Okay, picking up where I left off. . .
The next day McCade woke up very sick. I will spare you the absolutely disgusting details but lets just say that as the Mom, I was the only one capable of handling the inherent uckyness. Friday we went to the Zoo. I was VERY excited. In our ZooNooz magazine it said that there was Giraffe feeding Thursday through Sunday from 12:00-1:00. We got there and went straight to the Girafffes to get in line to feed them. This is such a cool thing I figured there'd be lots of people in line. When we got there, we were greeted by this sign;
TOTALLY DENIED!!!!! I WAS
SO DISAPPOINTED! However, there was a really cool less than a week old baby giraffe there.
He was little - only 6'2".
There are other meerkats we check on here as well - they were playing.
We visited Hippo Beach - 
Lots of baby animals including these VERY CUTE sumatrian pigs! Now I do qualify and say that they were probably cuter to me because they were far enough away that I couldn't smell them and I didn't have to take them home!
And these super huge tortoises - they were very old and VERY large.
After that we pretended to be Baby Giraffes - 
And sat on a cool two headed lizard bench. There really is a two headed lizard - his back end looks a great deal like his front one.
We also sat on a pretend giant tortoise
And pretended we were insects.
The day ended with our traditional picture in front of the Zoo.
That night we had a Birthday Beach Bash for Tacey's Birthday that had been on Wednesday 
as well as for Dallin's Birthday that would be on Sunday.
It was kinda a luau theme - except it isn't really luau time of year unless you are actually IN Hawaii. We couldn't find reasonably priced leis, but we did get these lei printed bandanas. Dallin wore his like a man.
We had cake
Blew out the candles
And opened presents.
Lots of people came including Great Grandma Pama
See! I promised you a picture!
And Uncle Cary (the guy in the Chargers hat GO CHARGERS!) - we are all praying for him. He leaves in February for his third tour of duty in Iraq. We appreciate his service and hope he comes back to us safe. We also pray for our Cousin Mia who has been called up as well - she has a much longer combat oriented mission ahead of her. HOWEVER, as she is an employee for the FAA, there is a chance she might not have to go.
We also had Grandma, Grandpa, Big Grandpa, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Scott, Aunt Shannon, Aunt Becky and Grandma Jo. They got lots of presents.
We partied late into the night!
Not really, the sun goes down about 7:00 this time of year and we just weren't done yet. Thank goodness for 'cell phone flash lights'!
Saturday Tacey went with Aunt Andrea to Old Town and McCade went with Aunt Shannon to the pet store. Dallin played with his new loot and I went to get something my Dad had for me and on a date with my husband!
Sunday was an IMPORTANT DAY!
Dallin's birthday
10 years old!
(Double Digits)
We celebrated with a big family dinner, a few more presents and pumpkin pie.
Monday we visited Pama and Big Grandpa again. At the end of the evening we were watching Dancing with the Stars and saw Misty May Traynor snap her achilies tendon while dancing. Sound familiar? Oh, the FLASHBACKS! I feel really bad for her. As life altering as this injury has been and still is for me, it is going to be much worse for her. After all - I was just a college student not a gold medal winning beach volleyball player. I put the youtube video link up. You have to watch the first little bit. that sound you hear like a drum is her tendon. They said they heard mine pop, but I didn't realize how loud it truly was! Sorry to everyone who was there! (If you don't want to watch the video, you don't have to.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em9kwsCeTNoYesterday we went to
THE BEACH!
I am SO grateful the weather has been so wonderful while we were here. I decided that since many of you who read this blog don't get the chance to go enjoy the beach, the kids and I would tell you how it is done!
First you need the essentials
Flip Flops, water, SUNSCREEN, iPod and a book. In my case they are ALWAYS plays! But, I didn't read this time because I had kids to watch - that was MUCH more important.
You MUST jump waves!
And make dribble castles
Here is how to make dribble castles -
This is Dallin showing off the big one they made together. (Any time you can get siblings to do things together it is a good thing!)
If you do all of this you will look as happy as this guy!
After that we took a long, nice walk along the beach and found shells. I LOVE walking along the beach. We watched to surfers, the sea gulls and the sand pipers. It was just a nice time together.
Today we went to Old Town San Diego and bought Mexican Jumping Beans - they are fun!
We also saw San Diego's first School House and lots of cool cultural craftmanship. When we come back at Christmas I think I will take them back and show them the cemetary and possibly The Whaley House - that is Haunted. Merry Christmas! Hee-hee.
Tomorrow we have to leave.
I believe it is about to snow in Idaho. How dangerous is it to go from weather in the high 90's to the low 50's in 16 hours? It can't be good. . .
But when we get back, I start my NEW job!
It is a secret, so more later. . .
Danielle
