Spontaneous San Diego

A few pictures are stolen from Cody and Emilee's blog. Thanks guys!

The night before my parent's left on their trip to visit my brother in San Diego my dad threw out the idea that Charlotte and I should come along too. That sounded pretty good to me.

So after checking with

-Cody, who said they'd love to squeeze 2 more people into their apartment (what else was he supposed to say though!) and

-Kori who said she could handle primary without me (Did I mention I was called to be the 1st counselor in primary at church about 2 months ago? My sister is the president.)
-and Matt who couldn't take off work but said he could survive without "his girls" for a few days.

I decided to go at the last minute. I think Matt was happy I got to go on a trip. I've been a bit of a complainer at the lack of trips we took this summer. I even wrote a whole post about my vacation-less summer vacation, the first one in my memory I might add, but I decided it was too boring to do a post about the vacations you aren't going on. What can I say, I love to travel, especially when you are stuck inside all summer.

Saturday my parents picked up the Whitmer girls and we headed to San Diego. Before this trip Charlotte had never been in the car for more than 2 hours. Six hours each way was a big step up. Charlotte did better than I thought she would. We did turn her seat forward facing so it would fit on the back seat of the truck and I think that helped her stay entertained. She took okay naps in the car but we still did a lot of singing, reading books, jiggling toys, playing peek-a-boo with Grandma, Grandad grabbing her foot, and of course some crying. She was happier when Grandad would put "her" music in instead of talk radio. Things have sure changed since I was a kid. Dad was so great about Charlotte screaming while he drove and he broke his rule of "the driver gets to choose the radio station".

My favorite part of the trip was getting to see Charlotte and her cousin Eliza together. Eliza is Charlotte's closest cousin in age so I'm sure they will be good friends as they grow up. They are about 5 months apart and they were so happy to see each other the whole time. They kept stealing things from each other then the other girl would steal them back. This is only the second time I've seen Eliza and I can't believe what a sweetheart she is. She is so happy, easy going and QUIET. She does make some cute babbling noises but she hardly ever cried.

Saturday evening and Sunday we just hung out and ate good food and went to church with Cody and Emilee. It was nice to have my parents to help out with Charlotte at church and for the whole trip for that matter. She really seemed to get the know them better and would let them hold her instead of me sometimes.

Grandad holding her up to see the Tigers swimming.

Monday we went to the zoo. The San Diego Zoo is famous for a reason. It's the best one I've been to. Feel free to tell me your favorite zoo in case I'm ever in that city. There are so many cool animals and they really designed the animal areas so that you are able to see them up close. The weather was absolutely perfect. It's no wonder so many people live in California. I actually got to wear a light jacket for part of the time. It felt like fall! You know- that season that Southern Arizona doesn't really have. The one with the cool weather and the leaves changing. Palm trees and cactai don't exactly change colors for fall.

Charlotte was so excited to see the birds of course. We had to get a closer look at this one.

Add gigantic hippos to the list of things Charlotte is scared of. Maybe because it looks like a cow? I guess no hippopotomous on her Christmas list this year.

Who knew Koalas slept 18-21 hours a day (if I remember the # right)? All of them were asleep except 1 when we were there.

I learned that Panda Bears do not make good mothers- in captivity at least. They told us stories about mama pandas stepping on their cubs. So sad. Most (maybe all?) of the Panda's we have in the U.S. are on loan from China.

I told you Eliza was a sweetheart- just look at that smile!

This is obviously just a statue- but this was the first zoo trip that Charlotte seemed to actually notice most of the animals.

Tuesday we went on my first ever Harbor Cruise. Charlotte hadn't had her nap and she was mad we wouldn't let her run around on deck. So I didn't get to hear as much of the tour as I would have liked to while I was wrestling with my squirming upset daughter. What I did hear and see was cool. Lots of military ships and Coronado Island sounds like a fun place to visit. I went there a few years ago but I'd like to go back.

They let Charlotte and Eliza drive the boat. I think she looks like that fisherman on those fish commercials in this hat and coat.

Grandad with his 2 littlest Granddaughters. Charlotte gave Eliza lots of hugs and kisses. They were really pretty good together.

Tuesday afternoon we took the girls to the playground then we all went the the Cheesecake Factory for Cody's birthday dinner. I would say he's getting old but I'm only 2 years younger, so I won't. It was delicious! Wednesday we drove home. It was so nice of Cody and Emilee to have all of us in their apartment! Thanks mom and dad for taking us with you and not kicking us out when Charlotte got a little too vocal about being sick of the car! Well I didn't get a summer vacation this year but I can now say I've been to San Diego in the Fall. Now Charlotte has a second state on her list.

1min 5 sec video. Some great video of Charlotte gettin' her groove on to the YMCA song at the Sea Lion and Bird show at the zoo. She's got some serious rhythm these days. You should see her during "Dancing With the Stars"- I think she would get perfect 10's and she claps for every couple.