The Beach (take 2)

How is it possible that two years have passed since my sweet little twins were born? I can't believe Charlotte and Emily turn two today! We wanted to do something fun and special for their birthday, so we went to IHOP for breakfast. 

Since the girls had so much fun at the beach the last time we went and since this was our last day in San Diego, we decided to go to the beach again for their birthday. We already went to La Jolla Beach, so we thought it would be fun to try a new beach this time and Andrew really wanted to drive on this highway. 

This isn't my picture, obviously, I don't own a helicopter. ;) I just wanted to show how crazy this highway is. Anyway, so we decided to go to Coronado Beach.

That, however, was a horrible mistake since the beach was right by an air force base and planes kept flying overhead. Charlotte and Emily were glued to my legs before we even took two steps on the sand. We decided it was best to just pack our things up again and go to La Jolla Beach again. 

Once we were at a quieter location and after watching some Mickey Mouse the girls finally calmed down again. Although, Emily had a rough time when a seagull stole her bag of goldfish. It was pretty traumatizing. Poor thing. Overall, though I think they had a great birthday and we all enjoyed our little trip to San Diego. 

BalBoa Park

Balboa Park is located right beside the San Diego zoo, there's actually a path you can take from the zoo to get into the park, but we didn't have enough time to both the park and the zoo in one day. So Wednesday morning, we came back so we could walk through the park and enjoy The Natural History Museum. The girls loved playing with the dinner toys in the lobby of the museum. 

My favorite part of the museum was right through these doors: 

The room was full of really old books, documenting the different types of animals that are native to San Diego. There was a table dedicated to Laurence Monroe Klauber. He's complied extensive research on rattlesnakes, their habits and what to watch for. It was oddly disturbing, but fascinating at the same time to see the jars of preserved rattlesnakes. I didn't realize there were so many different species and that they are a threat in California. Whenever I think of rattlesnakes I usually think of old western movies and the desert, but I guess that's the beauty of California. It has deserts, mountains and beaches. 

After we finished at the museum, we decided to check out this art fair going on across the street. Sadly, we missed it but we were able to watch a lady blowing glass and see some beautiful buildings.

If there was one thing I said over and over on this trip it was how much I loved the Spanish architecture of the buildings. I'm sure Andrew lost count with how many times I brought this up, but I just love everything from the spires on the churches or the sloping roofs on the houses we passed driving through the streets. The buildings in San Diego left me awestruck. 

I'm not sure why I love these buildings so much. Maybe it's because they reminded me of  a simpler time or it could be that they remind me of the beautiful buildings in The Mask of Zorro and then I probably start thinking about Antonio Banderas. Whatever the reason, I took lots of pictures. 

After a fun, but busy day of walking around Balboa Park we decided to drive and see the temple. We didn't get out and walk around the grounds like we normally do because the girls were sleeping. One thing I've been extremely grateful as of late if my beautiful family and wonderful Houses of God that make it possible for me to be sealed to people I love the most. 

San Diego Zoo

Did you know the San Diego Zoo is one of the top five largest zoos in America? It's 100 acres, has over 4,000 animals and requires really good walking shoes. I'm not going to lie I was a little envious of the girls riding in their strollers. Just kidding, the walking wasn't too bad and the girls actually enjoyed running around too. 

Out of all the animals we saw, I think Rebekah enjoyed the reptiles the most. She liked seeing all the big snakes and lizards and her little voice was  laced with concern whenever Andrew or I told her an animal was endangered. 

We even met a lizard willing to strike a pose for us. This little guy was just too cute! Probably because he looks like a little Godzilla. 

After leaving the House of Reptiles we saw a tortoise, some alligators, an Iguana and a Komodo Dragon.

Somewhat recently Andrew and I had a conversation about Komodo Dragons. I can't remember what sparked the conversation all I remember is it resulted in me looking up YouTube videos of Komodo Dragons and becoming thoroughly creeped out. If you had no knowledge of what a Komodo Dragon looked like or how it behaved would you believe it could be vicious if I showed you this picture? The YouTube video I watched said they will infiltrate villages and sometimes sneak into people's houses. Once inside if they feel threatened (or are just hungry!) they'll group together and corner you. CREEPY! Luckily, the closest I'll ever to get to one is at the zoo, while I look at it safely from the other side of the fence. 

Rebekah, Charlotte and Emily all enjoyed looking at the monkeys too. The monkeys were so energetic, it made it hard not to smile when you saw one of them swinging around or climbing the fence. 

This little guy liked striking a pose too! His little eyes kept arching up making it look like he was contemplating life or maybe just plotting a way to escape. 

Elephants are majestic, wise and beautiful creatures and I think that's why I love them so much. I felt a little guilty making my family wait for the elephant area to be cleaned out so I could get a few pictures, but they didn't seem to mind. The girls had fun playing with the little pebbles they found and running up and down the path. 

Here's another one of our little animal friends that was ready to strike a pose. I'm not sure the girls would believe me if I told them this was Timon. They were really excited to see Simba, but the lions were all sleeping in the shade when we got there. 

However, we did get a really good view of this Cheetah! We were across the rode getting pictures of Rhinos, when I looked across the street and found her staring at us. 

Before leaving the zoo, we made one last stop to check out the Koala and Panda bears. The girls didn't care too much about what we saw at this point though. They were exhausted from our long day at the zoo and all of the walking we did, but Andrew and I sure enjoyed seeing the Koalas and Pandas.