Sea World San Diego With Sakura and her Mommy

Seth and Sakura reunited and playing in the soft play area

Do you want to build?

Sakura is funny!

Where should I play next?

Very serious Sakura

Big smile Seth

Savannah enjoying jumping while the little kids play

Working together is fun

Who's that?

Everyone in awe of the Sea Lions

And super excited when they jump and swim

Loving the touch pool with the starfish

Seth wanting to get in on the action too

Love this of Jennifer and Sakura

Seth all set to go in his stroller

Welcome to winter in San Diego at Sea World with ice skating and everything

Elmo photo opportunity at Sea World

Even Sakura went by Elmo.  Seth was sleeping.

Seth during the Elmo photos.  He fell asleep on the 15 minute walk over to Sea World from the hotel.

Savannah could have stayed in here all day

More animal observation

Hold hands

More winter at Sea World

Both my kids loved the penguins

They picked these matching penguin pj's from Sea World.  Sakura has them in red too.

So cute matchy after our bath and all ready for bed after a fun filled day

On Friday my dear friend Jennifer drove from Arizona with her daughter, Sakura, to meet us in San Diego and spend the day at Sea World while Rich was at his conference.  It was so wonderful to see them again after passing by quickly in Japan as we were coming to meet Seth and they were leaving having finished the process with their daughter who is 5 weeks older than Seth.  Then we truly got to meet and spend time together after correpsonding on the Internet for months in Disneyland in May at Dosokai.  We were so happy to be able to meet up again and see our children interact and how much they have grown.  Thanks for driving and coming to meet us.

Jennifer and Sakura met us at our hotel and then we were able to walk to Sea World from there.  That is one reason I picked this hotel, so we did not have to get on and off a shuttle with a stroller to go to Sea World.  Seth fell asleep on the "ride" there in the stroller.  We walked into Winter Wonderland in Sea World San Diego with a penguin and an ice skating rink.  We went to the little kids area and saw Elmo and got a picture with him.  Then we proceeded to the play area where Savannah bounced and jumped on the giant trampoline and Sakura and eventually Seth, played in the soft play area.  Then we went on some kiddie rides.  Sakura did not like them very much, so we decided to get a bite to eat and then observe some sea life.  The kids loved the sea lions, turtles, tide pool where you could touch starfish, the aquarium, and the penguins.  Due to it being during the week and off season, not many shows were running so we just walked around and looked at animals.  Seth took another nap and then again on the way back.  We had a fun filled day with super sweet friends. 

We went back to the hotel and relaxed and changed and then met Jennifer and Sakura for dinner (with Rich so he could see them too) at a great Mexican restaurant in Pacific Beach called Gringoes.  It had a great, festive atmpshere and delcious, authentic, Mexican food.  Only in San Diego.  Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures, but we had a great time. 

 

Beautiful San Diego (Day 1)

This is how they slept together on the plane.  Does it get more precious than this?

 When they got up, they shared the DVD player so nicely.

 Favorite Statue at the hotel

 Seth is now playing too

 Look at Mission Bay

 Waiting for our transfer to Old Town for the Trolley

 In Old Town

 Old Town San Diego is Awesome

 Seth watching the train go round the Christmas Tree in Old Town at the exhibit

 Watching attentively on the Tour

 We took the Seal Tour and got to see Sea Lions up close

 Savannah enjoying the Sea Lions

 Seth in awe

 Birds and Sea Lions, does it get better than this?

 Seth fell asleep at the end of the tour.  I just adore how Savannah is looking at him--with love and pride.

 Climbing at the airport.  Getting energy out before the flight.

 Made it to Sunny CA and nowI can wear short sleeves and eat outside.

 Beautiful girl in CA eating outside at Mimi's Cafe.

 Outside Mimi's Cafe

 He loved this chair in our hotel suite

 Waiting for the Trolley

 Love Old Town

 Almost time to go on the trolley

 Dancing in the Old Town Market

 Waiting to go on the Seal Tour

 Having fun in Embarcadaro Park on a gorgeous San Diego Day

 In the park and enjoying the weather

 Loving the Sea Lions

 Having lunch on the San Diego Harbor

 This is how you get Seth to cooperate shopping at the mall.  Let him drive.

 And take him to a toy store that lets you play on a train they have set up.

 Enjoying the trolley ride

 Playing at the mall waiting for Daddy to arrive after his conference.

What an awesome idea to have this area for kids to play in the mall

Rich's Medical Fitness conference brought us to beautiful San Diego for 6 days.  No matter how many times I have been to San Diego or go to San Diego, I still find it one of the most beautiful places and am in awe of it.  I truly love it.  Everything about it is perfect.  If there is a utopia to live, it is San Diego.

Both kids did wonderfully on the trip there.  Seth did the best ever with traveling, meals, and sleeping.  Our room at the Dana Hotel was perfect.  It was a suite where the living was at the back and had a patio facing the park and that was his space.  It worked out great.  The weather was 73 degrees and bright and sunny when we landed at LAX and we rented a minivan and drove to San Diego.  We stopped at Starbucks and Mimi's Cafe on the way.

We arrived a got settled in and walked around our beautiful resort and went to Whole Foods to fill our fridge for the week.  The next day Rich went to his conference and the kids an I took the Trolley into Old Town San Diego, which is the area that reflects the Mexican culture.  Then we went to Seaport Village, walked around played in the park and boarded the Seal Tour, which is an amphibious vehicle th goes in the road and the water.  It was fun and informative and the highlight was seeing many Sea Lions up close.  It was awesome.  We came back to Seaport Village, had lunch at Busters overlooking the Harbour and Seth was sleeping for most of it.  Then we walked around and playing in the park and went to the mall.  We got lots of goodies and playing in the open play area and then met Daddy for dinner at the Panda Gourmet.  Yum!  What a great day!

Sorry the pictures are out of order, but Blogger makes it hard to load pictures.  I will post Sea World, DelMar, La Jolla, and Legoland in their own posts coming up.  Stay tuned.