The Hazleton Family: Spontaneous San Diego

We went to SeaWorld earlier this spring, and our tickets are good til the end of the year. We've been wanting to go in October to see the Halloween shows, but Tige has been working long hours and covering at the Kanab hospital so we realized it probably wasn't going to happen. Monday morning I babysit my 2 year old nephew for about 2 hours, and when Tige came home from work at 11 a.m. I was still in my pajamas. He said, "I'm off work tomorrow. How about if I go get Kason out of school and take him and Abby to SeaWorld!" Huh? We started talking about it, thinking it was a little crazy, but fun, and I said "well I want to go too!" But it wouldn't be very fun with baby Taylor. Rather miserable actually. So Tige gets on the phone to find a babysitter for Taylor, and we get on priceline.com to find a cheap hotel, and 90 minutes later we were packed and off to San Diego. (Thanks Brittney for keeping Taylor). We had a wonderful trip full of fun memories I want to remember.

We didn't tell the kids where we were going. Our hotel was just down the street from SeaWorld, and as we were driving down the street, Kason suddenly said, "HEY! That's SeaWorld!" We tried to feign ignorance, but he said, "yeah, that's the blue SeaWorld tower! It shows how far down dolphins can dive in the ocean!" Wow, that kid is smart.

We got to the hotel close to bedtime, so we swam in the pool a little and went to bed. At 2:00 a.m. Tige got up to go to the bathroom (yes, we're getting old), and Kason whispered, "DAD! HELP ME!" Tige looked over and Abby was an snuggled up to him and Kason was on the edge of the bed trying not to get pushed off. This is the same way Tige & I sleep too. Me trying to snuggle and Tige trying to get away. Tige moved Abby back to her side so poor Kason had some room. She's a snuggle bug! I had them reenact this picture so we'd remember the DAD, HELP ME!

Got up Tuesday morning and ate a yummy breakfast at IHOP then headed to the beach. We took buckets for shell collecting, but there weren't any.

The weather was cool and foggy, so we pretty much had the beach to ourselves.

Tige can pretty much always find a way to get a workout in! Like doing double-unders with some seaweed.

We ran into the surf, then ran back out before the cold waves could get us. This never gets old.

Then back to the hotel to warm up in the hot tub.

Abby enjoyed rides on my back. I would run in and out of the shallow into the deep. The boys told me I looked a bit like an ostridge running around with her on my back, but I suppose it doesn't matter since we were the only ones in the pool.

We arrived at SeaWorld at 10 a.m. when it opened and stayed til 6:00 when it closed. No diaper bags, no strollers, just the 4 of us having fun.

Tige & Kason on "Atlantis." Abby was too short.

They had a 4D pirate movie. You kow the kind--where they drop water on you, blow air on you, and buzz in your ear. It was all good and dandy until the 4D effects began. Suddenly a bunch of water dropped on our laps, and Abby came unglued. She did NOT enjoy the movie. It was 20 minutes and she cried through most of it. Every time Tige got her calmed down, water would spray in her face or something else would happen and she'd cry again. She cried "I wanna go HOME!" I grabbed a starburst from my pocket to try and keep her quiet, and when the movie ended, the starburst was stuck to Tige's shirt. Guess she couldn't hold onto it while crying. It was funny and will be a fun story to tell. Apparently she was just a little too young for 4D special effects.

After the movie we headed to Sesame Street land for rides for Abby. This cheered her right up.

We went to pose for this picture, but Abby was scared and wouldn't let Tige leave her.

However, when we were finished, Abby LOVED Elmo and gave him a couple of hugs. We had a hard time getting her away. She kept saying "wanna see Elmo!" the rest of the afternoon.