Last day in the sunshine

Here is proof that I do have another brother. ;) Mitch and Jamie are busy business owners. They have a great gift shop called Mulberry_Cottage, if you are ever in the area you need to check it out. Jamie brought these cute little figurines for the girls.

Before we left I got to see one more friend Jennifer and her little girl Mary. Emma took the picture of us. And here is a picture of my mom and dad. Love you!

Leaving San Diego for the beach

Finally, it was time to say good-bye to Rachel and head back to my parent's house. On the way we pointed out the San Diego Temple to the girls.

Time to put my feet in the sand...

The girls enjoyed playing at the beach with their cousins, building sand castles and forts, and running away from the waves. Me, I am happy to just put my feet in the water.

Here is a view of the beach to the south and north of us. I spent a lot of time here in my high school days.

Sea World and Old Town

Happy Birthday Rachel! Why don't you spend the day with us at Sea World?!! Well, that is what we did. We had a great time. We took all the girls on the kiddie rides.

As part of Emma's birthday present we paid for her to have a chance to pet, feed, and play with a dolphin. She was in heaven.

We went to see the penguins, the dolphin show and the Shamu show.

I am so glad that my friends Cathy and Julie could join us at Sea World. Too bad Rachel left early so Maya could take a nap. We should have taken this picture earlier.

After Sea World we drove to Old Town San Diego to meet another friend, David Kay, at Cafe Coyote for dinner. It is a great restaurant where there are Latina ladies making tortillas right in front. While waiting for David to show up we saw a chicken riding on a dog.

A balloon artist came by and made a dolphin and a cat for the girls.

Here is our group: Cathy, Heidi, Emma, Rebekah, David, Madeline and Christine.

Down in San Diego

We went down to San Diego to spend some time with my best friend Rachel and her family. We went swimming in their pool. Turns out that Rebekah and Maya had the same swimsuit!

Disneyland 3.0

Our final day at Disneyland. This day was just about doing our favorite things and seeing the girls have fun. We ran into Cinderella again, this time with Emma's new autograph book. And this is my favorite sign in Disneyland.

We went on King Arthur's Carousel.

This is my favorite carousel horse ever. Her name is Jingles and she is the lead horse for King Arthur's Carousel. Emma decided it was her favorite too. They have painted her differently for Disneyland's 50th Anniversary. Here is a picture of me on the same horse in 2001.

The kids had a great time on the teacups and we even ran into Alice and the Mad Hatter.

We spent most of the day going on Toy Story Mania at California Adventure. It is the coolest! You wear 3D glasses and play different carnival/midway games with your laser gun. We rode several times trying to beat our scores and getting bragging rights for the top score (out of 8 riders). I ended up with the top score for the day. :)

Here are the kids being goofy, er, "Hamm"s.

Disneyland 2.0

After a great day relaxing it was time to go to Disneyland again. This time we went with everyone! My sister, Holly, my sister-in-law, Heather, and her two boys, Nathan and Benjamin all joined us for a fun filled day.

First stop is always Space Mountain. Emma really likes the ride, but Rebekah didn't like going to space. However, we were always able to talk her into it.

Splash Mountain was Emma's favorite, and Rebekah really liked it too. You can't see her in the picture though, she is completely blocked by Clay. ;)

By the time we got to lunch at the Blue Bayou the kids were really tired. It was a great lunch and our waitress insisted it was Emma's birthday so she could bring us dessert.

We ran into another princess, Ariel. Look how happy the girls are!

Rebekah wanted her picture taken at the "R" in California. Then Emma decided the "A" was good for her.

Here is Auntie Heather with Emma getting ready for California Screamin', one of the best roller coasters and Emma's 2nd loop-d-loop.

I love King Tritan's carousel because of all the sea animals.

We ended the day in the VIP seats for World of Color. A fabulous show from these seats. So glad we got to see it the way it is meant to be seen. Awesome job Mike!