theme parks and goodbye ca!

Sea World.  I admit it.  I don't love the place.  I am just not one of those people that has a special place in her heart for sea animals.  

     

We sit down and watch the Shamu show and Samuel digs into his pocket and pulls out a ring pop.  Man, this kid can make EVERYTHING sticky with a ring pop.  So, we get back to the hotel and Eva is looking through her stuff and says, "Where is my ring pop?"  Argh!  Samuel!  

So, he was just tall enough for all the big kid rides, right?  Well, apparently I am just short enough for all the little kid rides.  Karl and his family got a kick out of this.  Though I was short enough, the rides were for kids only.  Too bad. 

  

I don't know if it is because she is my niece or if it is because she is 4 or if it is because she is just plain funny, but this girl was cracking everyone up.  In the first photo she is showing what a daddy looks like.  In the second she was showing what a mommy looks like.

4 year old on a pole.  May be a common sight.  Maybe.  But what was not common was how stinkin' fast this kid went from standing right next to me to being five feet high.

 

Of course, there were the rides.  And the animals.  These cuddling polar bears were so cute.

 

Here is Eva suffocating a star fish.  At the dolphin show she seriously wanted to sit on the front row.  Karl let her go down. Then, probably because six year old shouldn't be hanging out at a huge theme park by herself, he joined her.  They got, well, splashed pretty good.  I was so surprised because she is such a careful girl.

Dinner.  Oh, dinner.  I really really really love ramen.  The real stuff.  Not the dried stuff from the packages that sustains college students everywhere.  That stuff does not compare.  We found Hakata Ramen.  Walking in was like walking into Japan.  They spoke so fast and I couldn't understand all their ramen shop lingo.  It is like how fresh pasta is so much better than the dried stuff.  Oh man.  I love it.  So do my kids.  Samuel yelled thank you in Japanese as we left.

  

Knotts Berry Farm.  Have you been there?  Kind of like a giant giant Lagoon.  We took a stage coach ride.  The girls were up on top.  Got a shot of Samuel looking up at us.  So, the thing got stuck.  The horses couldn't make it up a hill.  A bunch of people had to come push us.  

This is how Samuel rides the roller coasters most of the time.  Hands high and a giant smile. 

Recognize these burgers?  Karl happens to be a huge fan of this place.

Animal style no onions extra pickles.

Cheese, onions.

No cheese, pickles.

No onions, no pickles.

We all like them different.  We are all happy with our burgers.  The animal style fries were a little too much.  Plain from here on out.  They are only good for the first five minutes.

Neopolitan shakes all around.

We went here 3 times as opposed the 7 times we went the last time we went to Carlsbad.  Sorry arteries.  Good thing we don't have one close (yet).  But maybe once we get one it will be like the IKEA phenomenon.  Once we get our own it won't be so unique and desirable.  I will still love it but I won't feel such an urgency to get my fill every time I visit.

    

Much to the kids disappointment (and me because of the actual journey), it was time to start the journey home.  We found a tasty Persian place for lunch.  I don't have much experience with Persian food but turns out, it is all stuff I love... hummus, kababs, pita, gyro type meat... yum.

Okay, that bottle?  Let me just say that it is not apple juice.  Samuel couldn't wait.  Seemed like a good idea but I get paranoid that he has discovered a whole new world of peeing.  Poor Lindsay, they let us stay at her house and Samuel takes his new found fascination and decides that the corner next to the toilet is much more exciting than the actually toilet.  The punk!  Gross.  Karl and I felt so bad.  I can't even count how many times he has asked to pee in a bottles since then.  Nope.  Sorry buddy.  

Asked Malea, my St. George friend, via e-mail where we could grab a tasty bite for lunch.  She didn't let us down with a great comprehensive list.  We walked in to her choice number one and I realized that I had been there long long long ago when I was about 15 with my friend, Kris Tina.  Man food makes such a big impression on me.  Like I twittered, their ice was the best ice ever.  Super crushed.  Evan better than Sonics nuggets.  

   

Okay, I have mentioned that Karl has a lot of cousins, right?  They are all so nice.  Some other Vegas cousins invited us over for a BBQ.  The kids had so much fun playing.  The girls wrote songs and performed them.  Eva was a judge (uh, whose parents watch American Idol?) and a tiger.  The funny part was the songs they wrote:

Dreams by Emily

Everything Can Happen by Eva

Sound so inspirational right?  Nope. 

 Dreams was about how people think a dream coming true will make their day but she wishes on a star and it doesn't come true.  

Everything Can Happen was about the magic tigers in the jungle and the cry babies growling and that they are mean because, well, everything can happen in the jungle.

So funny these sweet little girls were writing such sad songs.

And now, the whole trip is finally documented...