San Diego, Day 5,6,7 - The Zoo & the trip home

Our last attraction to visit was, or course, the San Diego Zoo. It's a wonderful zoo, and full of stuff, but we sure picked the wrong day to go. As we were walking up to the entrance, we saw a banner that said "Welcome Girlscouts!". It was their "cookie kick-off" and there was about 2500 girl scouts roaming the park. It was soooo crowded. The kids had lots of fun seeing the animals, but they were both exhausted from the previous days activities, and lost interest by the end of the day. All in all, it was a good way to end the vacation. Here's some more pics.After returning from the zoo, we decided, since it was our last night, that we would have a picnic on the beach for our dinner. Well, it was a bit too cold and the kids were a bit too cranky, but we did get this one picture. Then we went back and ate our dinner in the nice warm hotel room and went to bed.

We made it all the way to Denver on our return flight only to find out that our flight to Gillette had been delayed.....and then delayed some more.......and then cancelled. Thank goodness for my sister and brother-in-law. (Thanks again guys!!) We were able to shack up at their place for the night an fly back home the next morning. It was a wonderful trip, and worth all the effort.

San Diego, Day 4 - Wild Animal Park

We continued our trip at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It was really neat seeing the animals in the wide open spaces in which they were intended. They had different tours you could take to get up close and personal with the animals, even a tour on segways. But with kids along, that probably wouldn't have been the best idea. This park held my favorite moment of the trip, the lorikeet enclosure. You by a little cup of nectar outside the enclosure, then as soon as you walk in the birds swoop towards you and land on your head and arms waiting for the nectar. Ainsley loved the birds on her arms, and Sam liked watching, but as soon as one landed on his head, he batted at it until it took the hint.

San Diego, Day 3 - LegoLand

Our next destination was LegoLand. We headed up there a little bit early and went to Carlsbad Beach to kill time. We made the mistake of warning Ainsley not to run into the water because it could sweep her away. After that she wouldn't go near the waves. I, in my infinite wisdom, decided she needed to get her feet wet. So when she wasn't paying attention I stood behind her so she couldn't run away from the wave. This completely backfired as the biggest wave since we'd been there came up and soaked us past our knees. Ainsley was not happy with her mama to say the least. Here's the picture of me trapping her and you can see the wave in the background.

After we went to the local outlet mall to get some new pants for Ains, we then headed to LegoLand. It was raining when we first got there, so I was a little nervous about how the day was going to go, but it turned out to be a blessing because it kept the crowds away and we never had to wait in a single line all day. The rain stopped pretty early, so we had a great time running around seeing all the lego creations and riding all the rides. It was another exhausting but memorable day. Here are some pictures, my favorite is the Lego inaguration scene complete with Michele Obama's yellow dress, and Aretha Franklins big bow hat.

San Diego, Day 2 - Sea World

We woke up bright and early on our first full day of vacation and prepared for a day at Sea World. We started out the day at the dolphin area. We bought some little fish and got to feed and pet the dolphins. I didn't realize that we were going to be able to do that, so it was very exciting for me as well. They feel like rubber, if anyone wants to know.

We watched a sea lion show, a dolphin show, and of course the Shamu show. Pretty darn amazing what those animals can do.
We saw lots of other aquatic animals as well. Ainsley got to pet a star fish (Sam was more into observing rather than petting), and we got to see such things as beluga whales, flamingos, a massive walrus, and a bunch of rescued manatees complete with scars from boat propellers (very sad).

After the animal viewing, we went to the children's play area. They had tons of jungle gyms, bouncers, and rides. It was fun to watch the kids run wild.
It was a really fun day, and lots of great memories were made.

San Diego, Day 1 - Flying

We're back from San Diego and we had a blast. I'm going to post a bunch about this trip; it was only five days long, but we packed a lot into those five days.

The first day was our big test, flying with children. It started out well. We had to get the kids up really early to get to the airport in Gillette and get checked in but they were in good spirits. When we actually got up in the air everything was still great. Ainsley is a perfect flyer. Sam, however, was a different story. He was doing fine, a little ancy, but not bad, until the descent at which point the shrill screaming commenced. After the first flight, both Sam and I were in tears. The second flight was more of the same, but by the third flight, we had things figured out and got Sam hooked up with some earplugs and had him drink through a straw during the descent to help with his ears. Things went much more smoothly after that.


We got checked into our hotel at San Diego and headed straight to the beach. We were in a bay so the water was nice and calm, and Ainsley found lots of sea shells. Sam loved the ducks that swam in the bay and the seagulls that stalked you in the hopes for a bit of a snack. After the beach, we headed to the pool. However, we all ended up in the hot tub because it wasn't super weather while we were there and the pool was a bit chilly. I prefer the hot tub anyway. :) We then got a quick bite to eat and went to bed. It was an exhausting day and both kids were asleep by 6:30. It was a good start to the vacation.

The Swing of Things

I wish I were better at posting, but this is me take it or leave it. I'm a procrastinator that wishes she wasn't, but doesn't have the motivation to change yet (I'm keep looking and looking, but I can't find it).

Happy New Year to everyone. It was a busy holiday season, and I'm kinda glad it's over with, but sad at the same time. Christmas was really fun, and there was lots of laughter and a little too much wine. :) My favorite times are always the ones surrounded by family and laughter.

We're getting back in the swing of things here in the house of Hokanson. Ainsley's started back to preschool, dance, and gymnastics. Poor Sam doesn't have anything structured at all unfortunately, but I think I'm going to have to start taking him to baby gym or something, Ainsley had a good time with it at his age and I think he'll have just as much fun. Unfortunately it's only a few times a month, so we'll have to figure out some other fun stuff for the little monkey boy to do.

We're all pretty excited around here for our upcoming trip to San Diego. We've got about five days there and four of them are dedicated to Sea World, the zoo, the wild animal park, and LegoLand (at least that's the plan, we'll see how it goes). At least a few times a day at our house, we're logged onto Shamu.com watching the whales swim around the tank on a webcam. Every few seconds Ainsley will yell "Shamu!! Shamu!!" and Sam will yell "Moo!! Moo!!" at the top of his little lungs.

We're hoping for good weather, but I think Brian and I are mostly worried about the plane trip. This is our first time flying with kids; if nothing else, it should be interesting. Wish us luck!!