San Diego---Day 4 & LA--Day5

The most beautiful day we were in California was Thursday, the day we went to San Diego. On the way to Sea World, we stopped at the temple for a family photo-op.

We were prepared for water at Sea World. The kids wanted to sit in the soak zones for all of the shows we went to. Although they sat pretty close, we didn't get too wet! (I was thankful, but the kids were bummed.) Rachel, however, got really wet and really uncomfortable on the river raft ride.

The kids had fun hibernating like polar bears:Sophie loved the Beluga Whales (maybe because we have them at "our" zoo here?) She loved all of the fish/whales! Now whenever we read stories or sea pictures with dolphins or whales, she says, "I saw that at Sea World!"
At the end of the day, as the park was closing, Sophie insisted on riding the "tea cups." We knew we'd have a melt down all the way back to Anaheim if we didn't indulge her. So, Steve, the great dad that he is, went on the tea cups with all the kids. Thanks, Steve! (You can't really see her face, but Sophie was VERY happy!)On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Mission Beach at sundown. We found Luigi's Pizzeria and at some yummy pizza! They claim to be home of the 30" pizza. The boys insisted they were hungry, but we weren't that hungry!The next day, we got up early and checked out of our hotel. We had some time to kill before our plane left, so we drove to Hollywood. Duh! We went on the Friday before Oscars, so everything was blocked off. I wish we'd spent our time somewhere else! It was definitely not the highlight of the trip!

Next, we drove by Grandpa and Grandma Andrew's house. It was so sad to see it renovated. It just wasn't the same as I remembered it. But it was fun seeing the MarVista chapel and seeing Colonial Drive. It was fun pointing out to the kids that as a little girl, I used to run up and down the street playing with my cousins. We drove by Venice High where my mom went to school.

Then we went to Venice Beach--the actual beach. The kids had fun playing with shells and chasing birds. We told them they couldn't play in the water because we had a plane to catch! The weather was in the 70's that day which is lots warmer than a Washington Beach in the middle of the summer! This is where Steve and I came for our honeymoon, we we had some romantic reminiscing (as much as you can with 4 kids, anyway!)We finally pulled ourselves away and caught our plane. We're looking forward to going to California again--We figured we'd probably go again in the space of time after Steven gets home from his mission and before Ben leaves. We created lots of fun memories!