Dining with a 9,000 lb Killer Whale....

It's not everyday that you have the chance to dine with a 9,000 pound whale. As one of our excursions in San Diego, we decided to "Dine with Shamu". The whale's name was Ulysses and he is the biggest killer whale (weighing in at 9,150 lbs) at Sea World San Diego.... and he was quite large. Little Man wanted to be sure everyone had their badge, so it was a bit challenging to get him to look at the camera.

Here's our whale coming up to say "hi"

When the announcer said to get the cameras ready, Big Man promptly picked up Little Man and headed to the fence... Another women (without child) was heading to the same place, so as any good protective father would do, he passsively shoulder checked the women to grab the front row fence spot. I have to say, it was worth it. Take a look at the view. We could almost pet the whale... well, I'm not sure you would want to pet him, but feeding him snow would be an option.

Big Man's look of absolute delight....

That's the wrap for Sea World with the exception of the attached video of the Shamu Rocks show.... no worries, it's just to show everyone what a great time we could have on a Caravan trip to Sea World!

Well, and Little Man and I are heading off to Big Sky Montana, so stay tuned for some beautiful green pictures coming your way.

Paradise in San Diego

Every year my family takes a vacation and this year we decided to venture to the coast of San Diego. I checked the temperature and the high while we were there would be 74 degrees...I thought about what to pack .... sweatshirt, hat, and definately a scarf! We loaded everything including the kitchen sink into our expandable suitcase (which came in weighing 49 lbs... YIPPIE) and headed to the coast. We are very excited to be on the plane, well at least Big Man is... And of course don't forget the nap schedule.... Then off to the boardwalk for some fun on a bike ride, with the exception of the crazy driver. Check out the video montage of the bike ride and the first half of the day at SeaWorld. Little Man loved the animals, except for the sharks, those were a bit on the scary side.

How Would You Mix a Jar of Organic Peanut Butter?

Well, I before I post our San Diego vacation pictures, I needed to post this time sensitive information. This afternoon some friends were over swimming and my mom came running to the back door screaming "Oh my goodness, I spilled peanut butter everywhere!". To most people this may be shocking, but my mom has done many things that don't really surprise me anymore. Also, for the record she didn't spill peanut butter, it was more like she attemped to use the electric mixer to mix it and it flew ALL over the kitchen. And of course being the wonderful blogger that I am, I decided to take some pictures before cleaning up the mess (a little against my OCD cleanliness, but it was worth it :)I promise the "stuff" on the wall is peanut butter, you should see the floor we are STILL sliding on the natural oil....
With the pictures posted above, the question that runs through my mind, is where is the silver spoon that I would've used to mix the jar of peanut butter? Hmmm. I love my mom, she keeps me on my toes :)

And of course I wanted to include some pictures of the crew playing out in the sand box while my mom, Jen, and I cleaned up the kitchen. Take special note of Little Man's muscle's....

And The Winner Is....

Okay, so I tried a little trivia and the answer is: Picture number one was the Month and day Adam and I found out that we are expecting our second child! The second picture was the time of night/day it was. I will spare you most of the details, but the best part of the story was that I forgot about the test and Adam actually found out before I did. What a surprise that was. Needless to say it was 12:25 am and we did not get a whole lot of sleep that night because we were so excited!

Picture Number One

Picture Number Two

And about the fish.... Well, we were finally able to "calibrate" the water for the tank and found four beautiful fish. Until a few days past and now we have three. I didn't know that fish were so sensitive. I guess Little Man and I will have to pet them more often... or we will have to keep Java away from the tank....

That's not really Little Man's fish it was just a cool picture, Little Man's fish are below....

Cranium Anyone???

A friend of mine asked me to update more than once a week, so I am easing into that trend with posting in 6 days versus 7...... Hopefully that will help a little. Well, for this post I thought I would make everyone think a little bit and look at the cropped pictures below and identify what the entire picture is. It's kinda like Turbo Cranium... so put on your Cranium Caps and let me know what your guess is......

You may have to squint a little for this one... it is definately an item that we are way too familiar with....anyone need another hint?

Swims Like A Fish.....

We have struggled for months with Little Man to wear floaties or a swimsuit with floaties and he has refused, torn them off, and screamed; so we felt we would table this issue for another time. Out of the blue this week I thought, let's try floaties again.... To our surprise, Little Man watched intensely as Big Man put on the floaties... no screaming... no fuss....just watched....

Adam and I were a bit in shock and didn't say much as Little Man climbed into the pool... still no fuss.... And seriously within minutes, Little Man was swimming, jumping off the side, and having the time of his life :) Then he started holding his breath and chasing rockets in the pool and smiling the whole time. Adam and I still looked at each other in amazement and I had to take lots of pictures and videos of the blessed event, in case this was a one and only anomoly.....
Check out the video....

http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/df3def9651f1da489644d24890806694?index=0

And while we are on the topic of fish, we have decided to add another pet to the household. And since Adam and I couldn't agree on a dog or cat, we settled for a fish or two or three or four. We ventured to Petco over the weekend for the big purchase and apparently we have been out of the fish owning world for awhile because we have to let the water "calibrate" for three to seven days before adding fish.... So here's our new pet ......

OUCH!!!

Little Man has a evening routine for getting ready for bed - I know the structured schedule is hard to imagine - which consists of brushing his teeth, grabbing his "hammers", and curling up with MaMa for a bedtime story. And since he entered into the toddler age of opinions he chooses the book. For the past several weeks, probably months, the book of choice has been Stanley Stinkbug Goes to Camp.

It all started as a normal night until Little Man started turning the pages super fast and ripped one. That's when the emotional connection with "OUCH" began..... He first started saying OUCH and then started crying and saying "OUCH BUG" "OUCH BUG"..... It took all my self control not to laugh and console him. I told him Stanley Stinkbug would be fixed tomorrow and everything would be okay. He continued to say "OUCH BUG" but cuddled up with Mom and finished the story.

Below is a small clip with Little Man saying "OUCH" (minus the tears)... it's priceless :)http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/d0dc830f0287abaf8eacd47e3848e930