A Slice of Heaven

I’m currently buried under a good 18 or more inches of snow, but in early January we had a little slice of Heaven. We took a family vacation, our first ever, to San Diego. We just happen to be gone during the coldest days of the year in Wisconsin with temperatures hitting -40 and school cancelled.

San Diego was the perfect place to vacation for our family. Aside from the fabulous weather and sunshine, there was a great mix of things to do in close proximity that entertained mom, dad, our 6 year-old, 3 year-old, and 20 month-old.

I was fortunate enough to be comped tickets as a member of the media for our Sea World outing. While the children loved everything we did, Sea World was their favorite. It was the perfect mix have hands-on, observing, shows, and rides/play.

I feel like Sea World was the hardest thing to take pictures of because we were so busy doing! Trying to hold up the kiddos to pet dolphins while snapping their pic and trying to keep your phone out of the water gets pretty tricky!

We tried to focus on scheduled events first, being sure to hit the various shows and dolphin education program. Those had specific start times and only ran once, sometimes twice a day. Quinn’s favorite show was the Sea Lion and Otter show, while the other two favored the killer whale.

The kids pet sharks, bat rays, and dolphins, held starfish, were nibbled on by garra rufa (Quinn’s favorite), fed California Sea Lions and dolphins and were splashed by a Killer Whale.

Quinn called the Garra Rufa nibbler fish. They were his favorite and he talked about how soft his hand was for days. His one regret, that he didn’t put his other hand in! Eleanor was terrified to pet the bamboo sharks. Later on our way out I said, “Hey! Lets pet the bamboo FISH” and she did. Next thing I know she is hysterical and when I asked her what was wrong she said, “Quinn said I pet a shark!”.

It probably comes as no surprise that kids love to play. By the end of the day we were ready to let loose in Sesame Street’s Bay of Play. They climbed, jumped and road rides until the sun began to set.

I just cannot even begin to say how amazing it was to be able to have this time with my family. It was like a giant time out in life. I cannot wait to fill you in on the rest of our trip! Read about our trip here.