January Videos

 

San Diego Vacation!

Laura and I just got back from a vacation to San Diego. Laura had the week off and wanted to head south out of the snow. Jeremy knew I needed a break, so he took a few days off work so I could go! He and Nathan had some quality father/son time together.

Neither Laura or I had ever been to California before! We took a flight out of Spokane to Las Vegas (another place neither of us had been). We found the slot machines in the airport quite entertaining. From there, we got on an empty flight to San Diego. We each had our own empty row of seats to stretch out in.

When we got to San Diego, we were delighted to see blue sky and palm trees! In January, the temperatures are only in the 70's but we didn't care. That's still really warm! We stayed at a hotel on Mission Bay a short walk from the beach. Our first afternoon there, we spent hanging out around the beach. Laura loved the palm trees as she had never seen one in real life before.

The next day, we spent the day at Sea World! That was SO MUCH FUN!! There were so many animals and exhibits to see. Whales, dolphins, sharks, penguins, turtles, all kinds of cool fish, and the Clydesdale horses. We got to see the Dolphin Show and the world famous Shamu show. There were fun rides and beautiful plants. The only downside to the day was the gross food. Laura ordered a veggie wrap. It turned out to be olives and 1 tomato in a wrap. Olives. That's it. She could barely choke it down. I ordered chicken and it was this disgusting fried chicken stuff that I could also barely eat. Then, since we were still hungry, we went and bought a Shamu Chocolate Bar. It was the worst chocolate I'd ever had in my life. I couldn't even eat a little piece of it. Laura somehow managed to choke it down.

We were absolutely exhausted at the end of the day and spent a long time in the hot tub relaxing.

The San Diego Zoo was our next stop. We got to figure out how to maneuver the San Diego Transit System. We impressed with ourselves and did quite well! We also LOVED the zoo. It was neat to see all kinds of animals that you don't see at "regular" zoos like koalas, kangaroos, polar bears, zebras, and pandas! There was even a baby koala. I could barely tear myself away from watching. The koalas were definitely my favorite exhibit. I also really liked the elephants and giraffes. They're just spectacular!We rode the Sky Gondola back and forth several times because the view was so spectacular. The food (cheeseburgers) was good this trip!

Our next outing was Old Town San Diego. This was the original settlement of San Diego dating from the 1700's. None of those original buildings were there, but there were several old buildings there. We spend a long time going through museums, gift shops, etc. I of course enjoyed seeing San Diego's first public schoolhouse. Laura was more interested in an old dental/doctor office. We had dinner at a neat outdoor Mexican restaurant. It was the Old Town State Park. Very cool. Another night of hot tubbing commenced as we were so tired! Thankfully, our hotel had VERY comfortable beds! We slept well every night.

Our last day, we decided to spend at the beach. In the morning, we rented bikes and rode up and down the boardwalk on Mission Beach. I'm not sure how far we rode, but it was SO beautiful just to see the ocean right there. There were such neat houses right next to the beach. Lucky people! We then spent all afternoon just sitting on the beach doing nothing!! The sand was warm and the sun was bright. There wasn't a cloud in the sky! I even got a little sunburn. It was worth it!!



Old church in San Diego




Giraffes-I loved these too!




Dolphin Show




Penguins!




SeaWorld-pretty flowers!




Cute zebras!




This little panda was just hanging out like that




Laura biking along the beach




A baby koala and Mommy




I can't believe I finally saw real life koalas! They're my favorite animals.




Shamu jumping at the Believe Show




Sunset




Trying to get a sunburn and loving it!

January snow

We had the snowiest winter in history in Spokane. It was rough. We couldn't get outside. Jeremy was shoveling non stop. We got about 94 inches of snow that season. It didn't fully melt until the end of April. 

 

Our Funny Little Boy

Nathan has been doing some of the funniest things lately. I decided I need to get some of these written down, and this seems as good of place as any!

Today, I was taking his bag of diapers out of the diaper pail and he automatically went to get me the Lysol spray. It's funny how he knows what he's "supposed" to do next.

He's obsessed with anything having to do with teddy bears. He points at them everywhere and will point to every teddy bear in every book and smile and laugh.

Every single time he puts an olive on his finger, he laughs. Every single time. You'd think it would become old sometime!

We have a sign language book with pictures of a bunch of different little kids. There is one little girl he just LOVES though. There are 2 pictures of her, and he will flip through the book to find the pictures of her so he can smile at her and giggle a little. He smiles at some of the other girls too, but completely flips past the boys. It's funny how that is at such a young age!

Also, every time he toots, he laughs. Then he tries so hard to do it again because he thinks it's funny. Sometimes other things happen when he does this.....

Jeremy gets up around noon. The moment he walks out of the door of our bedroom, Nathan will BOMBARD him with books. He'll just keep bringing Jeremy book after book. I guess he likes Daddy to read to him even though Jeremy's barely got his eyes open.


We got him some matchbox cars. He can't quite figure out how to make them go forward, so he puts it between his legs and hikes it backwards. It works!

Nathan also loves to help with chores. He loves to grab the big broom and try to sweep. Then he'll try to walk around the house with it and keeps getting it stuck in doorways. Then he gets mad.

He also loves to help with laundry, and will unload the dryer for me. And then reload it, and unload it......

He also loves to unload the dishwasher. He'll stack the plates in little piles, and then go put all the silverware on the couch in a big pile. He does this with dirty dishes too.