The Little Brat and I said "Heck with this Virginia cooooooooooold..." and headed to San Diego for a whirlwind visit with an old Marine Corps friend of mine, Michelle, last weekend....we flew out on Friday, spent Saturday at Sea World with her and her girls, Micaela & Maycee, Sunday at the Zoo, and flew back home Monday....the trip went smoothly, but I think we all about hit our max level of endurance during the trip! We tipped the fun meter into the red, that's for sure!
Here is my gorgeous friend, and former Marine, Michelle! Looking beautimus as ever...
This is Michelle's eldest daughter, Micaela, and my God-daughter. I only get to see her about once every several years because of our geographical separation and all...she is growing into such a lovely young lady!
Here is Micaela with her little sis, Maycee....Maycee looks so much like her Ma it is a bit freaky! SUCH a cutie!
Our first stop, SEAWORLD! This was my favorite part of the trip...the girls wasted no time in diving into the festivities...
We saw dolphins....
Otters...
..and sea lions too!
This unlikely duo are star crossed lovers...Personally, I think
Miz. Byrd is just using the big fella for his access to fish, but that's just my humble
opinion...
...and speaking of fish, LB got to feed the sea lions some slimy little fish too! She didn't hesitate to grab them and start tossing...the smell was horrendous! Thank you,
Seaworld. Not even the hand washing station REALLY made
that stank go away....
But it was worth it...aren't they sweet?
I got the girls to sit down for the moment and give the ole pregnant woman a moment to catch her breathe...I disguised it as a picture taking opportunity....
From the sea lions, we made our way to the
Shamu Show...this was by far the treat of the day...the animals were AMAZING!
...and the trainers have all my respect...I thought training a horse was challenging at times...I can't imagine the process it takes to train an animal like this...
...as we watched the show, I couldn't help but get this shot of Ma and
Maycee in profile...see what I mean? She spit out her carbon copy! Freaky....
After the
Shamu show, we moved on to the sharks..we went down into a tunnel and walked right under them...their teeth were intimidating, to say the least!
..so we stopped at this Great White Shark display on our way out and got a pic of the girls...I imagine they would look like guppies to this great white!
..and then we went to lunch at a VIP event where the whales from the
Shamu show were brought right up to our dining area...the girls really got a kick out of this...they got about an hour of almost 1-on-1 time with the 'Shamus'!
Then, it was on to a pet show...yes, they have dogs and cats at
Seaworld too! The show was great...the entire cast of animals were rescued from local shelters. It was inspiring.
..the tightrope walking cat was especially impressive!
Included with our day pass, were free rides on this huge round skyrocket type thing and the gondolas...we rode this up and had a stunning birds eye view (actually, I'm not sure if birds fly this high...it was really, really, really, really high!) of the park and surrounding areas...the girls
loved it!
...but the gondola's proved to be the 'thrill' ride of the day...I was a little unsettled myself even...we were pretty high up there...and the trip over the bay was a bit daunting...it was a
loooooong way down, and these gondola thingies aren't all that stable....we just sort of swayed back and forth in the wind...counting our blessings until we were on solid ground again!
Back at Michelle's home, we had a chance to sit down and catch up...the girls took the opportunity to rock out on an old family organ...
They weren't too bad!
....and Michelle's mom brought over this
decadent jumbo cupcake for the kids to boot! I think they spent more time dissecting it than eating it
though...it was a pretty impressive specimen...at least two types of filling, several different types of icing, cherries, sprinkles...NO topping or filling seemed to be left out!
But enough of the goofing around...on Sunday, we had a Zoo to visit! We opted to start off with the double
decker bus ride around the major attractions...it was a good choice, as the most we saw that day ended up being on that tour! Here are some hippos that were actually OUT of the water and sun bathing in plain view...
...and although I was
disappointed there were no elephant rides, the elephants were out and very social as we drove by...
This California Condor was certainly impressive as he stretched out those massive wings!
I don't recall the name of these cute little deer-like creatures...but the lion below thought they were just peachy :)
...her kitty, kitty, kitty!
awwww....I love anything that resembles a horse...the giraffe were just too pretty! Just check out those long eyelashes...born to impress!
There was so much more to see and do, but my camera battery ran out, and soon after, my energy as well...
The girls opted to get done up before we left..the face painters were superb! Of course, their choices in art are telling, aren't they? Sweet
Maycee and her butterfly....Demure Miss Micaela and her majestic dolphin....and, well, my little predator.....sigh.
Happy Travels!
Leah
~Sophie Rose~
~Codie James~
..and since I'm in the baby preparation mood today, I decided to start a registry at