Shamu Slam, etc.

Our most recent excursion to California Adventure and Disneyland.

We love the California Screamin' roller coaster and the Toy Story ride in California Adventure! And this time we saw the little green men! Hooray! I (Anita) am finally getting the hang of these "roller coasters." Tami, Britney, Angie, Lisa, and Am: You should be SO PROUD! I kept my eyes open the whole time (except for the upside-down part). Haha! :)

How many people does it take to get a picture of the entire castle? The answer: TBD. Everytime we go to Disneyland, we ask someone to take a picture of us in front of the castle--not for traditions sake, but because we still don't have one of both of us together in front of the WHOLE castle (top spire and all).

We still don't.

Oh well. We did try the shooting range for the first time on this trip, which was fun, and we saw the Jedi Training Camp! So so cool! :) If you have kids, that would be a fun thing to go to.

This weekend, we went to San Diego for a couple days. We started at Sea World and walked straight in to a Shamu show (the orca whale).

The dolphin feeding--see them all under the water?

Starfish! In freezing cold water--brrrr!

Sea Turtle

On the Sky Ride gondola over Mission Bay.

Flamingos!

These birds reek, by the way. Ew. And they were squawking really loudly. Kind of funny animals.

Our 2nd Shamu show.

The trainers would swim with the orcas. They rode the whales like a surf board. They stood on the whale and walked to "turn" the whale, like you would with log rolling. They also stood on the whale's nose (I don't really know if that's where its nose is, but the front of its body, anyway) and the whale would shoot up into the air with the trainer on top. Sometimes the trainer would jump off and do a cool trick, like in the picture.

At the 2nd show, we decided to sit closer since we got there earlier. We weren't even in the "splash zone"--it was the "SOAK ZONE."

They weren't kidding.

There's a signal they give the whales called the "Shamu Slam." So he goes around the pool and splashes everyone sideways, and then he comes back--only to our section--and sticks his tail straight up in the air and shovels a million gallons of water right at us! It was awesome! But wet. But great! But uncomfortable afterwards. But worth it. :)

The signal for the Shamu Slam!

Oh yeah, and while we were there, we "redeemed Atlantis." (At least, that's what the voice on the ride said.)

In a polar bear den.

There were these crazy growling noises and this little kid was just getting into this cove, and he jumped out and looked up very horror-stricken and said, "Dad! It's a monster!" Haha. :) Cute.

A beluga whale--these babies are muscular!

Penguins

Jaws.

Next, we went to the San Diego Zoo.

We saw all sorts of animals, including

koala bears . . .

camels . . .

elephants . . .

giant pandas . . .

giraffes . . .

and more! Some of our other favorites were the jaguars (there was a black one that was pacing right next to the glass and if you got down to face level with him--YIKES! Talk about intimidating!), monkeys, orangatans, and sun bears. Some of the animals (I can't remember which it was now) were licking on a salt block, just like we used to have in the corral with the cattle!

After the zoo, we went to Extraordinary Desserts. There I am, trying to decide what to get. So many scrumptious options!

We finally decided on the chocolate bundt cake and the dulce de leche cake.

And the raspberry danish.

Just call me porky.

Have a sweet Valentine's Day! :)