Pacific Beach

After the zoo, Mommy couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the evening at the beach and watch the sunset.  She and Daddy went to San Diego on their honeymoon eight years ago and she hadn't been back.  We ate at Joe's Crab Shack (which ironically no one got crabs) and then played on the beach until we FROZE.

Cara's reaction to the beach waves was very specific and it wasn't favorable!!!

We attempted this picture many times and Cara would not turn her head away from the waves! I love the scream in the one above!

She had to be loved after getting hit by some waves.

Look! Matching toes!

Siena's reaction to the waves was much more favorable.  She loved them!

Cara obviously didn't mind the sand though!!

San Diego- The Zoo!!

Well we couldn't go all the way to San Diego and not see their zoo right?  Not with how much we LOVE the zoo.  Plus they have animals our little Hogle Zoo does not, such as KOALAS and PANDAS.  And of course quite a few others, but those were the ones we were most excited for!  Per Cara's request, we hit the koalas very first and we were lucky.  Almost ALL of them were up and eating and considering koalas sleep 22 hours a day that is saying something.

Honestly this flamingo walked up for a photo op

AHHH! Two headed snake!!!!

"Petting" the hippo

Cara does not actually think the panda is scary, but she did think Mommy was

We loved the moving sidewalks that went up hill

In fact, Mommy took a nap while going straight up hill!

Our first sighting of a male elephant! He had huge tusks!

We had a great morning at the zoo, but we did it call it a day shortly after lunch.  We were all still pretty tired!!

San Diego!!

We did it!  We went to California and DIDN'T go to Disneyland!  We actually went to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo and played at the beach TWICE and generally just got sandy.  In this era of digital pictures, it also means we took over 200 photos.  Not all of them high quality, but still how do we even begin to pick what to share with you?!  And to be honest, you'll be seeing A LOT OF PHOTOS because Mommy makes this blog into a book and she decided that it's the pictures she wants anyway.

We drove off on Cara's birthday at 6 am and headed south.  We went straight to Sea World.  And Cara and I were so excited.  We woke up getting into the car and Cara only took a little 30 minute blinker right outside of San Diego.

We enjoyed Sea World.  A lot.  We watched a bunch of shows.  We loved the one with the dolphins and the girl named Marina, but Mommy's pretty sure we thought the funny sea lion show was the best.  I got to go on a rapids ride that SOAKED Daddy and me.  It looked like we had jumped in the river.  I made him do it twice.  We also did a helicopter simulator that I loved.  I didn't want to touch any of the animals really and Mommy forced me to pet a dolphin and boy was I mad.  Cara refused to be forced.

Cara loved the shows and the sharks.  She also liked the rides in the Sesame Street play area.  They were fun.  Mommy couldn't go on ANYTHING because they could tell she was pregnant.  That made for a lot of sitting around for her.  Oh well.  Cara loved touching the sea stars in the tide pool.  She kept asking to go back!  All in all, Mommy was very impressed with us.  We were hardly whiney and were very well behaved for not leaving the park until almost 11 pm our time.  We did sleep like rocks that night.

Photo Highlights:

And so she turns 4....

According to me:

Cara's favorite movie- Rango
Favorite food- Apples
For fun Cara likes to- play house
I like to (blank) with Cara- do things
She likes to play around outside. Probably likes to go to the zoo.  And her best thing is going to San Diego.

According to the rest of the family:
Oh man.  What to say about Cara.  The funny part about our girls is that they don't grow very fast physically but they do grow up quickly.  Cara is still pretty small.  We'll find out how small in a couple weeks, but it's also that she still speaks with a tiny voice.  It's not quite as tiny lately but she still prefers to be quiet compared to Siena.  Her lisp is fading and sometimes you can tell that she is deliberately saying her 's' sound or 'r' sound to fix it.

She loves to run around the house and hop from our couch to the love sac to the other couch but she does love to stop and cuddle.  We still have a thumb sucker, but over the last two weeks she has strived very hard to limit it.  We are currently headed to Sea World San Diego in honor of her birthday and she wants a prize.

She ends up in our bed 2 or 3 nights a week but I don't mind.  She has started to really try and dress herself.  She hates having her hair combed and done.  She finds it miserable.  She's better about brushing her teeth by herself with just a little help.

She is a FISH in the water now.  She doesn't love going in deep water still, but she LOVES to show off in Grandma and Grandpa's spool by swimming from side to side and even the length of the spool.  Yesterday she was showing off how she could "float" in the "deep".

She has figured out how to use the mouse on the computer and loves to play on a website called ABCmouse.com.  She can't quite write her name, but she has time to develop that skill.

She's still not as social as Siena, but does like to play with friends.  She likes to read books, but is frustrated that she can't actually read the words yet.

I'm sure I'll think of more things to add later.

We celebrated early with family and Grandma and Aunt Angie made minion cupcakes.  They were quite the hit.

550th post!!

This post is officially the 550th post!!! Holy cow!  That's a lot of posts and more than likely it means we've hit the 2,000 photo uploaded.  :)  And can I tell you?  The end of July has been packed full of fun!  My mommy always talks about how much she loves summer and as this summer is winding to a close because I start kindergarten in 3 weeks or so she seems to be squeezing every last bit of adventure out!  We've been busy taking pictures and hanging out with Aunt Angie and Lexi the last few days.

Check it out.

McDonalds!  The slide was so sticky. Blegh!

Pirate Cove!! It was dark...hard to take a good picture...

And then after a full week of putting it at the top of MY to do list, we finally went to the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum.  We've been several times, but we had earned it as a reward for the summer reading program.  We loved it.

Well maybe we didn't love the thunderstorm...

But we enjoyed pretending to camp

And here I am cuddling with my baby sister in Mom's belly.  She told me that I can talk to sister and she can hear me!!