Vacation: Part 2

Week two of our vacation was just as awesome, although sad because we knew we would be going home soon. It seemed like everyone realized this too and at that point it became a scramble.

We took a trip South to San Diego (meaning whales vagina, according to Ron Burgundy...lol guess the movie) with Nick's family. The view outside of the zoo was almost as entertaining. I don't care about anyone's sexual orientation, however, when people are flamboyant about their lifestyle and being a bit ridiculous, I am going to laugh. There is a grassy area around the corner from the zoo where a gentleman wearing shorter shorts that I would ever dare wear in public was prancing around with his friends. Probably a "you had to be there moment," but it had all of us rolling.

Since it was a weekday, the zoo was not crowded at all and it made seeing the animals much more pleasant. I'm only going to post my favorite pics, because there are just too many to share!

Cheetah! This one is actually taking a tinkle, and then it went #2...yup Cheetahs poop the same way house cats do. LOL

 Meer cats. Liv has a stuffed animal meer cat that Grandma Linda bought her at the Safari Park before we moved.

Baby jaguars...cutest thing ever (besides Liv)!

 Have you ever been this close to a Lion? Me either. It was so cool! He even opened his eyes for a moment then went back to sleep. Notice my child is not even close to being afraid.

Panda. They have a new baby panda too, but you can only see the video feed of it. You can see it here Panda Cam

This guy decided that he was going to poop right in front of us (are you sensing a theme yet). I was taking a video when it happened...if you think this is hilarious, you can see it here Hippo Doing It's Hippo Thing

This snake is two headed...it's conjoined twins. Apparently, they have to feed each head separately and block of the head that is not eating so they don't bite each other.

After the zoo, our friend George made us dinner and so kindly let us stay at his house for a couple days while we did all the things we needed to do in that area. We had a nice visit with my grandma. She gave Liv a big Minnie Mouse doll and Liv now sleeps with it every night. We spent time with Nick's family, and Liv had play time with her cousin Ava (who she calls Babe-A). I have tons of cute pics of the two of them, but I don't want to post pics of other people's children here (some people understandably are not comfortable with it...so if you are my family and wondering why I didn't post the pics of the other kids, that's why). We also had dinner with some friends. It was so good to see Melissa and Al. I miss the date nights we used to have! Nick's mom had a BBQ for us with more family and friends. It was a good time.

At the end of the week we went back to my dad and mom's house to finish out our trip. Liv started getting sick though. Slight fever, runny nose, coughing until she threw up...lovely. So a few of our plans were cancelled so that she didn't infect friends and so she could rest up and feel better.

I love this pic of my mom (Terri) reading to Liv. She used to read this to us when we were little.

We did go to the LA County Fair for a very short time. Just long enough for Liv to pet some animals and go on a pony ride. Then we got some deep fried food to go and spent the rest of the day letting her rest.

With Liv rested up, I decided some salty air and water would do her some good. Growing up near the beach I believe there is nothing the sun and salt water can't help cure. So we packed up and headed to Huntington Beach with my mom (Terri), dad, Crystal (my brother's lady) and their three kids.

 She stole my sandwich!

Family photo time...yes, he grew the beard in the two weeks were gone.

 She loved it...my so cal baby!

And then...we left the sunshine and returned to Louisiana. I cried like a baby on the plane. Usually at the end of a trip you are excited to get home to your bed...but I was sad. Sad to leave all the people I know and love. But it was a healing trip. Nick's sister and I made amends, which is good because I truly missed her. I discovered that some people, no matter what you do in life will always judge you and those people are not worth your time. I learned I can disagree with people and still be classy, and that not stooping to someone's level feels good. I learned that my type A personality and need to organize and control situations can be annoying to people. But mostly, I saw how much we are loved and missed, which made coming home that much harder. Sometimes it is easy for me to get bitter sitting out here and thinking if people really cared about us, they would make the effort to see us. But I know that's not the case. We all have things to do in life and places to go. I feel like in a way, I grew up a little. I have always heard certain sayings, but I never believed in them until now. Maybe 33 is my magic number for learning these lessons, or maybe the time away just made me appreciate people and situations more.