Last outings before we are four

We headed on some more vacations, to make sure we squeeze in as much fun as we can before the baby comes. Life is hectic to say the least, we have to plan everything to the last minute, but somehow we make it work. Last summer we bought membership tickets to the Baltimore Aquarium, thinking we'll go there often. What is a 2 hour drive, right? ha ha ha....That membership stood above our heads constantly, like smth we HAVE to do. So in the end we booked a hotel on the harbor and finally took the trip for our second visit to the Aquarium. Good thing is Catalina loves fish, so she was highly entertained. Bad thing is that the aquarium is crowded all the time, so mommy enjoyed some very dizzy time inside.

All in all, we had a good time. I don't think we'll return soon, Baltimore did not win our hearts, but we had some good, laid back fun. We needed some rest before our much anticipated vacation in San Diego. I had to go for a conference there, and the prospect of nice, sunny weather appealed to the whole family. So we packed our bags and left for the sunshine state!

The conference took a second place immediately, so we concentrated on having fun. First visit, the USS memorial, where a lot of old planes were just sitting around. Very boring from my point of view, extremely interesting for the other 2 members of the family...

Next plan, short visit to Coronado island so Catalina can play a little in the sand. We took a ferry to the island and the sea breeze put smiles on all our faces:

My beach girl was beyond herself with happiness. She ran on the beach, played with sand, laughed and gave mommy a foot massage with sand (painful at times, but so, so soothing to the heart!)

The highlight of our island trip was however the bike ride. We rented a 4 seat bike and went on a trip around the island. Daddy did most of the pedaling, but mommy helped once in a while. At the end, Catalina was the only one still smiling, mommy and daddy were trying hard to catch their breath!

We had enough time for a short desert and then went back to our "modest" hotel.

Exhausted and hungry!

Second day we had BIG plans. We rented a car and headed for the Safari. It was a wonderful day, sunny but not hot. We were all in vacation mood, it was sunny outside and in our hearts.
Catalina petted some goats, played the turtle, and we walked around the beautiful trails.

 I guess my little monkey is still little...

 We then decided to take a safari ride to see the animals up close and personal. Or at least to see them outside cages. The very long line was frustrating, but the ride was nice and we got to see some "exotic" animals.

The Safari was a day long deal. We still had some fuel running through our veins so we decided to make a fast run to Legoland. We had all inclusive passes, so we didn't care if we spent an hour or a day there.

It took us some time to get into the park, which added to our frustration. But Catalina was in a very good mood, which truly surprised us, as she was not a big fun of legos.

 We even had time for a ride in a story book. We were happy.

Frustration coming back. Mommy realizes she lost  the credit card somewhere in the Safari park.

 Catalina was oblivious to the fact that our financial freedom was severely chipped, she had a lot of fun in a playhouse.

 We had to say goodbye to Legoland, but we were not done having fun. We went to La Jolla cove to see the sea lions. Surprised again! We did not expect to be so hard to find parking, but we also did not expect we'll see so many sea lions so up close!

We enjoyed the sound of the ocean, we took some pictures and headed back to the hotel. We were beyond exhausted!

We were a little discouraged by the loss of the credit card, but decided we'll not let it hamper our good mood. After a good night sleep we were ready for the number one attraction of San Diego: The Zoo!
We took a cab ride with a wonderful driver, the day was sunny and beautiful, but somehow we started on the wrong foot.

We wanted to take a ride with an air train. Catalina got scared and acted out so badly, that I had to take her out of the line, calm her down and then face again all the people in line who witnessed the tantrum. She enjoyed of course the ride above the zoo, so I thought we' re all good for the rest of the day.

 We saw polar bears, seals, we played around thinking we have the whole day of fun ahead of us.

 We got to the Pandas. They were cute, the line to see them was long, but we still enjoyed it.

 And then everything crashed. Catalina wanted a toy. We told her she can have it only if she shares it with her sister. She said no, threw the most horrible tantrum one can imagine. She started hitting us, screaming, it was a whole circus. So, with fried brains we were ready to call it a day and head home.

We took some more pictures, we pretended to have fun, but we were with the spirits very low. We left without getting any gifts, Catalina was still in fighting mood, so we just headed back to the hotel. We took 3 buses/trolleys to get back, but we finally did it. We were so upset, we were actually thinking we'll just stay around the hotel the next day. In the end, Catalina promised to be good, so we planned a trip to Sea World for the next day.

And she was good. I think she really learned her lesson, as she kept asking me if she is good enough. We had fun, it was a little chillier than the previous days, we were tired and our brains a little burnt out, but we enjoyed a laid back visit.

Mommy was not allowed on most of the rides, just to keep the little bean in her belly safe, so Catalina went with daddy to get dizzy in some very mild rides.

The pet show was a big hit with Catalina. Especially since there was a dog who was in love...

And we got to enjoy one of the last shows with killer whales.

Too cold for a proper splashing session, but knowing Catalina she would not have gotten too wet anyway...

 Look mommy, I can train the penguin to follow my finger!

 

Among other fun activities, we fed the seals. The problem was that a lot of hungry birds wanted the fish in our hands as well...Catalina got very sad there are thieves even in the animal worlds...Cruel realities kid, what can I say...

 An aquarium filled with fish and...sharks!

My little princess needs more than one pearl, isn't it? She got it from the oister!

 And this was the biggest surprise of all! My scardy cat who does not climb the shortest ladder, went on this climbing net. It was challenging, I did not think she'll do it, but I cheered her on until she did it! Once she got a taste of it, she did not want to leave!

 We saw some polar bears and beluga whales.

 Beluga whales have a very soft spot in our hearts. Around the time our little baby started moving in my belly, Catalina leaned the "baby beluga" song at school. Her voice is soft and calming, so many times I told her to sing it to her little sister. And this is how my little baby girl got the nickname of "baby beluga"

My two girls :)

Our last day In San Diego arrived. Mommy had some conference to attend to, so off she went to be a scientist.

Catalina and daddy took a boat trip on the ocean. Catalina enjoyed it so much, that she fell asleep :)

And guess what? When the conference was done, we still had half a day to enjoy our vacation! What to do, where to go? We were pretty good with public transportation by this time, so we took a couple of buses back to the zoo. We just could not shake the bad feeling we still had after our first visit.

Catalina wanted her portrait drawn, and she sat patiently to make sure she gets a pretty one :)

One more bus tour, to enjoy the animals around us!

The end of the zoo trip was the best for Catalina. The bus driver told us they make paper out of elephant poop, and Catalina REALLY wanted to have some. And we got plenty! She was so, so, so excited about it! She took some for her classmates and kept on talking about it for hours!

When the zoo closed we left towards the hotel. 2 buses later we were in Downtown and decided to have dinner at a famous fish market. It was still early when we headed to the restaurant, but boy it got really wait while we waited to be seated and served. So late, that we had to take a cab to the hotel and then to the airport. We barely made it on time, we were stressed at that time :). Now, looking back, I remember this so fondly! We had missed an airplane in Florida once, barely made it to one in Minneapolis, but since we had Catalina we were always on time for everything. It felt a little like living running through security :).

The trip back was by far the most uncomfortable airplane ride for me. But we made it home with our hearts happy, with way too many souvenirs, and with a satisfied feeling that we had a very nice last vacation. It was meant to be the last outing before we are four. Truth be told, it felt like the first trip of a family of four. Our little baby was always in our conversations, she got gifts and A NAME :)

Love surrounds us and we hope we'll always be this happ.