Vacation!

Kendall started a Master's program at USU back in January.  It's a part time program designed for working professionals and, really, they've made it as doable as it can be.  But, between a regular long work week, our involved church callings, and the usual stuff (alternator went out on the Cavy, trying to get the rest of our fence up, shutter blew off the house weeks ago, garage is a mess, lawn needs to be mowed, still need to take Sam out for his birthday, doctor's appointments, sick kids, something with the sprinklers is broken, etc. etc.), class on Friday night and Saturday morning feels hard some weeks. Not to mention all the school work in between. Kendall has been really liking his classes which is shocking for any of you who knew him during his Bachelor's degree (or High school for that matter).  He finds a lot of value and use in the things he's learning and we are glad that he's getting it done now, because we know life will do nothing but get more crazy.



We've been wanting to do a family vacation.  Kendall was getting especially itchy for a break and we knew we'd do it some time this summer.  Well, when we really sat down to look at it, we realized we were extremely limited with Kendall's school schedule.  Pretty much the 24th of July weekend was our only option (at which time I will be something like 30 weeks pregnant)....or Memorial Day weekend.  We were realizing this the week before Memorial Day. We looked at our schedule...Sam will be done with preschool, I don't have sharing time on Sunday, and Kendall has the weekend off of school.  On Wednesday, Kendall cleared it with his boss and on Thursday, we left.

 Before we left our house, we booked a hotel in Las Vegas.  We would drive that far the first night. That was all we really knew. We booked the Excalibur, because we thought the boys would love sleeping in a castle. They did.

We felt very out of place trekking through the casino at 10:00pm with our three kids and a stroller packed with stuff.  I don't think I've ever felt so stared at. We took a picture to remember.

That night we got on our laptops to make a plan for the rest of the trip.  In the morning, after a little walking and a little swimming, we got back in the car to make our way to San Diego.

SeaWorld

We went to Sea World for two days.  It was so fun!  The animals and shows were awesome!  The shark tunnel was by far the favorite and we went there three times.  They also liked touching the starfish and seeing Shamu.   They had a 4D Sesame Street movie that was a nice break from the heat and almost everyone liked it...Brigg got squirted in the face with the water and was not a happy camper. They also have this whole Sesame Street play area that is full of places to climb and run and several little kid rides.  Fun!

Here are some pictures of Sea World.

On Sunday, we went to a Sacrament meeting and then spent the afternoon at the beach and Seaside Village in the evening. The boys loved the beach! Luke brought home a bunch of shells that he's cleaned and put in a jar. Brigg sometimes, randomly, just says, "Beach. Water. Sand." Here are the beach pictures

More on the vaction below....