Beach Days

We got to spend two days at the beach. We were not ready to hit Disneyland the day after arriving in California so we took advantage of Tuesday being the warmest day of the week and spent it at the beach. At 71 degrees with a good breeze it wasn’t exactly swimsuit weather but the kids couldn’t resist by the afternoon. Thanks to the breeze, though, we were able to fly the Spiderman kite that we brought.  

We started the morning at Newport Beach and then headed to Huntington around lunchtime. Newport’s sand was so fine and relaxing and we were able to park the car right by where we sat. We saw tons of awesome surfing right in front of us too. Lucy and I spent a good amount of time looking for seashells that we put in her “Ana and Elsa box” that she found at DI a couple days before our trip and had to have. 

We also saw three older people sitting in beach chairs a ways down and the man had a BYU hat on so we dared Owen to go talk to him. Sure enough, Owen walked right over and struck up a conversation. I finally went over and introduced ourselves and one of the ladies told me that Owen told her we were from Idaho. When she asked what city we lived in he told her “the United States of America”. Haha :) Turns out they were all raised in Shelley, ID, but now live in CA and WA. 

We grabbed some Dairy Queen for lunch to bring down to the beach with us in Huntington. Once we got down to the last of our French fries the kids had a good time feeding the seagulls. Seagulls provided a LOT of free entertainment on all of our beach days. It was amazing to see how different all of them looked. Ava and I played some rounds of Uno while Devin and Owen looked for sand crabs - they hit the jackpot! 

Ruby’s Diner was doing half off milkshakes from 2-5pm so we packed up and walked down the pier to get some before going home. We got Oreo, Chocolate Banana, and Strawberry. Really yummy, and I’m glad they were half off because they would have been $6 each otherwise…welcome to California! It looked like a cute place but we didn’t have time to stay and eat before our parking time ran out. We were impressed that parking at both beaches was less than $2/hr.  

               

We also knew that we wanted to eat dinner at the IHOP near our hotel because kids eat free so we headed there after showering. The kids were so excited about their smiley face pancakes. We didn’t get to bed QUITE as early as we should have for an early morning the next day but everyone was really excited about Disneyland! 

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Valentine's Day Whale Watching, Newport Beach

We found a whale watching deal for $20/person and knew it would be the perfect, low-key outing after two busy days at Disney. Our weather in California was so beautiful all week and it couldn't have been a better day to be on the boat. High of 71, not too hot and not too chilly but we were glad we had jackets. We booked in Newport Beach through Davey's Locker with Captain Mike as our guide and he gave us lots of great info about the whales and sea life all along the way, it reminded us of our whale watching days in Alaska! 

This gray whale above (you can just see the fin going down into the water) got so close to the shore it was in 10-15 ft of water at one point! Can you imagine surfing right next to a huge whale?? He said they stay a little closer to shore on their migration rather than being out in the deep sea because the killer whales wait up north to attack the babies traveling with their moms :(

Devin's Instagram post made it look like we got a sitter and went on a Valentine's Day date but it honestly kind of felt like it! We checked in for the cruise at a fishing/tackle/souvenir shop and Ava found this bucket of mermaid toys that she HAD to have. Since we got Owen a Spiderman toy earlier in the trip we let her get this and it was worth every penny. The kids ditched us and went to the cabin of the boat to play, where they set up these little mermaid/sea life scenes and played for so long! Lucy even fell asleep on Devin's shoulder so we laid her down on the seat by the kids and Devin and I really did get to enjoy a lot of the tour by ourselves! The other magical thing was that Devin didn't get too sea sick - this was such a blessing after a not so great day for him at California Adventure.

We had to pull the kids away from their toys to see the dolphins. They were so fun to watch and often came close enough to the boat for the kids to see, unlike the whales which weren't as exciting for the kids. The dolphins swam in threes and twos so it always looked like they were playing. We also saw a cool Mola Mola (Ocean Sunfish) that he said is rare to see this time of year, and its fin made us think it was a shark!

We were lucky to have some other boats around, some of them were friends of our guide who gave us the tip that there were some humpback whales a couple miles out. Captain Mike was super torn about whether or not we should go see them because it was almost time to head back to the marina but he asked if we were willing to be late and everyone cheered to go see the whales :) Humpback whales are also really rare to see in these parts at this time of year, so he was really excited to go see them too.

Ava and I missed both(yes, TWO!) whales jumping out of the water while she was in the bathroom but I'm glad Owen saw them because he was having a hard time spotting things earlier in the day. Our guide kept saying what a blockbuster trip we had and he couldn't believe all the things we were able to see. We feel super lucky because we originally scheduled our tour for 9:30 am but that morning we realized there was no way we'd be getting there on time so we called to change it to 11am for a little extra fee - so worth it!!

 Newport has become our favorite California beach town. It feels super laid back but upscale enough to feel safe and clean, also not too busy. The Balboa Pier has a fun feel with the rides and food stands. We rode the ferris wheel which gave us some of the best views of the city. It was a really long ride too, totally worth the money!

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Day 1 - San Diego Safari Park

We got to San Diego Sunday night where we stayed with Devin's cousin and his wife who live about a half hour north and a bit in-land, which is pretty close to the Safari Park, so that was our first stop on Monday. It was a hard decision between the downtown Zoo and this Safari Park, but since we would be pushing a stroller around and the downtown zoo is really hilly, and we don't have anything like this in Boise we chose the Safari Park. The animals are a little more spread out but their enclosures are a lot bigger like a natural habitat and there is a free tram ride that takes you around the plains where some of the bigger animals are free roaming.



We've done a lot of goat feeding at other zoos but this was so fun to actually be in the enclosure with the goats, and even brushing them! There was only one temperamental goat that didn't want to be touched/







Our first stop after the goats was the tram ride because we heard the lines get longer throughout the day. Even though it was across the other side of the park, I'm glad we did that early because we passed by there a couple more times throughout the day and they lines were outrageous. We hardly waited. Ava actually got pretty bored of the tram ride after about 5 minutes and worked on a sticker book the rest of the time while Owen refused to sit down, giving me a heart attack a couple times ;)

Rhino, Caribou, Giraffes, Oh My!

I think we were all in awe of the giraffes. In a normal zoo they are amazing because you are right up close and can really see how big they are, but to see them out and about among other animals, eating from far off trees....they STILL look giant even though they are so far away.







We made a stop at a little play area and the kids found a hill right next to it that provided a lot of entertainment...and some much needed rest time for mom and dad :) I love that they let you bring food in, that's where we ate our lunch.

Elephants

The elephants rivaled the giraffes for favorite exhibit. Their habitat was HUGE. We got to see these cute small ones above link their trunks together, then the big elephant below came and pushed them away from each other...some elephants were tossing a big block back and forth, and they had this giant water area to come drink out of. They just fascinate me the way they interact and own their territory.











I've never seen Ava with more pure joy than when she is riding a carousel. We seriously went on one almost every single day of our trip at various places and I loved taking pictures of her because she was SO happy, every single time :)

Hakuna, matata!

This sweet gorilla momma was nursing her baby up in this cove. When she was done, the baby clung onto her back and she went prancing across the enclosure. They were Devin's favorites...just look at this guy.









It was really such a long day, luckily the kids ended up napping for a bit in the stroller, even though we left the park after lunch to try and drive them around for a nap but they wouldn't have it. The kids almost slept through the thing we waited for all day, which was the Cheetah Run. They have this long grassy "race track" where they have a cheetah start at one end and run as fast as it can to the end where everyone is standing and watching. I can't even tell you how fast this thing was, it was literally a BLUR with my own eyes. They go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and you should have seen the grass it took out trying to stop! I thought it was amazing that cheetahs actually need a lot of rest throughout the day to have the stamina that they need to run that fast, so most of the cheetahs we saw during the day were lying around.

The grounds at this zoo were so so beautiful, and for our first day in San Diego, temperatures in the 70s, it was just SO good for the soul :) Pin It