Family Time at the Zoo & Safari Park

The family came to visit for the weekend and we took full advantage of our zoo membership.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

Where did we leave off?   Oh yes...we left off with Kalista's birthday weekend getaway.  Sorry for the delay. We know that all of you have been waiting for the anticipated birthday party pictures.  There are just not enough hours to get to the blogging.

So yes...back to where we left off.  The next following weekend we took a mini trip to Dana Point/San Juan Capistrano for Jen's birthday weekend trip.  We had a great time enjoying the beautiful weather and beaches.  We also took Bella with us since the hotel allowed animals.  Bella had a blast!!!  She exuded the spoiled princess vibe all weekend.

 We enjoyed a clam baked style dinner from The Boiling Crab...Yum!

This Squirrel cake was courtesy of Chubby Cakes in Westminster

Kalista has become an expert in the sport of bubble blowing. Whenever she sees a bubble wand or bubble container, she goes into bubble mind mode.  She can't enough of her assortment of bubble wands that were left over from her birthday party.

Grandma Susan came to visit right after Grandma Evelyn left...literally on the same day.  It was nice having some extra hands around the house for two weeks between the two visitors.

  

We made a few trips to the zoo with Grandma's new annual pass.  Kalista loves wearing sunglasses and has a tendency to borrow them from others.

Kalista's official birthday party was postponed to June for many reasons, but it finally happened.  It was Yo Gabba Gabba themed and she loved her cake until we lit the candles.  She bursted into tears for some reason.  Maybe she thought we were trying to torch her new friends....eek...that would freak me out.

The party was a success!  We had a fabulous turnout and the weather was just right for the park.  Kalista's little friends had a blast on the jungle gyms of various size. We had some relatives that flew into town just for the weekend to celebrate it with us.  Thank you for the trip down here!!!

Kalista says "THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR COMING TO MY PARTY AND FOR ALL MY BIRTHDAY PRESENTS!!".  She wasn't into opening gifts at first, but when she saw what was all wrapped up....it was worth all the work.

We had a mini photo shoot for Project: Father's Day.  With the idea from her teacher, we borrowed this little outfit from her school and took a bunch of photos to frame for Matt's special day.

 HAPPY DADA DAY !!!

Kalista learned to say : Happy - Dada -Dee (Happy Father's Day) and Owl - Juice ( I Love You).  It sounds much cuter when she says it.

We all mustered up some energy to get to the SD County Fair this year since all three of us have been fighting off this cold of various extent.  Along our stroll past livestock, we met this HUGE cow.  MOO! It doesn't seem so big from this picture, but it was very large. We tried out the bacon wrapped turkey leg this year and it was pretty good.  We didn't try anything exotic this year...no deep fried trix or coco pebbles.

We hope this summer will bring some fun times and memories for all of you!!

Zoo Safari Round 2

Auntie Kim came to visit for the past week and we explored the San Diego Zoo and Zoo Safari (or whatever they call the Wild Animal Park nowadays).  We saw our favorite animals and even a few rare ones that we skip on our weekly visits.

We found out that Kalista is very fearful of snakes when we walked through the reptile house.  She jumped back from the glass and hid her face.  Wonder if that is a natural reaction for all babies...hmm?!?

Kalista is a little explorer now and wondering how this world works.  She tried to see if her arm would go through the elephant's trunk. She also checked out the Polar Bear Plunge ice caves and walked/crawled through them. Auntie Kim had to crawl and follow her since our joints are not as flexible as the good 'ol days. Not to mention that it was one stinky cave and Jen almost passed out from the smell of stinky socks and sweat. Brave Auntie Kimmie!!!!

We caught Kalista posing next to a seal with Auntie. The photo turned out pretty cute.

It was great having Auntie Kim in town. We did a lot of catching up and enjoyed many a laughs with the crew from Yo Gabba Gabba (which is Kali's new favorite show).

Bye Bye Auntie Kim! Until next time...muah!

Be Our Guest

It has been a whirlwind guest month and we love it!!!!

Kalista enjoyed a good week with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Bill. Ironically, we had Flat Stanley for the same week as a homework assignment for our cousin, Ryan. For those who don't know, Stanley Lambchop is a book character created by Jeff Brown that was flattened in his sleep when a bulletin board fell off his bedroom wall.  Poor Stanley!!

Our first exciting trip was to the Birch Aquarium since we had it on our 'to do list" with family in town.  Kalista LOVED it!  We had to hold her in order for her to see all the creatures in each tank.  Depending on who was the closest, Kalista hopped from one set of arms to another.  She was exceptionally mesmerized by the giant sea kelp exhibit. Here are a few other images from our excursion:

 Stanley standing in front of the aquarium entrance

 Beautiful jellyfish in an ever-changing color display

 The stained glass window was gorgeous

 Kalista and Grandma enjoyed the Tangs and Clownfish

The best part of the aquarium was watching Kalista touch a starfish for the first time.  Okay....it was a fake toy starfish, but it took a lot of courage.  We're so glad it wasn't real because she drop that thing like a hotcake.  

We finished our visit in the Shark Reef area and played with all the eco-energy saving activities that were on display.  Kalista loved the Shark Cage because it made the best sound as she ran across the metal flooring.  boom boom boom boom.

Kalista posing in front of a wind-energy blade template

da un...da dun...da dun....eeeeee!!!!! We got chomped up.

Like we said earlier, the Shark Cage was a popular spot among the family. We had a mini incident with the Cage, but it ended up being no big deal.  Notice Kalista's big cheesy smile in the first picture....well...the head, that houses that big smile, got stuck in between the bars.  It sent us on a flashback to the days when we were young and got our heads got stuck in the bars within the stair banister. Every child has to experience it at some point. 

Grandma and Grandpa got caught up in the action too..except no heads got stuck here.

During the week, we made our usual trip to the zoo.  We kind of forgot that Spring Break equals craziness, so we had to brave through the crowds.  Flat Stanley joined us and we think he enjoyed himself. Kalista convinced Grandma to buy her a stuffed panda and would not let go of the little thing until we got home.

We made it to the zoo with Flat Stanley

Kalista clinging on to her new friend

This elephant knew how to pamper himself

Easter weekend was great since we had a chance to spend it with family and friends. We drove up to LA to visit Jen's old roommate from college for her little boy's first birthday.  We also caught up with old friends we haven't seen in a long time.  Kalista had a blast at her first Easter egg hunt and searched for hidden eggs with lil ones her size.  Her stamina was short and found not ONE....but TWO eggs and then called it a day.  It was the cutest thing watching all these little ones running around and comparing their new found treasures.  We hope everyone had a fabulous Easter!

These were the best cake and rice krispie pops!

Kali's first Easter egg hunt