Legoland

Lauren was so careful with the driving. She was determined not to get in an accident.

Our last day in California was spent at Legoland. We have been there a few times so Lauren knew the rides she likes and the ones she does not. Most of the time I just let her decide if she wants to go on a ride or not but I was getting a bit frustrated at her for not trying any new rides. I did make her go on a few that she really did not want to. However, after they were over she told me she liked them.

I am not a ride person and I know she is not either but I wish she would try things once in a while. We did have a good day on the rides we went on and she liked playing in the water area. Once we left there we headed back home and got home early in the morning.

Lauren has two more weeks until school starts. She is attending a gymnastic camp these next two weeks and then summer is over. We might make another trip to California in the fall or early winter. I love to see the parks decorated for the holidays.

Beach Day

The second day of our San Diego trip we went to the beach. Lauren loved being at the beach in Illinois so I knew she would love going to the beach and playing in the sand and water. It was overcast so I loved it. I can't handle the sun beating down all day it gets to me after a while.

We set everything up and Lauren and her friend just played. Lauren and I played in the water a lot. The water current was really strong and a few times knocked me over. Lauren got a mouth full of water a few times and it totally surprised her that it was salt water. She was not expecting that. The girls played in the sand and dug a huge hole which by the time we left was completely underwater.

It was so nice to sit by the beach with our toes in the sand and just listen to the ocean. What a great way to spend the day.

Seaworld

At Seaworld there is a Polar Bear exhibit and in that exhibit is an ice wall. This picture was taken after Lauren was touching the ice wall. She loved that wall.

This is not the best picture, but it shows how close we were to Shamu at lunch time. It was great.

Feeding the seals.

With summer winding down we took our last trip of the summer. Lauren and I and a friend and her daughter went to San Diego for the weekend. It was great to get out of the heat for a few days and enjoy a few of the things in San Diego.

We left for California Thursday afternoon and got in later that night. The girls were asleep when we got there so they were a bit surprised the next morning to wake up in the hotel bed. We planned that our first day would be at Seaworld. There was a lot of people there but since it is not really a "wait in line" place it really didn't bug me too much.

We went to some of the shows including, the dog and cat show (Lauren's favorite), the Shamu show, the dolphin show and we looked at most of the exhibits. There is a new area for little kids that Lauren seemed to really enjoy. Lauren and I only did one ride. There is only a few rides and the big ones had very long waits. We decided to skip those since we were going to be going to Legoland in a few days.

For lunch we did the Dine with Shamu experience. This is the second time we have done this and I think it is great. You get to sit right by the training pool and the trainers talk about the whales and you get to see Shamu up close. They have a great buffet lunch with tons of food. It is nice to just relax for a while and get a up close and personal look at the animals. This is a great, fun treat and we had a great table. It was right were Shamu came up. It was pretty neat.

During the summer Seaworld has a few night shows and then fireworks. We went to the Dolphin night show and the Shamu night show. They were great, I think more fun then the day shows lots of music and it seems like a lot of energy. We also stayed for the fireworks. It was a late night but fun.

Back to Normal

We are trying to get back to normal after a great vacation. Lauren only has a few more weeks until she starts school. It is sad to think that this summer is almost over. It has been a very busy summer and it has been a lot of fun. This weekend we are heading over to San Diego with some friends. We try to go there at least once a year. It does not take that long to drive there and it is such a fun place to go. We are planning on going to the beach, Seaworld and Legoland. I think we only have a few more years of going to Legoland before Lauren will be too old.



It makes me sad that Lauren is growing up so fast. I can't believe that she will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks. However, this summer was so much fun because she can do so much more and is so fun to do things with and to talk to. Many people have told me that being a mother only gets better as they get older. I hope that is true and so far it has been.





These pictures were taken at a birthday party we attended on Sunday. We had two parties this weekend and more scheduled for the next few weeks. This one was at a place called Kids U. Lauren has taken a few classes there and has gone there for a few days of summer camp also. I think she felt comfortable there and so she tried a lot of the things.

I love this picture. It looks like she is really rock climbing. However, the truth is that this is as high as she got. Maybe some day she will go a little higher.

Thank You

We had such a great time in Chicago. It was a great week.

THANK YOU KIM AND ELLA !!

Kim and Ella:

Thank you so much for such a fun week. We had such a great time and you were great hosts. We can't wait until you come out and visit us.

Lisa and Lauren

The Field Museum

Lauren had learned a little about dinosaurs at school this past year. When I told her that one of the museums in Chicago had the bones of a T Rex she wanted to see it. So we headed over to the Field Museum to see Sue the T Rex.

Lauren looked at it and then wanted to go. We went to a few exibits but they were not really interested. However, there was a children's area at the museum and so we went there and the girls did the activities there.

Kim and I were both surprised at the size of Sue. Kim and I thought she would be a lot larger. It was interesting but I think the girls would have enjoyed it more if they were a few years older.

Dim Sum

On our last full day in Chicago we went to Chinatown for Dim Sum. Lauren had never had Dim Sum before and she was really good about trying a lot of different things. The food was great!

Lauren trying congee for the first time since China. She said she liked it.

We then went out to look around and do a little shopping. I tried to get some pictures but the girls would not cooperate and were acting funny. As you can see I got the hands on face picture and the back of head picture.