Legoland

We had such a great day at Legoland California.  Perfect weather, great rides and so much to see and do. Awesome theme park!!!

Beautiful gardens and lego displays made Legoland a really cool place to visit

There were amazing recreations of people, animals and displays all over legoland. it was incredible to see what could be created out of legos and all the different rides they had.

going on an animal safari ride to see all the animals made of legos

checking out the pizza guy at the restaurant

Harry Potter and Hagrid made of legos-just amazing!

good thing we have 12 more years until she drives...she wasn't so good with the driving of the car when she got to do it on her own

cute picture of Sydney and Jason locked up in the castle section of legoland

Bob the builder legos and movie

 4D movie. olivia just couldn't figure out how to put on the glasses

minitown usa--lego displays of cities around the united states. over 2 million legos used. how did they make this and put it together? must have taken a LONG time!

she's almost taller than the washington monument--the one made out of legos that is...

Washington DC-so cute to see all the little lego people which march in front of the capitol building

the french quarter in new orleans-made of legos

 New York City skyline

the Sydney opera house made of legos-had to get a picture of this, or course

San Francisco made of legos

Sydney and Yoda. they had an entire Star Wars collection out of legos which was impressive

Sydney and the Lego Princess...as long as she is wearing a pretty dress and fancy things, Sydney wants to meet her

proof that Sydney will take a picture with almost anybody in costume...even this funny looking Lego man

she had to be rescued several times while driving...hope this is not an indication of her future driving skills

duplo city had lots of things for the girls to run and climb on--large buildings that looked like lego creations. such a cool place!



We had a fantastic day at Legoland...we'll have to come back when Olivia is a little taller and can go on more rides and then there was a whole water park that we didn't even go to (there wasn't time--so many great rides and attractions!). until next time...

San Diego and the Zoo

We absolutely love San Diego--what a wonderful city with so much to do! We started out with a visit to Seaport Village for shopping and dinner. A great way to start our week here in Southern California

Sydney's got the poses down, she loves to have her picture taken and i've got a ton of great pictures of this beautiful smiling girl

She had to check out every single hammock swing in this one store...might just have to consider getting one of these with this great smile

Best zoo in the USA! My favorite zoo being the Sydney Australia zoo...but this is definitely one of the best zoos with a wide variety of animals

Sydney and the koalas...in "Sydney's store". all kinds of cute australia merchandise but couldn't resist this picture with all the koalas

Enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Sydney's Grill and Hangout!

And here he is--one of the 3 koalas on display since they are building a whole new Australia exhibit to open next year with lots more koalas and other Australian animals. Will just have to go back and visit them again...

So excited to show my girls a real koala

Sydney loves pandas as much as I do!

At the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park-about 1/2 hr from downtown with lots of great animals and a ton of space. Enjoyed a safari ride, seeing the gorillas, a couple of shows and hike at this impressive zoo. wish it wasn't so hot the day we were there...

getting up close and personal with a lion...

and the real thing...

and playing in a kids area with a model lion

Safari Sydney

panoramic view of the safari. can't wait to come back one day and do the zip line tour over the safari and the roar & snore program here

since going to the "elephant bar" restaurant, olivia loves elephants and got so excited to see them. i think its her favorite animal (for now...-she'll revert back to koalas/pandas once i show her more of them)

San Jose

We started off our California trip with a long weekend in San Jose, California. Spending time with our California family was definitely a highlight of the trip.  We were so grateful for the company and help with the girls.  Sydney and Olivia were just delighted to have the older cousins playing with them and showing them a great time all around San Jose.

Playing with Cousin Allison at the playground was fun for Olivia

Sydney beat Cousin Megan down the slide (she might have cheated and gotten a head start but you didn't hear that from me)

 Older cousins are so much fun and definitely make playground time fun!

Cousins Kaitlyn and Emily showed the girls a great time at the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum

 All of our hands!

Kaitlyn took extra special care of Sydney at the Discovery Museum

Meeting Clifford sure was a highlight...they had a special Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit which was cool to explore

 While hanging out at Bruce and Lori's, Sydney, Kaitlyn and Emily put on the most hilarious puppet show I've ever seen. The video is too long to post but the creativity of the girls with the dialog and jokes made it one of the funniest things I'd ever seen.

family picture with Clifford during a repeat visit to the Children's Museum--so much to do there and just had to say HI to Clifford again

 and a special hug from Sydney...

water play was fun--olivia got soaked but she sure did have a great time

the girls created beautiful masterpieces in the art studio

 We also visited Happy Hollow park and zoo

olivia wasn't too thrilled with this ride (Kaitlyn and Sydney in the background were having a blast)

We all got to go on Danny the Dinosaur--our family took up almost all the train cars!

Carousel rides are fun

We loved hanging out with Bruce, Lori, Kaitlyn and Emily!!! Kaitlyn and Emily took such good care of my girls and it is wonderful to see what beautiful, thoughtful, amazing girls they are growing up to be...

And we loved our time with Shari, David, Megan, Adam and Allison. It was so wonderful to get to spend time with everyone. Our California family really showed us a good time and helped make the weekend so special.

Aunt Janice=LOVE. So glad we had some special time together : )