We have been really looking forward to our second annual summer vacation to San Diego to join 3 other families in a beach house in Mission Beach. Sophia is a seasoned traveler now, so she was excited to share all the ins and outs of airline travel with her baby sister. The girls did great, but we were thankful it was a short flight because Ally has trouble sitting still for long.
Sophia became instant friends with Ella, who is about 10 months older.
August, who is about 4 months older than Ally, tried his best to get on Ally's good side, but she did a pretty good job playing hard to get. That's our girl!!
The highlight of our trip was our visit to the San Diego Zoo. It's known as one of the best zoos in the world, and I can easily see why. It was huge and at one point Sophia asked "Are we STILL at the zoo??" They also had many exhibits that were truly amazing with animals we'd never seen before. Sophia's favorite was the snake house, and I think we got there around feeding time because the snakes were literally crawling up the walls.
Will's favorite animal was the peacock who proudly displayed his feathers for us.
I enjoyed the nesting flamingos and thought the white down-covered babies were adorable.
Ally was most excited by the chimps. They were really rambunctious and came right up to the glass.
Sophia was upset she wasn't quite tall enough to get her eyes through the monkey mask.
We were all impressed by the size of the polar bear. And who knew that polar bears liked carrots?
The girls had fun getting out of the stroller and playing on the artic playground.
We spent part of every day on the beach, but unfortunately we were in San Diego during "June gloom" so we didn't get to see much of the sun.
Ally seemed to rather enjoy her first taste of sand.
And she really enjoyed her first taste of an Oreo cookie!
Another highlight of our trip was a visit to Sea World. Earlier in the week, Will and I were hit hard by the stomach flu, so our friends were kind enough to take Sophia to see all the whale and dolphin shows. Once we were feeling better, we decided to go back and spend more time looking at the exhibits and playing in the playground. It actually worked out well since Ally isn't a fan of sitting in one place for long. The baluga whales were beautiful.
We were amazed at how large the walruses were. Will and I were a little nervous when they came up close to the glass, but Sophia wasn't scared at all.
Unfortunately the battery in our camera died half way through our visit, but we got one picture of the girls with their faces in a cut out. Whew!
There were a total of 9 kids and they got along incredibly well. I'm sure it was because of our awesome parenting skills! In order: Jack age 6, Alaina age 5, Kate age 4, Ella age 4, Luke age 3, Sophia age 3, Collin age 2, August age 15 months, and Ally age 11 months.
(From left to right)Ella, Chris, Jack and Michelle:
Alaina, Monica, Luke, Mat and August
Mike, Kate, Jeanne and Collin (and #3 on the way!)
Will and I still look pretty beat from the stomach flu, and our kids look angry, but it's the only family picture we got from the trip!
Look at these handsome Southwest pilots!
Between the fog and the stomach flu, it definitely wasn't the vacation I had been envisioning, but all in all, we had a good time. Sophia has been asking every day why we don't live in a big house with stairs in San Diego, so I think she had an incredible time, as only a 3 year old can.
I like her use of color on the door: 
The dining room used to be all white, but now has pink and blue walls and gorgeous painted trellis work. I think the girls across the street must have helped.
The paste also works great on screen doors, although Daddy's not a big fan of this use.
If you're in a pinch, it's also great for highlighting your hair. Just massage the paste into your scalp and wallah ~ instant color!
She's still not saying much that we recognize consistently other than mama and dada, but when we put one of her favorite foods in front of her, she smacks her lips and says "nom,nom,nom!" She's also started to learn some animal noises and has sheep, cow, and snake down pretty good. She is a very coordinated kid for her age and can now run, throw, climb, and even kinda jump. It has made play time at the park, in the backyard, and just about everywhere else more fun because she can actually participate now.
