Our Summer Morning at the Science Museum

In past blogs I described that when my sister and I were kids, my parents took us to Balboa Park quite frequently.  As a kid, I very clearly remember walking down the beautifully landscaped walkway to the glittering koi pond in front of the Botanical Gardens.  I remember picnicking before watching a Shakespearean play at the Old Globe Theatre.  For me, Balboa is easily the most well-planned, kid-friendly, scenic, historic and gorgeous park in California, and it holds very special memories.  

My own family loves Balboa so much that the park was one of our main summer destinations last year.  Last summer, the kids had fun playing on the stairs at Balboa, viewed dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History, and ate shave ice until their teeth turned blue.  

This year is no different.  We've been here for only seven days, and we've been to the park at least three times.  My sister, Ayron convinced me that I needed a pass to the Science Center Museum since they have a new kids' exhibit.  So I bought the family pass, which came complete with 8 free Imax movie tickets....nice!  Ayron was spot on with her advice!  The science center was awesome, and we will be returning many, many times!!  

All the toys are totally fun but also learning centered.  Cubby enjoyed turning the wheel on this giant set of gears.

J.D. worked on some sweet tunes on the xylophone.  His dad was very proud!

Emma turned the giant wheel to watch the little balls go around and around.

After sucking the balls in, these tubes blew air out the top, forcing the balls to shoot out into a tub at the top.  The balls then funneled back down to the bottom. The three-year-olds had a field day with this one!

We have a couple of cutie-pie firefighters on our hands!

This climbing gym was made out of stars!  Adventurous Cubby was my only child who dared to climb all over the oddly shaped playground.

Then the kids formed their own star structures.

Cool tunnel!

The increasingly technology savvy three-year-olds played games on the computers and learned their letters and shapes at the same time.

Cousin Ell loves to ham it up in the fire truck!

Now this was my favorite toy.  This super long grocery market checkout line was so fun!  Emma placed  food items on the conveyer belt, Cubby turned the wheel to make it move, then J.D. gathered the goods in the cart at the end.  

We walked over to the incredibly clear and beautiful koi and lily pad pond next.  The girls spotted lots of beautiful, colorful fish and flowers.  By the way, this is what happens when I say, "Get together!"  It's like they can't squeeze in enough.....I love it!

This is one of my favorite shots so far.  Here is poor little Gigi, who is just about plumb tuckered out, waiting for the Balboa tram to take us on a short tour of the park.  For as many years as I have been frequenting the park, I've never taken the tram, but it was 20 minutes of free fun!  The kids loved riding around with no windows while the driver described some of the park's features.

Once on the tram, we were all smiles again!

After a rigorous day of trekking around in the beautiful San Diego air, it was time for a little soft serve.  Aahhh......we love vacation. 

A Summer Day at the Beach

One of the most joyful moments I've had this summer was watching my four sweet kids playing at the beach.  Having only been out of diapers for the past 6 months, this was the first time I'd taken the kids for a beach day in over a year....sans diapers!  It was like a brand new experience.  

My children are all so different, and that became more apparent at our beach day.  

My oldest, Emma, loves creating and collecting.  She spent the majority of her time building beautiful sand castles and decorating them with seaweed.  Gathering shells was another favorite activity.  She combed the beaches for the most colorful and unique shells.  No shard was too simple or jagged for inspection, every piece of God's beautiful beach creation was worth a peek.  Check out pictures from Emma's beach day:

Now five-year-old Cubby is totally different from he big sis.  After flipping off her sandals, she made a bee-line for the water.  Leaping over the surf like a gazelle, she squealed and jumped, splashed and screamed her way over waves and surf for about an hour.  She loved the water, only leaving the fun for sand castle building with her siblings and cousin.  Here are a few snapshots of Cubby's fun day at the beach.

My spunky three-year-old, Gigi is afraid of the ocean, so she pretty much spends her entire day playing in the sand with her cousin.  She rolled in it, was buried in it, and dug around in the sand for hours.  Gigi was lucky enough to borrow a beautiful, matching swim ensemble from her always fashionable cousin, so she was awfully proud of the look....as you can see from her photos:

Gigi's twin brother, J.D., didn't care about the waves, sun, surf, birds, other people, food, or sandcastles. His beach day was all about the shovel, and therefore all about digging holes.  He wore his sun shirt faithfully and avoided a sunburn.  That boy is so fair, poor thing.  Right when we got there, while J.D. was busy digging a tiny hole with his little blue plastic shovel, a man showed up with a giant, adult sized shovel and started scooping out sand to make a gigantic hole.  When he had finished the hole, the man actually dug out little steps for kids to walk down into it.  That guy was serious about this awesome beach hole! Anyway, while all that was going on, J.D. watched intently, holding his shovel as if saying, "Whenever you need me, I'm ready to help in any way.  You just let me know."  It was adorable.  Here are a few of my favorite J.D. beach day pics:

Something truly magical happens at the beach with little children.  There seems to be no end to the joy and excitement experienced in one of God's most pure and beautiful creations.  

I attempted a family shot of my four love-bugs, but Gigi refused, citing a fear of the oncoming surf.  No problem.  I'll get a shot of the fantastic four on our next fun day of vacation.  Until then!!

A Summer Day at the Wild Animal Park

While my mom and I and the kids were hanging out in the mountains, my wonderful sister called up one day and invited us to meet her at the Wild Animal Park.  Sounded like fun!  We hopped in the car, after tying on our wide brimmed hats and donning our safari gear, of course, and headed out for a day amidst hundreds of wild animals.  

It couldn't have been a more beautiful day! The last time I went to this very same park, I got so sick from the heat that I felt dizzy and had to leave early.  Sadly, this reaction to overwhelming heat (and hunger, and curvy roads) was not uncommon for me during my childhood, or young adulthood.  By the way, my sister totally didn't mind each time I got sick and we were forced to leave fun, exciting events, and she never teases me now about those days of "hot tummy." Never.   

Any-who, the day started off beautifully.  We had a crew of five awesome, excited kids, a sturdy, hard-working grandma, a wild-eyed grandpa (we'll get to him later), and my sister and me.  A recipe for success.

I know mom isn't going to be too happy about a shot featuring her backside, but I love this picture too much to leave it out.  Now, if it had been my rear in the photo, well....that's an entirely different story!  My four kiddos troop into the park, their hats shielding their little faces, and sunblock covering every inch of their exposed skin.  And yes, my mom is wearing a child-size sun hat.  And no, I did NOT tease her endlessly about the fact that she can wear a kids' hat! 

First stop.  Check out the wild ducks!

Then we had to check to see if anyone in our party was as big as a gorilla.  Not quite.

Next, the family climbed aboard a variety of wild, yet incredibly stoic creatures.  J.D. now wants a pet rhino.

Cubby, my animal lover, would take a baby elephant home first and ask questions later.

And here's the real wild bunch.  What a pack of sweet faces!

Our next stop was at the parakeet pavilion where we each bought little cup of nectar to feed the many birds fluttering around the enclosure.  Cubby and cousin Ellie were the only kids brave enough to let the birds eat the nectar right out of their hands.  

We decided to go on the safari tour which takes you all around the gigantic free-range wild animal enclosure.  We waited in line for quite a while, but the little ones found creative ways to entertain themselves.

Peek-a-boo!

For my part, I decided I didn't really need to go on the safari tour....

I was hanging out with enough wild animals already!

Again, Grandma D does double duty.

Once we made it onto the safari bus, life was good.  The breeze picked up and the kids happily sought out at all the animals they could see.  My little Cubby and Gigi surround their sweet cousin Ellie.  The matching shirts was just a coincidence.  Auntie Ayron is an amazing and generous shopper!

The safari tour put a smile on everyone's face.  I love my dad!

Sometimes it's more fun to play with Grandpa than watch a bunch of giraffes walking around.

After the safari tour, Grandma D bought all the kids slushies.  Boy, that sure cooled them off, and gave each kid an incredible brightly colored tongue to match the spilled slushie all over their clothes.  Good times!

Time to cool off!  Those folks at the park really know how to design a good time! Right next to the warmish safari tour, a splash pad beckoned to us.  Some more than others apparently!  That's J.D., soaking his hair.  

Cubby was surely the wettest of the group, sopping wet.  No complaining, though!

We turned the corner from the splash pad and there were the elephants!  

Ahhhh....look at the baby!

We wound our way back to the park entrance, where they had games and crafts set up for kids.  Cubby designed this sweet safari vest out of a brown paper bag.  Super creative and cool!  The hat is my personal favorite, though.  Who wouldn't want a safari hat with a bright pink fuzzy dot on top?!

Emma tried the limbo...

but once the bar was super low, it was too tough!  Those guys with the sweet zebra outfits on put the stick about 6 inches off the ground at one point, and one the guy with the long hair spread out as flat as a pancake and worked his way under that stick.  It was incredible!

Then it was time to go.  This looks like a sweet moment, and perhaps I should let you think that's what it was, but I can't resist.  Emma did go in to give her cousin and little sis a hug, but she actually is attempting to entice the two three-year-olds out of that super awesome Wild Animal Park double stroller.  If I could have wheeled that puppy right out of the park, I would have!  It had the smoothest, fastest wheels! Anyway, enough about the stroller.  

We had a wonderful time at the Wild Animal Park!  I hadn't been there, like I said, for about 10 years, and it has been improved and updated with all kids of upgrades for children.  More fun, summertime events to come as the Walker summer days of adventures continue.  Next stop: San Diego!