We conclude our SD vacay 3-parter with.. DINOSAURS

Our last outing in San Diego brought us to the San Diego Museum of Natural History in Balboa Park.  One reason we went is that we hadn't really "done" Balboa Park in all the times we visited SD, and the other reason was naturally, dinosaurs.  Our little budding archeologist was VERY excited at the prospect of visiting his current favorite thing ever.

For kiddos, this museum was awesome, VERY hands-on, and they totally delivered the dinos.

Z loved playing with all the displays, in the one above, he is pedaling a bike, with his hands to turn on the water faucet in the case, this was VERY exciting, "look mommy, I make the water go!"

Pushing buttons to make the picture change, definitely a winner.

And then we saw the DINOSAURS!  He was pretty excited to SEE them, but getting close was a whole different matter, I think it's safe to say the scale freaked him out a bit.  Above I have wrangled him into taking a picture with me in front of a dino, he is none to pleased.

They also had some pretty cool displays about the arctic with displays that had bear paws, for easy comparison with your own paws of course ;).  And some games where you had to find fish for penguins.

Z enjoyed the exhibits a lot, the museum was a little smaller than we thought it would be so it only took a couple of hours to go through it.  We spent another couple of hours enjoying the GORGEOUS weather on the lawn outside the museum.  Z ran around in the grass, picked clover flowers and was just generally ecstatic.

On our last day in San Diego we decided to hit the beach again and just take it easy.  We had a fantastic vacation, we definitely need to plan for more week long vacations where at least half of the days we have no  plans except building sandcastles.  And, of course, coming back to the hotel room and making sandwiches for lunch (we're cheap yo!), and ummm.. eating sliced pickles straight out of the jar with maniacal laughter..

I interrupt this vacation 3 parter to bring you this...

We had our "big" ultrasound on Friday, we decided to bring Z so he understood that this whole "baby" thing is real.  There really is a baby inside mommy's tummy, so you really shouldn't body slam her :p.  So we saw a VERY wiggly, healthy, baby... BOY!!  Z is going to have a fantastic playmate, and I am now certain that my house will be smelling like sweaty socks for the next 15 years or so.  We are thrilled, we would have been happy either way, but another boy is very cost effective (we're cheap yo).  We have plenty of boy clothes, toys, and knowledge, so bring it on.  I am destined to be a boy mom, and I wouldn't have it any other way :).

Whales make BIG splashes!!

To break up the lazy days on the beach we decided to hit some San Diego area attractions.  We usually go to the San Diego Zoo every time we visit so we wanted to mix it up a bit this time, it was between Legoland and Sea World.. Sea World won because it is significantly cheaper, and we weren't looking to drop a ton of money.  Anyways, Z loves animals of any sort, so we totally hyped up this visit with promises of BIG whales.
Before I spout sunshine, rainbows, and unicorn farts, I'm going to get a little venty on Sea World, lemme just say folks, this place is NO Disney, and it shows, in every way.  Our hotel concierge told us that Sea World opened at 9am, lesson learned, IGNORE the concierge and just check the damn website, because it opened at 10am.  They let us park, buy tickets and into the entry way of the park, but we had to stand at a chained pathway until, slightly past 10 for them to open.  Strangely (I thought) they decided to play the US national anthem over the loud speakers before they fully opened the park.  And then we had to wait for another 10 minutes for someone to actually open the chain to let us in.. at like 10:15. Z waited patiently through all this, scouting out all the things he wanted to see..

Eating some strawberries since he refused to eat the cereal bars I brought with us to save money on breakfast..

 We were lined up by the area where the dolphins were because a feeding was supposed to start at 10:30, and Z seemed really excited about the prospect of feeding the dolphins.  Naturally, he clammed up when it was our turn to feed them and *refused* to do it, he said "no mommy want YOU do it", so I held him while I petted the dolphins and tossed them fish, they were very friendly for the record.

And true to Z form, as soon as we were done and left the dolphin area, he screamed, "I WANT TO DO IT NOW"  yah, kid, you totally missed your chance, we did not go back, I just told him to look at the dolphins, because they were full now.

After the dolphins we set out to find the Shamu show, because, well, duh, we were at Sea World, isn't that the whole point of going there?  It was a great show, Z was thoroughly impressed, he still talks about the "whales making a BIG splash!!"

We saw penguins and polar bears, and most of a show about dogs and cats (Z had a potty emergency about 3/4 of the way through) and had a generally great day out in the beautiful San Diego weather.  Z was exhausted at the end of the day, so we snuggled on the hotel bed watching a movie.

We might have gotten a little sun burnt due to our defective (not expired!) sun screen.. Loving Naturals, you will be getting a letter!  It was a good visit, Z loved seeing the shows and animals, but I can't say that we'll be going back, it was a little disappointing generally.