San Diego

Bryson had fall break last week and we decided to meet my parents in San Diego and have a vacation. We got in late one night so the next day we took it easy and walked along the beach. We saw sea lions and seals. The kids loved chasing the seagulls. I love the beach and the ocean. (Be prepared for lots of pics)

legoland

One of the highlights of the trip for the kids was to go to Legoland. It was amazing to see all the stuff made out of legos. Bryson had so much fun

San Diego Temple

We stayed close to the temple and Eric and I were able to go do a session in the morning while my parents watched the kids and then later we took everybody. It is so beautiful and the blue skies made it perfect.

Beach

What would be a trip to California without going in the water at the beach. Maddy had been to the beach in June, but she slept the whole time and didn't get in the water so this time we got her in the water before she took a nap. She wasn't sure of the water or the sand.



She would rather snuggle with Dad



Bryson loves the water


Carley cried for the first 10 minutes while we tried to make her go into the water. Finally she went in and we couldn't get her out. She loved to find seashells and run away from the waves


Bryson also loved to go into the water and jump over the waves


Not the sunniest day at the beach, but it was still warm and the ocean is always fun to play in

Sea World

Our last day we went to Sea World. In the morning it was sunny so Byrson and I went on the rapids ride and got drenched. We thought we would dry off in the sun, but then it became overcast and we were cold. My Mom bought him new shorts and shirt from sea world so he would be warm. We fed and pet the dolphins - one of my favorites. We also pet the sting rays. Carley and Bryson loved watching the shamu show and the sea lion and otter show. We had a fun day

fly away

So we took the butterfly outside and try to let him fly away, but he didn't fly. We think it was too windy. He just stayed attached to the lid and then to the stick. - they have really sticky feet and wrap their legs around to hold on. After 20 minutes or so I finally took him to the neighbors flowers. Hopefully he will find a home and fly south for the winter. He was very beautiful when he opened up his wings

Butterfly

A caterpillar/butterfly is one of the most amazing/wonderful/beautiful creatures on this earth. For those of you who follow this blog if you look back a couple posts ago you will see the caterpillar we found and how it formed a chrysalis. Today it emerged as a butterfly. We will be releasing it when Bryson gets home from school. An interesting fact I didn't know was that the green chrysalis turns black before the butterfly is ready to come out. The chrysalis is really clear and you see the butterfly/caterpillar in the inside. (As a side note, I set my video camera up at about 11:00 on a tripod to try and catch the butterfly coming out. I didn't push record because I didn't know how soon the butterfly was going to come out so I figured I would check on it periodically. I checked on it around 12:00 and then went and folded laundry and took care of Maddy and Carley, I looked at it again around 1:30 and it had emerged from the chrysalis. I was bummed I didn't get it on video.) Bryson still has his butterfly that will come out in a couple of days.





Starting to turn black

You can see the orange of the wings inside the chrysalis.





BEAUTIFUL