Summer Vacation 2009- Part 1

Part 1: Visiting the Williams family in sizzling Bakersfield!

Our first stop was visiting my Mom's friend, Tami, her Husband Craig, and my favorite: their 2 kids Emma & Cole. Mom & Tami had fun talking "shop" (Dietitian stuff). Mom loves to have another smarty pants to discuss that boring stuff with. We spent lots of time hanging out in their pool. We even went to a fun spray park to cool off on one of the days. I LOVED that! I think Mom & Dad were surprised at how crazy I ran around and how wet I got. Cole & Emma taught me lots of cool stuff like how to play doctor, make and serve playdough food, and take care of babies. I miss them. I cried when we left. I hope to see them soon...there are plans for a Yosemite trip next Summer!

Summer Vacation 2009-Part 2

Part 2: Off to Santa Monica to meet Auntie Candie, hang out at the Santa Monica pier and in our swanky beachside hotel, cruise (stroller) 3rd street promenade, and then head down to the Long Beach aquarium.

This was my FIRST feel of the ocean on my feet!! It was exciting and I loved it! Maybe I will be a water baby like Mom.

We had a free day because the Noah's Ark exhibit we wanted to go to was closed for repairs :( so we explored Santa Monica. We must have walked 10 miles between exploring the pier and the 3rd street promenade. It was fun with lots of street musicians, restaurants and fancy shops. Mom & Dad even played table tennis at a wii promotion.

We were bad about taking pics, but I swear we spent some time with Auntie Candie and we met her sweetheart, Jenny. I thought she was pretty cool! We had a yummy french toast breakfast with them before we headed down to the aquarium.






















Here are a few pics of me exploring the aquarium. I really like running as fast as I could around the exhibits trying to lose my parents. We saw the sea lion show (see my friend below!) and one of the sea lion's name was Milo! That leg, on my right, is Aunty Candie's. See we took pictures with her!















I was just dying to cool off with these two cute little blonde boys in the spray park at the aquarium. It was a HOT day!! Hey- if they can take their shirts off, why not I??











"Family" picture that SOMEBODY was not willing to participate in. We're standing by the shark tank. I wasn't scared. I just wanted to make sure the baby sharks found their mommies.










Is that Milo?













Finishing off the afternoon sharing icecream with Dad. Oh the things Dad taught me on this trip! More about that later...












This is a little wierd but I'm tired so stay tuned for part 1 of this vacation post...the first leg of our trip visiting Tami & the fam in Bakersfield.

Summer vacation 2009- Part 3

Part 3: Off to Riverside to visit Setta & Kevin!



My first bowling experience! I had more fun people watching than bowling though. I was a little overwhelmed by how loud and full of people the bowling alley was. Pretty soon I was dancing around, playing drums on the candy machines, and having a blast...especially when Aunty Setta got me some reeces pieces out of one of the machines :) I'm a sucker for chocolate!

Here is a "group" picture. That's Kevin bowling, "crazy Nick" posing for the camera, Mom & I, and half of Setta's face. I guess Dad was taking the picture!

Our last excursion was a last minute, and probably one of the funnest times we had all week. We went to the Wild Animal Park near San Diego, which turned out to be just an hour from Setta & Kevin's house. So, all 5 of us set off in the Camry about lunchtime. It was a LONG, HOT day, but an experience of a lifetime! Here I am at the bubble-blowing exhibit (did me or Dad have more fun at that one?) and then looking a bit overheated. Luckily, this picture was quickly followed by a stripping down of clothing and a run through the spray water park (Mom & Dad, too!)

We also took a tram ride around the park (it's a very BIG park! We were there for 7 hours & still didn't see everything!) The tram ride gave us a closer look at the roaming animals. My favorite: the baby giraffes below. We also got within a few yards of the leopards below. They were babies too, only about 1 1/2 old, and triplets! Check out Setta & Kevin refusing to turn around for a photo op! We had so much fun hanging out with them though. I was sad to leave Setta when we left for home :(