Part 3

So day 2 in San Diego was the zoo. Holy crap that was a lot of walking. Just when I was starting to feel bad about getting out of my exercise routine... my legs were killing me after this.
First stop flamingos of course. Man I don't know why I love those things so much. They have beady little yellow eyes and are kind of stinky.

After that we kit the reptile house, eew. Now I made it thru that but later I lied to Skylee and told her the bug house was closed all day so we didn't have to go in.


Skylee never likes to stick her head thru these things to get a picture. It's like she hates to be embarrassed. But I got her to agree this once.




I think my fave was the new polar bear exhibit. The bears are really pretty and the exhibit was really cool. The only drawback was that it had a very large focus on global warming and the melting polar ice caps. Darn tree huggers, get out of here. I just want to enjoy some bears without the depressing part.



So after that long day.... we drove back to my mom's house to spend the night before heading out to Vegas!!! Awhile back Skylee's aspirations were to be an adult so she could cuss and go to Vegas. Well she officially has those out of the way. She was really pissed when I explained that she still had 16 years before she could play on the machines. We stayed the night at the Stratosphere and it was pretty cool.

We walked around and did a bunch of shopping. Skylee did this pick a pearl thing and did really well. She found a really large silver pearl and then picked out a $40 white gold setting for it. But it retails for $150 - $200. So not a bad investment and now she has a necklace for special occasions.





She and Tracy saw the shark exhibit in Mandalay Bay while Brenda and I hit the slots. And once again all Skylee wanted to do was swim. We went thru this in San Diego and she would not be happy doing anything else until she could swim. Thanks a lot to the valet who mentioned the pool like 5 times while we checked in and rode the elevator.

Statue of liberty built with jelly beans

So after visiting "It's Sugar" and walking the strip we went back to the hotel so Skylee and Tracy could swim. I took that opportunity to hit the slots. Then when they were done, Skylee and I watched a movie and went to bed while Tracy and Brenda hit the slots. I came out with what I had, so to me that is a successful gambling trip!

Skylee mentioned just last night that she loved that New York Place in Vegas. It really left an impression with her. Is that a bad thing.
So after the one night in Vegas we left for home, visiting Hoover dam on the way out.

I figured out some things...
1. I don't miss the California traffic
2. I really don't like heights. Riding the sky tram thing at the zoo was awful.
3. Vacations should be way longer with less things packed into them

So now I must start saving for a winter Vegas trip with girlfriends. that would be a blast. And also a week in a beach house.. maybe NC outer banks would be Skylee's dream vacation.

Part 2 Finally.

Well I Don't need to tell any of you folks just how bad I am at keeping up on this blog. Honestly the people who blog every day must not have jobs, or blogging IS their job because I just can't do it. LOL.

So the day after Disney we drove down to stay in San Diego for one night. Our plan was to go to Sea World and the San Diego Zoo but those plans changed a little. Skylee freaked out about Shamu eating people and didn't want to go, so we spent some time at the beach instead. It was fun making that drive again. We stopped at the rest stop that is in Camp Pendelton area and Skylee took her picture with these trucks that guys that were using for training. This was also the first glimpse of the ocean.



When we first got down there our hotel was really close to Old Town, so we went for a walk to look at all the fun little shops and eat some amazing Mexican food for lunch. If there is one thing that I hate about Arkansas, it is the lousy Mexican food. It's this nasty Texmex crap with sauces all over it and just wrong. So lunch was really really good. It was in this area that has tons of Mexican themed gift shops and Skylee loved trying on all the Mexican wrestler masks.

Lucha Libre!!!





So after that we went back to the hotel and then to the beach. This kid LOVES the beach. It was a really nice day in the upper 70's, but the water was still really cold.


Now for a kid who has never seen the beach it was an amazing time. She was very interested in getting a boogie board so she could head out into the waves. But (thankfully) there was a dangerous rip tide that day which prevented her from going out. She made herself content digging for shells, running from waves, and playing with see weed.





Skylee was the only one brave enough to go into the water.

I think our next vacation will probably be to a Florida beach where we just go to the beach.


What would a day at the beach be without a giant ice cream cone? After the fun and sun we headed over to the boardwalk for some games and ice cream. Of course she needed to buy a new dress to change into since her swim suit was wet. Man that kid better grow up to marry a rich man, she is expensive.