July 9-24th, 2009 – Aquarium, Oceanside & River Trip

July 9th – Sea Life Aquarium and Oceanside Pier

Sea Life Aquarium is right next to Legoland, and since we had a park hopper pass, we decided to check out the aquarium.  Sea Life is designed to be a child’s first interactive guide to the life of the sea, combining active, hands-on learning with fascinating educational talks, and opportunities to have up close and personal encounters with a variety of sea creatures.

The kids seemed to enjoy getting “into” the fish tanks by going up into the bubbles, and they both really liked the touch pools, where there were lots of star fish to touch.  It was a nice place to visit, but I’m glad we didn’t pay separately to get in there, and I wouldn’t do a hopper pass if we ever went back to Legoland again.  It just didn’t seem worth it to us.

After we got done in the aquarium, we decided to drive to Oceanside, and visit the beach and pier.  Oceanside Pier is one of the longest wooden piers on the West Coast, spanning 1,942 feet in length.  We walked to the end of the pier, and saw many fishermen and lots of buckets of fish.

At the end of the pier was Ruby’s Diner, where we stayed and ate.  We had an awesome view of the ocean from inside the diner while enjoying our food.  We really liked seeing the resident pier pelican who enjoyed many fish from the surrounding fisherman, and he had a nice sign for anyone who thought he was friendly.  After eating, we went to the beach, and just played in the sand and water for a bit before heading home.  
More pictures from Sea Life, and Oceanside Pier!

July 22nd – A Visit From Jesus

We were so happy that Jesus stopped by for an overnight stay on his way from Spokane to Southern California.  The kids just loved playing with Shane, and keeping him happy.  Cole seemed a little uncomfortable holding him, but Brittany just loved lugging him around.  He’s such a happy baby, and was a joy to have around!

July 24th – River Trip

At the end of July, we had a trip planned with Gary’s family to meet at the river for a few days of fun in the sun.  It was our first camping trip of the year, and we couldn’t wait to go.  I’m not much of a water person, but everyone else was born fish, so I was going to be happy to stay land-side.

Gary’s wife, Gina, brought out the wave runner, so that was a huge hit with all the kids.  And we borrowed a 2-seater raft from one of the other campers who was there, and the kids had a fun time going out for a trip in that.  Thomas took Brittany out on the wave runner, and she really loved being out on that and going fast.

Cole had a lot of fun swimming, he just hated the bees.  There were lots of bees at our campsite, and I think that was because we were too close to the main garbage dumpster, and the bathrooms.  To escape the bees, we all stayed in the water mainly.

After a few days camping, we headed into Laughlin for a couple of nights in a casino hotel, and shopping during the day, before heading home.  We are looking forward to making this an annual trip with family.   River Pictures can be seen here!