California Vacation

Beach Part One:

It was completely amazing, Kort was in the water no more than 10 seconds when a huge wave rolled in and completely bowled him over! Soooo cute! As you can see, he didn't exactly love his first mouthful of Seawater! I love this picture!

Finger-toe family of feet

(and yes, Kort has a boo-boo on one of his toes - as usual)

I so love this devilish little grin!

Pure and utter joy.

Seashell stash

Do these trunks make my butt look big?

Kort and his cousin Royce on a seashell hunt.

awwww......

Super Kortland!

Showing off their awesome finds.

Best Buds Forever!

Killer Pizza From Mars

Dude, Nancy and Michael always try to find a greasy, mom-and-pop pizza place when they are out on vacation. Their criteria for selecting the perfect place is finding a place with the wierdest name, or any name that has the word "fat" in it - then they know it's going to be deeeeliscious. So, when they saw "Killer Pizza From Mars"... they knew they had found their Escondido Pizza Shop! ...and I must say - it was sooooo good! My mouth is watering as I type! We went twice that week just because we had to have more. So good!

Kort LOVED this funny little alien-waiter

that was holding a serving tray.

He called him his good buddy.

What would a pizza place be without

really fun, ghetto claw games?

Me and my boy.

SeaWorld

We had such a great time at SeaWorld! It was completely awesome! We also loved the park's new addition called the Sesame Street Bay of Play. kort flipped out and ran to hug and get pictures with all of the Sesame Street characters he found there. The next day, while we were driving in the car to go get lunch at Killer Pizza From Mars, I was showing Kort the pictures of him posing with Bert and Ernie on the digital camera. He was quiet for a minute before asking me:

"Mom, were those the real Bert and Ernie?"

I didn't think this was something worth fibbing about to my very perceptive four year old, so I just said

"No, they are people who are dressed up like Bert and Ernie so you can get your picture with them."

He got the most hilarious look on his face and said:

"You mean, you let me run around hugging a bunch of strangers? That's silly!"

I didn't know what to say - he is so funny! So, here he is - joyously (and at the time unknowingly)

hugging a bunch of strangers!

Later, while perusing the SeaWorld map with Grandpa Jim, Kortland spotted the Sesame Street Bay of Play area on the map and pointed to it saying

"Look Granpa Jim, that's the place where I went around hugging all those strangers!

Where did we get this kid? Love it!

The Seal Show was hilarious -

Kort had this cute smile plastered on his face for the entire show!

The Jazzy!

One of the Smartest things we did at SeaWorld was get Grandpa Jim (who turned 80 this year) a Jazzy! He loved it and had no trouble keeping up with the rest of us (he was also a handy chauffer for the kids when they would get tired of walking!)

Shamu Shamu!

(waiting for the SHAMU show to begin)

(shark encounter)

My Own Personal Mastercard Commercial

So, When we arrived at the Welk Resort, we immediately dumped out bags in our room, got into our swimming suits and headed for the pool. We were really excited to have Kortland go down their big waterslide. Well, when we got there, the life guard/waterslide gatekeeper told kort that he couldn't go down the slide because he didn't meet the 42" height requirement (he was a little more than an inch too short and boy was he devastated!) We were way bugged that they even had such a stupid rule. It was NOT a formidable slide by any means! So, the waterslide incident got me thinking...what if Kort is too short for all of the other rides and attractions we were planning to take him on that week? I called SeaWorld, and sure enough - he had to be 42" to ride any and all of their big rides. Well, I did not drive all the way to California just to have my little bud sit on the sidelines while everyone else got their rollercoaster on... so, without further comment, here is my own personal Mastercard Commercial:

Payless Tennis shoes with one-inch soles... seven dollars

Half-inch comfort gel insoles.... three dollars

Durabuilt measuring tape from Target

(for height verification) ....four dollars

Watching your child's face

as he tackles the biggest rollercoaster in SeaWorld...

Priceless!

The Magic Show

(Kortland, pictured here with "Anthony the Magic"-awesome name...right?)

Kort had a great time at the Welk theatre's magic show (which was actually pretty dang good by magic show standards) there was also a very talented juggler/comedian who was enteraining as well. Kort loved it and also made a fun new friend at the fountain outside of the theatre. Her name was Eileen (Ilene?...sp?) and she was such a doll. We had extra tickets to the magic show, so we gave them to her family and at the end of the show, she ran up to Kort and gave him a great big hug - it was really sweet.




Lame-o-land

...yeah, I hated it.

I could be a little nicer about it if it cost about $15 to get in (which is still probably more than the actual experience is worth...) but 60 bucks? You gotta be kidding me - Art City Days is more exciting than this place! Really, big stuff made out of Legos... not as impressive as one might think. And the rides... if you can even call them that... pretty LAME! I highly suggest doing ANYTHING else with your money!

Kort had fun though - so that was good. It was for sure lame I promise!

You can thank me later.

(Or now, if you're overcome with gratitude)

My little bud is so cute though

He had fun seeing his fave characters Lego-ized...

I, however, was a little less than impressed

after the first 10 minutes.

I did pay 20 bucks to have Kort's charicature drawn - which I've always wanted to do-

and it was the only event that made my day a little brighter. It turned out really funny.

Us, just finishing a really lame ride.

Ha ha!