California- Day 4, La Jolla Cove and Sea World

The next day we started our journey with going to the La Jolla Cove. What a beautiful place it is! Despite cloudy sky, the temperature of the air was actually very warm and it felt just perfect outside. I loved all the humidity that we were surrounded by!
The tide was going in and out and Alex and I got our feet wet a couple of times while trying to climb the rocks.

The little cove was full of divers and snorkelers. I SO regretted not having our snorkeling gear with us that day... It just means that we'll have to go back there another time.
Then we found a little cave to the side of the cove and we went in.
On the other side the cave opened up to the ocean and it was a breathtaking view!
The tide there was also fluctuating and we had to watch where we step so we don't get washed out into the ocean :)


This was the view of the ocean from the cave opening:
Alex did so well! He had zero fear climbing rocks and going into a darker cave. I was very proud of him. There were other boys before us and they were both scared.
My mom is a "prisoner" of her own imagination :)
Our next stop that day was the Sea World. We went to see the killer whale show, of course.
We all loved it but the boys especially did. Alex was in awe of all the tricks that these majestical animals could do!



The killer whales splashed everybody in the lower section and we were kind of excited to not be sitting in the splash zone (well, Alex was actually bumped about it).
We then visited the Seals show. This was the view from the top of the stadium. I so wished I was there right now!!!
It was very cute and Alex enjoyed it very much!
Flamingos are always beautiful to look at and they have these funny-looking beaks. When they eat something out of the water, they have to tilt their heads to the side to pick it up :)


We all went on the Atlantis ride, even Babulya. You can see her sitting in the front row in the pink shirt and Alex is next to her in a green shirt.


When they were done riding it, Babulya said: "How did I end up getting so wet? I asked Alex to not get wet and that's where he dragged me" :) We just laughed because everybody knows how much Alex likes to get wet so he convinced her that the front row is the place to be to stay dry :))) Sneaky Alex :)
The Blue Horizons show was also great. Dolphins are so beautiful!

Before we headed back home, we stopped by the San Diego temple. It truly is a beautiful building. While Nicholas was eating, the rest of the family had fun taking pictures next to the temple.

It was another beautiful day in Paradise.

California- Day 3, The Beach and the dolphins

Our day started out foggy buy surprisingly comfortable. I have to say that I (gasp) love humidity. I don't know if it's growing up in the humid climate by the river or what, but humidity makes me feel comfortable and easy to breathe :)

In the morning Babulya took Nicholas for a stroll and disappeared. Alex and I went to look for them and ended up on the beach in our pajamas. It didn't even faze me because everybody in Laguna Beach walks around in their what looks like PJs at 8 am :) We stayed there for a while and watched huge waves crashing on the shore. Ocean. What a powerful force! I was in awe! We went back home and found out that Nicholas and Babulya were in the backyard the whole time.

Later on we drove along the PCH looking for a beach. We were staying right next to the beach but thought that it'd be a good idea to try and find another beach. Why? I have no idea. We did come across some very pretty sights but no parking whatsoever. This made me come to the first realization of this trip: it's very important to stay close to what you want to do during your vacation. In our case- the beach. If we didn't stay close to the beach, we'd have a hard time finding parking and (my) vacation would be ruined :) I just LOVE the beach :)))
So we drove back home, parked the car and walked to our beach :))) Nicholas immediately got tired. Bummer.
My mom was testing the water. Although the air was warm and comfortable despite the fog, the water was a little cold at first.
This is what it looked like at the beginning of the day.
Nicholas did get his feet (and diaper) all wet.

Alex had so much fun chasing the waves.
We played some beach games for a while.
Nicholas got his first taste of sand. I turned around for a split second to apply sunscreen on Alex and the next thing I knew Nicholas was sitting there with fists full of sand, eating it with great appetite (like everything else that comes near his mouth).

Then Nicholas took his first nap on the beach :)

Alex and I built an awesome sand fortress and the ocean helped us create a water canal around it :)
Babulya decided that water was good enough to swim and got knocked down by a huge wave.
Once we all got in the water the first time, we realized that water is actually quite warm and we all tried boogie boarding. Alex- not very successfully. On his very first try he hit his nose on the board which caused many tears and Alex said he would never come near a boogie board ever again!
But he would sit on it with us :)

Dave and I though quickly got a hang of it and we had lots of fun boogie boarding!


This is what it looked like an hour after we got there. Once the sun came out it was very hot and even the cool water felt great. We spent lots of time swimming, boarding, running and falling in the waves.

Then the most incredible thing happened that made my day even better: I saw DOLPHINS playing in the ocean!!!!!!! At first I thought there were people freestyle swimming, but when I looked closely I realized that they were dolphins jumping in and out of water. SO COOL!
We ended our day walking along the PCH, finding a local Taco place (Taco Loco), which by the way wasn't great at all, which made me come to a second realization of the trip: don't believe the online reviews of restaurants.
Until tomorrow! More adventures to come :)

California- Day 2, California Adventure and Disneyland

Our second day in the parks went very smoothly. We learned our mistakes from previous day and left all the "extras" at home (my purse, extra toys, extra blankets, hats, and other misc items) so we didn't have to constantly track down and count all the items in our "party". Babulya did manage to lose her favorite Utes hat the day before and that's when we realized we were carrying too many extra items.

The first thing we encountered at California Adventure was the Cars characters. Alex was in heaven!
Even though it was still morning, we did have to "cool our engines" already and run through the fine mist :)
Soaring was one of our favorite attractions.
This next picture is especially for Oleg.
We ate lunch at the Wharf- yummy seafood. I do have to make a side note here to say how impressed I was with food at the parks. Not to say that it's 5 star food, but compared to Disney World 4 years ago it was a HUGE step up. They had lots of fresh, healthy options almost everywhere we ate. They even had little kiosks everywhere selling fresh fruits and veggies.
Next stop was The Tower of Terror- a much anticipated ride (well, at least I've been waiting for it for 2 days).
Alex did not like it much, in fact, he cried as soon as we started riding it.
Then I took Babulya on the ride, so I got to ride twice :) She loved it!
I have to admit though that the same ride at Disney World was much more exciting, more advanced and a little more scary. I miss Disney World. I think next time we'll have to go there :)
Another favorite part of the park was the Bug's Life section. There is just something about being surrounded by oversized items and pretending being a bug for a few minutes. And having lots of shade didn't hurt either :)
Monsters Inc ride was a fun one... for Alex :)
We tracked down some very cool buttons, even Nicholas got a "1st Visit" button.
We cooled in the shade while Papa and Alex rode some rockets.
Then unexpectedly there was a Pixar parade passing by. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!Alex got SO excited!!! He ran around, danced, and tried (successfully) to get the attention of the parade characters.
One of the parade characters managed to spray our camera with some water, not that it needed to cool down, but we sure did!
We walked around some more, watched and rode rides, played some games.

Alex even got to play a "baby" while Nicholas was using his Baby Bjorn.
We made it back to Disneyland just in time to see the Celebrate parade. It was very cool and Alex got to participate in the dancing.



We ended our day by eating some yummy (once again) food at the French Market and buying some souvenirs for the kids.

Until tomorrow. Now on to the next adventure!