Just Me and My Girl: Emma's 12 Yr-Old Trip

Once we finally got everything ready for us to leave (babysitters, calling covered, schedules written, school projects finished early, etc.), and we got into the car, we were on our own (except for Dana standing at the porch watching us drive off) and both feeling exuberant. I was every bit as excited as she was. Now that she's 12, she gets to sit up front and it was fun having her be my navigator as we made our way to San Diego. We talked and played 20 questions and at the end, in the dark, drove over a windy mountain road through a thick cloud filled with lots of rain. We arrived Wednesday night and got home Monday late afternoon, so we had 4 full days of fun. And we packed that fun in. I have a narrowed-down favorite photo count of 75 on Photobucket but I'm going to make a mini blog book on Shutterfly, so don't worry I won't share them all here :) So here's a summary of our amazing trip.

Thursday- Sea World

When I thought about activities for our trip that Emma would like, I thought of animals right away. Emma has loved animals from the time she was born. She hadn't been to Sea World since she was 4 so I knew that'd be perfect. We drove (rather than flying) and stayed with family so that the money we spent would be on experiences. Emma's also been babysitting and paid for a portion of the trip herself.

We both loved Sea World. The weather was perfect and it wasn't very crowded. There was so much to touch and look at...

We sat in back on this ride and just got a little wet. No such luck for that guy in front...
One of the special "experiences" Sea World has is interactive programs with a dolphin or beluga whale. A couple months ago I made a reservation for 1 for the "Beluga Whale Experience". When we got there I was a surprised at how big they are! Also you have to sign a liability form saying you won't sue Sea World if your child dies or is harmed. I was a little nervous but Emma overall was calm and excited.
We also enjoyed 2 of their shows...
Then it was time to meet the whale :) They go in groups of 8 but their session had 7. Everyone else was an adult.
She was super smiley the whole time and to me it seemed like she got the most time with the whale. Maybe because she was the youngest, or maybe he could tell she was the most excited. I was a little ways away and had to crop these so they're a little grainy.

note: I do have a couple complaints about the program although I'm really glad she did it. First they showed up 5 mins past the time they told us to be there and really didn't put much effort into welcoming us. More like- okay, you go this way and you guys come with us. (I didn't get to stay with Emma for the other behind the scenes stuff she did like watch a walrus eat and do tricks.) Then after it was over, they marched us half way across the park for us to view cute and upclose pictures they took. Minimum package: 2 pics for $35. Whole CD: $89. I was a little annoyed and made due with the pictures I took. The experience is $190 and I just thought that it'd be really nice if part of that cost could include maybe 1 cute, upclose picture. Anyway, there it is. In case you're considering doing it too.

Friday- 12th Birthday

In the morning we went with Sally to beach near her apt. Just being there at the beach is so, so, so fun. It was a beautiful day. I had to remind myself why we can't live there.

We were loving hanging out with little Jamesy. He is just so cute and at such a great age.
Emma found some tide pools and Sally and I talked to a couple tourists.
Next stop: San Diego Wild Animal Park. I love that place! Much better then a zoo. This is the start of our tram ride.
I surprised Emma there that we were going to go on the zipline they have. Well she figured it out earlier than planned but was still surprised. She was much more nervous for this than the whale experience. You have to be 75 lbs min and so we had to weigh her and she was 75! We really got lucky because you can't be a pound under. You can kind of see the landing platform behind us. It was so fun! It goes 55 mph over all the wild animals who casually looked up at us as we flew over them.
I loved looking down at this little guy while we were there. I need a shirt that says "Will work for baby-smiles" It's true- I will :)
That night Sally took us downtown to a Ghirardelli store to get a birthday sundae :)

Saturday

Whale Watching (thank you Groupon)
Waiting patiently for that ba-ba. (he hearts those ba-ba's). Love this cute family! They were so sweet to break from their schedules and spend time with us and let us take over their apartment for a couple days.
Birthday girl watching for those whales :)
We were lucky. We found a pair and followed them. We saw lots of these...
And were also treated to a HUGE group of dolphins swimming past us.
Gram came down that morning to spend the day with us. We love that "Gram". She bought us Dramamine and we were grateful.
But everyone got really sleepy..
We barely made it to lunch awake (well the drivers were barely awake. I was out cold- not even responding to my mom telling me to answer her cell phone.) but then the food luckily rejuvenated us.

Our next stop was the beautiful San Diego temple for Emma to do baptisms for the first time. She had a special experience.
We had a really packed day Saturday because my mom had tickets for "Sound of Music" for that night in Fullerton. So we bid San Diego, Sal, Eter, and sweet baby adieu and drove to OC. It was a really good show. It ended at 11pm and Emma was pooped.
Sunday- A day of rest. Ahhh

We went to church, Emma got to open her first actual gifts, we read, relaxed, made dinner, and went in the jacoozi at night. Possibly my favorite day. Which makes me a boring, lazy adult I guess. But I loved having time to be with/talk to my mom. It made the mother-daughter weekend complete.
And visit with grandpa too of course!
I am so grateful to have Emma. She's growing up on me but remains so sweet and level-headed (knocking on wood). She's so fun to be with and I'm thankful we had this extra time to bond and enjoy each other. A nice break from our busy days when I'm juggling 4 kids and all their activities and homework assignments. I was better able to show her how much I love her and love talking to her.
Happy Birthday baby! Thanks for being YOU.