Last weekend we headed down to San Diego for a quick trip. We started out the weekend at the horse races in Del Mar. Just like last year, we headed to the infield to set up shop.
Here is Hillary checking out the racing sheets.
Laurent, Hillary, Tristan, Remy & Justine all lined up for the family picture. Tristan is one of Nick's favorites and Nick follows him all around. Tristan loves Nick and is so sweet with him too.
Christy & TJ - "Prom 2011". Someone took pictures of Kev, Nick & I, but I don't know where they are!! Must get my hands on them.
Dina, Bonnie & I. I clearly need a tan.
The majority of our friends went home after the races. But the Prendergast's and the Desotell's decided to take advantage of the trip, stayed over night and we headed to Sea World the next day.
Started the day with sea otters.
We ran into the dolphins getting ready for their show a little later.
The sea lions were so funny. You could purchase (really stinky) fish to throw to them. As soon as they saw that someone had some fish they'd bark, yell, bellow, etc. at you.
Rowan telling Nick all about them.
Nick checking them out and figuring out where on the map they were.
Of course, Nick wanted to feed them. You can see one of the sea lions just underneath Nick's hand yelling at Nick for the fish.
Nick had great aim and was able to throw the fish right to the sea lion sitting on the rock in the middle of the pool (the one in the first sea lion picture above).
Thank goodness they had a place to wash hands - those fish were gross!
Nick wanted to buy more fish, but we were able to escape with just one "set" of fish.
On to the Shamu show.
We stayed out of the splash zone. It was a sunny day, but not too hot, so getting soaked (especially with salty, stinky whale water) was not high on the list of priorities.
Flying whales.
Well trained - no trainers in the water with them anymore.
TJ happens to work with someone whose partner is a trainer at Sea World. We were able to meet up with him that day and he took us into one of the exhibits to help some new birds get used to humans. They were baby cranes - only about four months old. They'd just arrived at Sea World from Hawaii about a week before. We were instructed to be very quiet and not to make fast movements. I was the designated photographer, so I was allowed in too.
The birds had very little fear of us, so they came right up to us and ate their snacks from our hands. Rowan & Riley were the first to come in.
The cranes - hard to believe that they are only four months old, they're huge - were very interested in my camera.
We weren't sure how Nick would do in there, but after watching Rowan and Riley do it, he came in and did great. Didn't pull his hand away and was quiet & still.
He thought it was "so cool, Mommy!!" It was also the first time that the cranes had seen baseball hats. So they were checking them out and we were a bit nervous that the cranes would peck at them, but they didn't.
You can see just how tall the cranes are in this picture. I was surprised that Nick was so chill.
Had I put the camera down further, I'm sure it would have gotten a little peck. They were very curious. It was really cool for all of us - how many times do you get to go IN the exhibits at Sea World?!
After all that excitement, we headed over to the polar bear exhibit. Here is a nice view of some polar bear butt (not the only butt picture you will see in this post...)
A little better view.
Couldn't get quite close enough to get an up close picture, but not bad.
At the sea turtle exhibit. This turtle loved Nick. Just stared at him - it was funny.
Outside the turtle exhibit - play time.
Riley & Nick - so cute.
Apparently the turtle was slippery.
The girls were so great with Nick - Rowan and Riley took turns giving him piggy back rides. Of course once Nick had one piggy back ride, it was all he wanted to do. Here he is on Riley (and the other butt shot. Maybe Nick will be a plumber when he grows up).
We ran into a couple of animals out for visits. There was a wallaby, but for some reason I missed that picture. Here is Nick with a pony.
On our way out for the evening, we went past the Shamu area. You can go down some stairs to see the whales underwater. The pictures aren't the best, but still pretty cool.
You could really get a sense of just how big they are when they cruise by the windows. Let's just say I'll stay out of the water when they are around.
After two full-of-activity days with no naps, Nick was asleep practically by the time we pulled out of our parking spot to head home. And I don't think he moved the entire ride home. Thankfully, we had great traffic on our way home (unlike on the way down on Saturday) so it was a nice end to a great trip south.
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