The San Diego Zoo

Every year we spend some time with my in-laws in San Diego but never really do much sight seeing.  This year we decided to take the kids to the San Diego zoo.  They were great ages for it and I had not been since I was a child.

First of all, the weather was gorgeous!  We were actually dressed too warm for most of the trip.   Our first stop was to see the Elephants.  Madeline LOVED it.  We actually got to see them get a bath and be fed and they were really close to us. 

We also saw the lions.  They were asleep but right against the glass so we could see them close up.  Madeline kept screaming saying "ASLEEEEEPPPP".  Brooke was not thrilled.  She had a chip on her shoulder at the zoo for some reason.

We did manage to get one family photo out of the day.  I must say I am shocked at how our photos are actually starting to have all 4 family members looking at once!

The petting zoo was a huge hit as well!  I wanted to burn their clothes after being in there, but the kids had a good time :)

Here are some other animals we saw on our HIKE.  I say hike because I had no idea that zoo was so hilly and rugged.  By the end my legs were burning!

At the end of the day Brooke HAD to see the Pandas.  The line was so long and it was so hot waiting in line to end up seeing this:

Madeline could not even see the Panda and Brooke just said "why isn't he moving?" and that was the end of our Panda experience.

Overall we had a great trip!  Brooke is asking to go to Sea World so maybe we will do that on our next visit to CA.

Here is a pic from our last day in San Diego.  Such a pretty day! 

Christmas Celebration #1

Right after arriving in CA, we had a Christmas Celebration with my mom's side of the family.  It was nice to see all of our relatives we had not seen in a year!  My uncle dressed up as Santa and the kids were thrilled!

Behold a family photo that is halfway decent!

Here are the kids with Santa.  Brooke was on cloud nine!  Madeline actually sat on his lap which I was shocked at since our visit to Santa at the mall did not go over so well!

We then opened gifts which of course was their favorite part of the night!  It also gave us some things to keep the kids entertained at Grandma's until Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a great Holiday Season so far!  I am going to try my best to not fall behind on this blog while we are out of town but that is not going so well :) 

A Brooke funny for the weekend

Brooke said this to me on our way  home from swimming lessons today:

"Mom, I am sure glad you decided to have me first and not Madeline.  I am glad I am not the little sister.  Big sisters are better."

Why you are welcome, Brooke!  I really had a say in the matter.....

Our visit to Rockefeller Center

Since we live near NYC I want to take full advantage of it while we can.  Last year we had big plans to go see the tree in Rockefeller Center but the day we wanted to go was freezing, Brooke had a fever, Madeline would have been too cold, etc.  It never happened.

This year I was determined to go.  I knew Brooke would love it!  I planned for us to take the train, have lunch at the Stardust Diner, then walk over to Rockefeller Center to see the tree, maybe do some shopping, etc.  It was a loose plan and now I am glad I didn't have anything set in stone. 

The city was awesome, but super crowded.  I really have not been in the city on the weekends much.  Normally we go during the week and its pretty empty in most of the touristy places.  Not true for a weekend during December!  Curtis had the pleasure of navigating the stroller through the crowds.  He only cursed a few times :) 

We made our way to the Stardust Diner and we saw a line around the block.  I thought it was a line for something else so I asked the last person and they were waiting for the Diner!  There were probably 100 people in line.  We wisely chose to go elsewhere.  NO way my kids could have waiting that long in the cold.  Instead we went to TGI Fridays.  2 appetizers+1 kids cheese pizza = $57!!!  Way to inflate the menu Fridays!  Oh well.  We were starving and cold so it was a nice break and we were seated right away. 

After lunch we headed to Rockefeller Center.  It was crowded!  The line for ice skating was very long but I had not really planned on doing that anyways. 

Here are the 3 pics from the day.  First off the tree in all its glory!   Very nice!

Curtis and Brookie.  She was so excited!  

Madeline and I.  I guess I am too short to actually get the entire tree in the picture.  Or there was some photographer error :)

After our tree viewing we headed to Toys R Us per Brooke's request.  NEVER AGAIN will I go there on a weekend.  OMG it was literally wall to wall people.  You could barely move.  After that we were done and headed home on the train.  We were all beat! 

Overall we had a great day!  No tears from anyone and we accomplished what we set out to do!