San Diego

    We arrived in San Diego late Saturday afternoon.  After so much time in the car, we were all more than ready to be out of the car! We had time to take quick showers, before it was time for our dinner reservations.  We went to a Mexican seafood restaurant that some of us had eaten out years and years ago when we went to San Diego.  They are famous for their seafood lobster buckets.  It was a popular place on a Saturday night, but the food was wonderful and I think we all got our lobster fix for quite some time!

Ready for dinner!

Dinner time

After being in separate cars on the trip down, they were so happy to be reunited again.  

The seafood bucket for two.  It was so good!

Ella trying some corn

    We were all pretty tired after dinner, so we headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.  The kids had to burn off a little energy first by jumping on the bed.

   After a good night of sleep, we were all ready for our adventure filled day in San Diego!

Looking so handsome and ready to go

  When planning our trip, we went back and forth between Legoland and the San Diego zoo.  Both sounded wonderful, but we only had time for one.  Ashlyn's favorite animal in the world is the panda.  She has liked pandas for quite some time and it has been her dream to see a real panda. (Giant pandas can only be found in 4 different zoos in the United States).  Also, we knew we were going to have plenty of theme park time later in the week, so we went with the zoo.  

   I have heard so many good things about the San Diego zoo and I can say it did not disappoint at all!  It was incredible and we all had so much fun seeing all sorts of animals we normally don't get to see.  I am not the biggest fan of zoos, and I even had a great time.  The only problem was that there was so much to see and we didn't get to see it all. Maybe next time.   

Our zoo crew

    Like always, we got there right when it opened to avoid the crowds.  They did a little opening act and freed some birds.

   Joey researched and discovered the first thing we needed to do was take the bus tour.  It is very popular and lines get very long later in the day.  We headed right to the bus tour and made it on the first bus.  The bus tour was a great way to see a bunch of animals without all the walking.  I wish more zoos did such a tour!

Family Photo

We got to ride on the top of the bus

Gracie ready to go see some animals

   We got to see polar bears on our tour. They were actually active when we saw them and the guide said that was rare for them.  I have never seen a polar bear before and I could have sat there all day and watched them.  They were smaller than I imagined and there fur is much less white.

Beautiful boy

The one in the water was a male and that is a female walking around him

So cute

These three decided to all hold hands and it was so darn precious that we had to get a picture

   Since pandas are so rare, they are quite special to see at the zoo.  The San Diego zoo made an entire special area for the pandas.  They had a male and a female on display.  Since they are so very popular, they don't let you linger there long.  You kind of have to move through the exhibit quickly.  We were kind of bummed to find they were sleeping.  Apparently eating all that bamboo takes some major energy, so they sleep most of the day.  Even though they weren't active, they were still so amazing to see.  They were such beautiful animals and Ashlyn was so very happy to get to see a real live panda.

The boy sleeping (Apparently he had been eating for three hours straight prior to that).  

Our very happy girl (she even wore her panda shirt)

Doing some panda watching

   The San Diego zoo also has a sky tram that takes you across the zoo.  By the time we got in line, the line was pretty long.  The ride was pretty short for how long we waited, but it was still a neat experience regardless.

The sky tram from the ground

Ms. Hollywood 

The boys showing off their muscles while waiting in line

On the sky tram

The Leones riding

   After the ride, we were ready for a little snack.  Since we were on vacation and at the zoo, we let the kids fill up on pretzels, popcorn, and cotton candy.  Not at all healthy, but the kids loved every bite.

Dawson fell in love with cotton candy

Silly boy

   After we ate, it was time to go look at some more animals.  We saw all sorts of neat animals that we have never seen before.  I really liked that leopards. They are such beautiful animals.

Going for a quick ride

Dawson found an elephant

I can't believe how tall my baby is getting!

Just scaling some walls

The best way to see the zoo

Ashlyn in front of a hippo sand sculpture

   We let the kids each pick on souvenir from the zoo.  Of course, they all picked pandas.   Dawson has never asked for a stuffed animal before, and I was hesitant to buy it for him because I didn't think he would play with it.  He named him "Panda Blue" and wouldn't you know that panda did not leave his side the entire trip.

The kids new pandas

Already giving Panda Blue some love

Being crazy kids

Such a cute trip

Checking out some turtles

    We could have stayed at the zoo all day, but we were hungry and it was getting late.  We had more adventures waiting for us.  For lunch, we went to a fast food place called Tommy's.  We have eaten there on past California trips and it is one of our favorites.  They specialize in chili burgers and they are so good!

Gracie loving her shake

   After lunch, we had to make our way up towards the Hunington Beach area.  The kids were dying to see the ocean.  Bryan used to live in Southern California and had a favorite beach that he loved going to.  He really wanted to go back and told us if he saw it, we were stopping.  He remembered where it was at so we made a quick beach stop.
    The beach was located right near the Ritz Carlton and it was beautiful!  It was such a clean beach.  None of my children remember or have been to the beach, so they were besides themselves.  They instantly fell in love with the ocean.  The smiles and giggles from those kids were beyond priceless.  They all wanted to stay longer, but we needed to get going.  We had plenty of beach time ahead.  

Beach babe

Joey and Gracie checking out the ocean

    We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to our next hotel.  It was so very scenic and so much to look at on the way.  We checked into our new hotel that was located near the Seal Beach area.  We found a restaurant to try on Yelp and it was so good.  It was a great day first full day in California.  The kids all slept very well that night!