Vacation Day 2 (Sea World)

We didn't sleep in on our second day of vacation...we wanted to be there when the park opened...plus as soon as Chloe woke up and remembered what day it was she was up and out of bed barely able to contain her excitement. Today was the day she would finally swim with the dolphins- for two years she had been waiting for this day!!!
At the entrance to the park...

At the entrance to the park looking at and touching some of the fish-Bryce like to look  but was not interested at all in putting his hand in the water. 

The first thing we did after entering the park is head for the new ride MANTA-it is an intense and super fast roller coaster. Chloe and Landon rode it while Tanner, Bryce, and I went to look at the real sting rays. They were able to get me on it later in the afternoon, but I'm not sure if I would do it again-ha-ha-it was seriously fast.

 After that we stopped by to see the seals and sea-lions...of course we bought some fish to feed them.

 Next stop-Shark Reef

 Then it was time for the "Dolphin Show"

 After that we headed out to our car to eat our lunch. Sad thing-the subways we had bought the night before went bad-because the fridge in our room wasn't plugged in and we didn't realize it! We bought more subways on the way to the park and ate those-even though we had to pay for lunch twice it was probably cheaper than eating it in the park once.
After lunch the time had finally arrived for Chloe to Swim with the Dolphins...

 In her wet suit headed to the dolphin tank.

 She got to interact with two different dolphins-Callie and Dottie. She was in the water with them for about an hour. She got to touch them, teach them signals, get splashed by them, float with them, and even take a ride on them. She loved it-the only thing she didn't like was that she didn't have longer.

 After the dolphins it was onto another thrill ride-Journey to Atlantis. This ride contains a couple 50 foot drops and I am not the biggest fan of roller coasters (either is Tanner) so while Landon and Chloe rode that Tanner and I took Bryce to the Sesame Street Village and took him on the kiddy rides. Bryce love the rides as long as they were going-he did not love waiting in line or waiting on the ride for it to start-impatient!!!

 After riding the rides we went to the Polar Bear Exhibit.

 Then it was time to take a little break. We left the park and went back to our hotel were we ordered pizza and ate it while we took a little rest.

 After dinner we headed back to the park-there were a couple of night shows that we wanted to see and also fireworks.
First show was Seamore and Clyde. Bryce loved this show so much-he would cry and say more more every time one of the animals went backstage and wasn't visible to him. One of the words now in his vocabulary is 'Seal'.

 Last on the list-The Shamu Show. Another one of Bryce's favorite moments he was enthralled by these giant animals. He would get so excited every-time he saw them and cry when he couldn't.

 After that it was finally time to head home. We watched the fireworks go off as we excited the park. It was a fun filled-long day. Everyone went right to sleep with their souvenir stuffed animals as soon as we got back to the hotel.

 Chloe is already ready to go back. Her and her best friend are making plans to save enough to go together-this time Chloe would like to swim with the Beluga Whales. There are some big changes coming to SeaWorld in 2018 so she is shooting for then. She also has big plans to attend college in California and become a dolphin trainer. We'll see if that changes over time or not.

Vacation Day 1

This year we planned a vacation down to California...on the agenda: SeaWorld; LaJolla Beach-snorkeling; Angels Stadium-Redsox vs. Angels (2 games), and school shopping (yep we put it off until the very last minute). The trip was Tanner and Chloe's birthday presents as well. Chloe-would get to swim with the dolphins-she has been planning and saving for years to do this (you have to be 10). She saved up half of the money and we paid the other half for her birthday present. Tanner-would get to go to 2 Redsox games at Angels Stadium with his Dad. (First time at an MLB game for both of them-I don't know who was more excited!)

Day 1-was a travel day. We left home about 11:30 am and got to our motel at about 6:00 pm that night. For the most part the trip went well...Bryce actually handled being in the car for that long like a champ-it helped to have brother and sister in the back with him as well as some great Pinterest inspired activities to keep him entertained. First stop after getting settled into our motel and having the kids jump on the bed for a few minutes-dinner! We were hungry!!! We ended up going to Panda Express since we knew Bryce would eat the chow mein noodles-he is a very picky eater. After dinner we grabbed some sandwiches at Subway for lunch the next day and headed back to our motel. After getting back to the motel I realized I had forgotten a few things so we ran over to Target, which was just across the street. Tanner bought Bryce ninja turtle action figure while we were there-Bryce was so excited about it.

 Then it was time for a late night swim.

 Then time to get a good nights rest. Our next day would be busy from early until late.

SWIM MEDALS

 Chloe proudly displaying her medals from the "Beat the Heat' Swim Meet. All medals no ribbons-way to Go!!!

Beat the Heat Swim Meet 8/2/14

Last Saturday Chloe had her last swim meet of the season. She was signed up to swim 5 events and had been preparing herself to go head to head again with her archenemy (Sadie Fox-from Fredonia). Sadie is a really really good swimmer and every meet that her and Chloe have been in together Chloe has lost each event to her by milliseconds-Sadie taking 1st and Chloe taking 2nd time after time. Chloe was ready to battle it out at this swim meet-her goal beat Sadie Fox in at least one event. Also as far as we are aware Sadie has never lost an event she has swam in.

 Chloe's Events
200 Meter Freestlye Relay
50 Meter Butterfly
100 Meter Individual Medley
200 Meter Medley Relay (she swam the butterfly leg)
50 Meter Freestyle

She got off to a good start her Freestlye Relay team ended up taking second place earning a silver medal.

 Posing for a picture with B-Dog.

 Trying to stay calm and relax for a bit...it didn't last long before she was up running around the pool.

 2nd Event the Butterfly-it was her first time swimming it in competition and guess what she totally rocked it-it was beautiful (I couldn't get the video to upload on here sorry). She took first overall in it and won a gold medal.

 Then it was time for her Individual Medley...this consists of 25 yards each of the backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle and it meant it was time to go head to head to Sadie. Chloe gave it absolutely everything she had. They were neck and neck the whole time with Chloe being just ahead of Sadie going into the last leg and guess what she did it!!! She pulled it off-she beat her by a little more than an arm length. She took first overall and earned another gold medal. She was so excited!!! Sadie's coach was even impressed and came up and talked to Chloe and told her what a good race she had and what a good swimmer she was going to become one day if she just kept it up and stayed right there with Sadie. He also told her to be ready next year because Sadie was going to think about that loss all winter long-haha. We were so proud of her. She worked so hard for that moment.

 Her next race the medley relay...her team totally rocked it and lapped all but one of the teams...they took first and Chloe raked in another gold.
Her last race...the freestyle...by this point Chloe was dead beat she was going up against Sadie once again...She did her best, but she just didn't quite have it in her to pull it off again. She ended up taking 3rd overall so she got a bronze medal. She was a little bit sad and disappointed but we had to remind her just how awesome it was to medal in every event and that you can't win them all and after that she seemed better. (It really was a slow race for her and Sadie both...they were both 10 second slower than they had swam the week before at the Championships that shows you just how tired the both were.)

 Bryce burned out from all the fun....

 Chloe being her happy usual self...

 I am so glad we decided to put her on the swim team three years ago. She has come a long way since then, and we love watching her work hard and achieve her goals. She will go far if she continues to work hard and I have no doubt that she will.

 #ourgirl #partfish

Big Boy Bed

 When Bryce was younger we would put him in his crib and he would go to sleep sometimes he would cry for a little bit, but eventually he would still sleep. Then it was like all of a sudden he just refused to sleep in his crib he would cry seriously some nights for an hour or more with no sign of stopping. Tanner would rescue him and take him to bed with him...once that started there was no getting him to sleep in his crib-if he even sensed you were headed towards it he would start freaking out and screaming and crying for his "NAN" (Tan). We decided to get rid of the crib and set him up a "big boy bed" right next to "NAN". Although he liked the concept of his new bed and was pretty happy about it.....

this is where he usually still ends up every night!!! Snuggled up to his best buddy. He loves his big bro!!!

Championship Medals

At the swim meets they don't get their medals/ribbons the day of the meet. They usually have to wait a few days to get them. Chloe is always so excited when she finally gets hers. Here she is with her loot from the Championship Meet.

#ourgirl #partfish #futureolympian