SAN DIEGO

We did it, we took a family trip with the boys. We know life is short and you never know how long you have with the ones you love so we wanted to do something special. Our vacations are always camping trips and those are great but this time we were lucky enough to go to San Diego. We had airmiles and some vouchers from issues with the flight home from DC (visiting Baker's Dr at the NIH) and so guess how much we paid for 6 tickets....$60 total!! You can't beat that right! Then my parents had points that they weren't using and were generous enough to let us use at the World Mark/Trend West that is in Mission Valley San Diego.

I took tons of pictures but I won't include them all, I have just chosen a few to share throughout.

I was nervous as to how the boys would do on the plane and I was hopeful that me worrying about them would sidetrack me from my immense fear of the plane crashing...well that along with some meds did help me :) The boys did great! Way better then we expected. Deegan thought it felt like a ride and he liked to laugh at me when I would get a little scared :) The hardest part for Madden was when he had to stay in his seat, buckled up, b/c he wanted to be able to see out the window and Baker had to have a window seat the whole time b/c he was in his carseat and that is where it fit so there was one window left for the other 3 boys to share.

So while we were they we went to Seaworld 4 times. Whether you went once or every day cost the same (other then parking) and we all loved it there so we kept going back and most of the times Madden could only handle it a few hours at a time. By the way, right before we left Madden got sick with a cough and his coughs are usually challenging b/c of his asthma. Baker also got sick the night before we left (and Talan but just for the night really). Jeromy said he didn't think we should go but I talked him into it and we are glad we went. We took along the nebulizer machine and gave Baker and Madden treatments to try and help them out. Nothing like having to give breathing treatments on vacation.

Baker did lots of throwing up but that is pretty typical. Some of it was his normal throwing up from GI issues and some of it was from having junk he had to cough up and out. Anyway back to the fun stuff. At Sea World they have some fun little rides for the kids and Talan and Deegan really enjoyed those. They also liked the games they could play. The kids loved the Pet Show, it was very cute, dogs and cats and even a pig doing cute little tricks. Shamu was a hit as well. SO much so that Talan actually cried when the show was over and we had to leave that area b/c he loved him so much. So of course we had to buy a Shamu stuffed animal. We also saw the Sea Lion as well as the Dolphin show. So at each show there was a wheel chair area that either all of us would sit or just Baker and I. Well at the Dolphin show the wheelchair area happened to be in the splash zone (kind of strange I think). I asked if they thought we would actually get wet there and they said, there was a "small" chance. There were no actual seat there so Jeromy and the boys sat higher but I stayed by Baker and sure enough we got splashed, Big Time, and Baker was not too crazy about that so we left a little early AND guess what, Talan and Deegan were bummed they didn't get to get splashed :) Sea World was great, we loved it there. Poor Madden with being sick, like I said, really struggles when he coughs and often he throws up (which we really don't want to happen in the middle of Sea World, it had already happened in the middle of a playground at a park we were at) from it and anytime he would run he would cough. Is a 2 1/2 year old going to walk through Sea World, well no, at least not our 2 1/2 year old. So we tried to keep him strapped in the stroller most of the time but he wanted to get out sometimes so we just had to be careful to try not let him run and you think that would be possible but not so much. Poor kid just wanted to have some fun though. He really added a lot of challenge to our Sea World trips and really he added a challenge to the whole trip in general. He is a handful to say the least. He may have made our trip a lot more difficult but I wouldn't change it, I couldn't imagine having gone without him!

We spent one very rainy morning at Sea World too

This was such a special moment. We were in the aquarium and Baker was enjoying and reaching for the fish, it was so sweet.

We went to the USS Midway one day. The boys thought it was so cool and loved seeing the big ship and the huge planes and helicopters. They even got to sit in some of them.

We also went to Legoland one day. This was a perfect place for Talan and Deegan, they absolutely loved it. It had a lot more rides then we expected and of course a ton of really amazing things made of legos. Talan and Deegan said their favorite part was driving the lego cars. I was pretty sad that out of the tons and tons of rides they had there Baker was only able to go on 3 of them. All the rest you had to be able to sit unsupported. We are use to Baker not being able to do things that typical kids can do but I got really sad watching him look at his brothers on some of the rides while we waited on the sidelines and I saw the frustration in his eyes and how he reached for the ride with his left arm, like why can't I go on there. Oh sweet baby boy, I wish you could. I would have to say it is frustrating to take a handicapped child to a place like Legoland and make you pay full price (which is pricey) if they aren't going to have more handicapped accessible rides. Either give the poor kids a discount or make more handicapped accessible rides. Talan and Deegan were such good sports, they wanted to go on so many more rides then we were able to take them on. Unfortunately they needed a parent with them on most rides and I had to stay with Baker off of most and Madden wasn't tall enough for some. Poor kids couldn't do a lot of things they deserved to be able to do but we are blessed with some good little boys who really didn't complain too much and were still happy to be there even though they had to miss out on some fun stuff. Madden loved seeing the lego tractors and choo choo train and Baker loved to be able to go on the boat ride. i was so happy he was able to come on there with us!

This car was completly made out of lego's

We also went to a childrens science museum at Balboa Park. It was a way to kill time on a day that wasn't the best weather. Think the kids had a little bit of fun at least :)

On our first day we went to Target to get some beach toys, since it is a bit tough to pack buckets and stuff like that. We only ended being able to go to the beach one day for about an hour or so and it was cold but the boys didn't seem to mind. We were just too busy the rest of the time and when we did plan a day to go it was raining. Oh well, the kids didn't seem to miss it and we can always go to Birch Bay here if we want.

Every day included some time by the pool, everyone loved playing in the pool! The boys also loved the game room where we were staying. In fact, Jeromy and I were joking that our next vacation can just be going to the pool in town and the arcade at the mall b/c that seemed to be their favorite things.

I have to share a couple more pictures. The fist couple of the boys precious shamu. They fed him (bowl) then he needed to read a book, then needed to take a nap. Now both Talan and Madden need to sleep with shamu every night yet (they also one another one so we have 2).

Also had to take a picture of the rental car b/c the boys were so excited for it. In fact on our way to the airport they asked "how long until we get the mini van". Who could have thought a minivan would be so cool right, they love that you can push a button and the doors open :)

I also love this picture of Deegan holding Baker:

Oh and last one - Madden likes to go off in privacy for his pooing time and he often went under this chair to do the doody so of course Mom had to snap a shot :)