family Vacation Day 4

Tuesday April 19
Ah, Sea World. How I love Sea World. I love the animals and the shows. I just love it. No nauseating rides. (Its true, in my old age I get motion sick on rides. I feel like an old lady!) Just good rides where you get wet. The kids adored Sea World and it was a GREAT day. We started out the adventure with Kristen, Whitney and Zach, but shortly after entering the gates we lost Whitney and Zach, and didn't see them again till we got back to their place that night. Lets just say that Whitney has a knack for getting peed on at amusement parks. Nuf said!

Here we are trying to pet the dolphins. I don't think they ever succeeded, but they did love watching them. They threw big balls out for them to play with. It was a riot watching them play.
We are hot aren't we? T and I waiting for the Dolphin show.

The kids LOVED the dolphin show. On the way out Emma turned to me and said (using most dramatic voice) "Mom, I am totally a dolphin lover." It was so cute! The show really was amazing. The last time we were there (which was before we had any kids) the shows were mostly educational, and now they are mostly entertainment. We loved them, and my kids can't stop talking about them. Waiting for the show to start we got ice creams to share. It goes against everything I stand for to pay 3.75 for a Shamu shaped ice cream, but alas its not vacation for nothing. Preston went out on a limb and spent his own money on one, and didn't have to share.

Here's a good family picture after Shamu's show which was very disappointing by the way. It's not as exciting since they had to change it after that trainer got killed, but they were in the process of renovations for a new show. Really we were just up too high to see anything. The kids wanted the splash zone, but we didn't make it in time. This was probably the most boring part of the day!

After Shamu we all needed lunch. We were ALL getting cranky from lack of food. The Shipwreck Reef Cafe had some great over priced food that was worth every penny when you are as hungry as we were. Stockton wanted to make sure we got ALL the meat off our ribs. He gnawed on this bone for a few minutes and then checked all the rest of them for any remaining meat. I promise we do feed this child!

After lunch it was time for the Shipwreck Rapids. Fun Fun! The kids loved it, all 6 of us! Doesn't Stockton's face just say it all? Stockton was pleased with Stuart trying to protect him, but I got the better end of the deal. Preston and Emma kept me good and dry! However they were chickens and insisted on wearing their hoods! We were on a boat with 3 strangers and we politely let them know we were hoping they were the ones to get drenched. It mostly worked too. 2 out of 6 of us got pretty wet. Not bad, since I wasn't one of the two. Here's the victims showing off their battle wounds! I love this picture.

From here we went to check out the star fish. I enjoyed watching Preston and Emma hang out together during this trip, and they were loving the star fish together and were an exploring pair. We all told Stockton about 1000 times that he had to keep them under the water so they could breath, and he didn't really believe us until the worker told him.

From the Star fish we headed to the Sky Ride. On our way we saw some sea turtles who were awesome. Stuart was thinking out loud and said "I wonder why they have them where we can't get close and touch them." To which Preston promptly responded "Because they are endangered Dad." I love my little science whiz.

Emma and her Daddy on the sky ride.

Stockton is something else. After realizing that the Map held all of the power over our day (we were looking at it every time we wanted to know what was next), he would ask to see the map and then spend the next few minutes telling us what we would be doing next. If you didn't know Stockton you would have actually thought he knew what he was talking about.

The sharks may have been a favorite on the day. They are fascinating creatures and fun to watch when you are safe behind the glass. Look closely and you can see one in the background. Next time I want to go see them at feeding time!

We ended the day on the Atlantis ride, which was a lot better than any of us imagined. Stockton got the shaft and they wouldn't let him ride, and his amazing aunt T took one for the team and stayed behind with him. They had fun shooting the water cannon at people while we were gone, and I'm told they just missed getting us wet. When we got done Emma was sure to let us know that she wasn't interested in going on that ride again, and Preston asked if we could get back on. A great day indeed!

Family Vacation Day 3

Monday April 18. A great day to get forgiveness from the kids for the lack of beach on Saturday. But before we could head to the beach we had to be prepared to go to the beach, which apparently takes longer than the kids would like! So, to kill time they played Just Dance. I was lucky to get this picture of Stockton and Zach hugging. I love it. So cute!

And Preston and Zach waiting their turn.

Bust a move! The kids loved the game almost as much as the grown ups!

And finally, lunches were packed, sunscreen applied and we were ready to head to the beach. The forecast said the weather wasn't going to be great so we decided to head to La Jolla. I loved it there, and so did the kids. We started out by checking out the seals. We all got a kick out of watching them do their thing, which was mostly lay around, but occasionally we would watch them moving up the beach, or over another seal, or barking at each other, or swimming out in the ocean. Nature at its finest! This is a little beach where they all like to come, and also its apparently pupping season so there were many of them there with their babies.

You can see the walk way in the picture above that goes out into the ocean. The picture below was taken at the very end of it. We got splashed pretty good from a couple of waves while we were out there.

After the seals we headed to a nearby park for some lunch, and some play. We tossed the frisbee around.

We kicked the soccer ball, ours and some other kids ball that we (and by we I mean Stockton and Zach) confiscated for a few minutes.

But before long, all they wanted was the beach. So the beach we gave them.

We couldn't have kept them out of the water if we'd tried. This was a great little location up in this cove where the wind was being blocked it was actually pretty warm so we could all enjoy it! They splashed and played, collected sea shells, and helped the other kids that were there that day take about 40 hermit crabs hostage. They played for a couple hours without even needing or wanting us. It was fun.

Don't worry, the adults had fun too. They attempted to build a sand castle.

But they failed. You know how there is good packing snow that you can make a snowman with, and have a snowball fight with and snow that no matter what you do is going to fall apart and be good for nothing? Apparently there is also good packing sand, and this wasn't it! Oh well, Say Cheese!

I loved the critters. I was fascinated with the tide pools that were so full of life. Small anemones (I think that's what they were), hermit crabs and another kind of small crab. I loved walking through the rocks and watching them scatter. They were EVERYWHERE, and I was fascinated by them. A cluster of hermit crabs. Oh how I wanted to take some of them home for pets! This is my idea of a good pet!

I spent a good 5 to 10 minutes watching this crab. It took me some time to get close enough for a good picture and for him to get used to me enough to come out of hiding. If this picture were a video you would see him eating. It was so awesome watching him pick stuff from the rocks and bring it up to his mouth. I love the ocean! (And now there is no denying what a geek I am!)

On our way out we watched a tv crew getting all preped and ready to shoot a scene for a pilot of a new show. The crew was calling it "Big Mike" It was kind of cool to watch them work and to see them getting the "extras" ready. Plus all of the equipment it requires. I had no idea! Only in CA!