Gardner Village

When I was little I liked Halloween... didn't love it, but liked it. Now as I get older and appreciate all the fun that comes with Halloween, I am seriously LOVING it! All the great activities, costumes, decorations, parties... it is just so much fun! Kids were dying to get out of the house and I knew our beautiful fall weather was coming to an end, so we headed over to Gardner Village to check out all the cute witches they have displayed. The time and energy that must go into that place exhausts me just thinking about it. We had such a great time and the kids LOVED the witches. That place is just fun period. The kids get to run wild and get all their energy out... we get to see cute fun Halloween "stuff"... I get to shop and look around at some cute stores... what's not to love?!? Fortunately, Savanna was being a miss little perfect picture taker... unfortunately, Makade was NOT! And thanks Grandma Kimball for coming along with us... kids and I sure LOVE LOVE LOVE you!

Here we go....

Ah, the sweet life...

Let the fun begin! Look at my cute anxious little babies staring out the window. The beginning of a trip is always so exiting... thrilling! I have to say that this trip was one of my favorite family vacations I have ever been on. Only sad part was my sister and her family weren't able to come... that would have made it my all time favorite... perfect...trip (next time Aubrey). I was very grateful my parents and my little sister decided to come too... it had originally started with just our little family of 4... so glad it expanded by a few! California treated us dang good. We started out this adventurous 9 days in San Diego. We stayed at the luxurious Marriott right in downtown San Diego. The swimming pool was Savannas favorite. And her sweet grandpa swam and swam and played and played with her. Little bit of shopping, running, eating, playing... what more could you ask for?!? Prepare yourself for a lot of pictures... and this is after I narrowed it down... A LOT! I went a little camera crazy but there were so many memories I wanted to capture!

Hello ... beautiful! This was the view from our hotel room.

The Marriott was doing this fun Nickelodeon package... it came with a bag full of fun toys and goodies. It also included the maids coming in and doing a turn down service with these cool pillowcases. The kids LOVED them and were anxious to get to sleep on their new pillow!

We rented a bicycle built for 4... it was SO much fun. Everyone kept smiling and even taking pictures of us. Fun fun memory!

SEA WORLD BABY

Very anxious to see Shamu

Focusing very hard!

The dolphins were huge... I remember them much smaller

Grandpa Kimball and Makade looking at the dolphins

Grandma Kimball and Makade

Feeding time... and Makade wanted part of the action

You can barely see the tip of Savannas head... she was under Josh

You could Trick or Treat at all the different stations... Gotta love Halloween

I think they beg just like dogs... bark and everything

Sun was a little bright

This show has ALWAYS been my favorite at Sea World. I just love it... and so did the kids. Makade was a little freaked out, but I think he was just overwhelmed by all the sea animals. Because it was Halloween time, they didn't do the "normal" show. They did the top 10 count down of the spookiest things ... the number one was dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller song. CUTES things ever!

Savanna loves posing for pictures... so she had no problem when the Miss Coral Reef said "Lets all up our hands up"!

Coronado Beach

Coronado Beach, in my opinion, is a slice of heaven. We ended up staying there on a last minute whim and it turned out to be a great decision! The plan was originally to go down into Mexico and stay at my grandparents beach house. But with all the things going on in Mexico right now we felt it best to stay in the states. Kelsi immediately got on the computer and started searching for a place to stay... I'm thinking she did a GREAT job! We stayed the Del Mar Beach... if you have ever seen the movie Somewhere in Time, then you will know how beautiful this place is. We didn't stay in the actual hotel part, we stayed in the new beach houses they have built. It was incredible. The entire experience was just amazing. We had the beach in our backyard and great shopping with in a walks distance. We ate at amazing restaurants and had yummy room service! Savanna is still asking to go back to the fun hotel with the beach. The only sad part was the weather. We had 1 day of sun and the rest was over cast... but that didn't stop us from running on the beach, swimming, and spending as much time outside as possible! Love this place!

Darn wind... still a cute smile!

Sun bathing Beauty

Oh, words can not begin to express how much I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this picture! PRICELESS!

Makade HATED the cold water

Two of the cutest lil' bum bums I have EVER seen! Kelsi and Savy

This is the view from our room... we had these HUGE double doors that opened up onto a patio. We woke up to this every morning!

Thanks so Kelsi, we kind of had our own little photo shoot on the beach! We had a lot of fun smiling and playing around.

Makade kept chasing the birds... they didn't like him too much!

This kid seriously is OBSESSED with dirt of any kind.

As you can see, I kept trying to tell him to get up and come on... didn't go so well!

And if you look real close, you can see the sand ALL over him! This is where the whole boy vs girl thing is new to me. Savanna would NEVER do this, but Makade has no problem getting down and dirty!

GORGEOUS! Josh and I both LOVE the ocean!