Road Trip part 4

-Christmas Day-
The kids woke up late to stockings and they were very excited- mostly because they were accustomed to us starving them until 10 pm and now they had candy to eat. Can we say WIRED!? We packed up and headed out of not so sunny Anaheim. Remember the forecast of an inch of rain? Well, it had arrived. We were totally OK with that because we were not having to stand out in it! When I saw it, I was all the more grateful for a great Christmas Eve in Disneyland. We were now headed to San Diego. We stayed in Emilee and Cody's apartment in La Jolla. I love La Jolla and it was so nice of them- Thank you!!! Emma went around looking at and petting all the baby stuff. She probably wrapped up some things and hid them somewhere! (Emilee, I hope nothing is missing. Just the other day I found a stuffed pig in one of my seldom used pots. Scared me!) On the drive down, the boys kept staring at the ocean planning all the things that they were going to do once they were able to play in it. We unloaded all of our stuff at Emilee and Cody's and then went and had a great Mexican Christmas dinner. We enjoyed the place all to ourselves until we were almost done. We then drove to the beach and got out. The boys quickly discovered, due to the fact that it had just stopped raining and the temperature was still around 48 degrees, that all their plans from the drive down was not going to happen. But they paled in some caves and discovered that the water really does rise- and quickly. It was funny to watch their faces as the water kept coming, and coming, and coming! Oh no! I just got my shoes and pants wet! We then drove by the San Diego Temple which was all lit up. We were there about 10 minutes before it started sprinkling. By the time we got to the car we were all drenched!

It was a great way to spend Christmas Day- quiet, together and mostly RESTING!!
Merry Christmas!

-Sea World-

Sea World was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Again, Jarom came down from LA to spend the day with us. We went to the dolphin show, the sea lion show and of course the Orca show. We had front row Splash Zone seats to all of these- thanks to our rain gear! It was so fun. Later, we to the night time Christmas show with Shamu. We had 2nd row seats behind the platform in the middle of the pool where the orcas swim up on their bellies! We staring down the throat of a killer whale! It was awesome. The Christmas show was fabulous. The guy and girl singing were right in front of us. Emma thought the girl trainers were Ariel and the boys want to be trainers now! We were able to talk to one of the girl trainers afterwards and she told Ti all he needed to do to be one. I can still the dream in his eye.



After the show, we continued on to see the rest of the exhibits we hadn't seen yet. We came to one of those areas where guys are drawing character sketches. They have all the examples of different people they have done up on the wall as advertising. Ted was immediately excited to have one done of our family. But I am too much of a cheap skate to ever want to fork over the dough. He was pretty persistent and I finally relented. I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. What ensued was probably the funniest experience of our family's life!!!

The guy suggested the finished product be one where all 6 of our heads will float on a blue background. So Emma was first up, she sat still but had this funny little grin on her face. She knew she was the center of attention and LOVED it. We stood behind the guy who was drawing the picture and watched him. She was turning out pretty cute. I thought, "This is cute, this is fun!" Next up is Joe. He is sitting there also with this weird look on his face and the boys are making him laugh. I was wondering how he was going to turn out. But after he was done I was thinking, "Ummm. . .well, yes, I guess that looks like Joe." He was still pretty cute and both he and Emma had big blue eyes and curly hair. Then the fun began.

Tate was next in line and what happened after that was a blur because it turned into a sea of comments and 'making you pee' laughter. Now, what you have to envision is this. All of the boys are crowding around the guy- who is trying to draw!- making comments and observations every time his pen touched the paper.



Ohh! Tate, your teeth are funny. Your chin is pointy and big.
Tate your eyes are small.
Oh, you are not going to like this- well it's OK. I guess.
I like Joe better. Emma is the cutest.

Ti, you didn't like my teeth, but look at your teeth. Ti your. . .
(Ted mimes to me to look at Ti's ears)
Ti responds, "Hey, I saw that. You are talking about my ears aren't' you!? What do my ears look like? Is he making them big and pointy?"
Ti gets down- "I knew it. You were talking about my ears. I belong in Santa's workshop. Hey, you made me into an elf!"
Joe and Emma are the cutest, me and Tate are the weirdest.

"Mom it's your turn!
Ohh mom, your nose is funny. It has a triangle on it- it is a triangle.
Mom, your hair looks weird- oh that's better"
Your teeth look. . . um, big and pointy.
(Ted is in the back ground looking at me like he just stepped in something disgusting and pointing to the picture and mouthing "Wait 'til you see it!")
Mom, you look hideous!
Yep, it definitely goes, Emma then Joe then Tate and then Ti and Mom you look the worst.

Dad, your turn.
Dad, you have a big nose.
Dad, you look funny. Your head is big.
Are you going to draw his eyes?
Dad's eyes are closed.
"Well at least you all have eyes. I don't even have eyes and my nose is as big as Joe's head!"

I was laughing the whole time until I was breathless. Jarom's comment on the finished product was the best: "Well, it is a character drawing. You can either make the people cuter than they really are or uglier. I guess we know what he does." (I actually went home and smiled in the mirror wondering if you could really see my bottom teeth while I smiled.)

The best part is to watch peoples facial expressions as they look at the picture. They naturally look to the center of the picture at Joe and Emma and then start glancing sideways. Their faces go from a soft smile of "that's so cute" to "ohh? Ahhh! That's funny" with an "I am so sorry" look on their faces. That makes me laugh harder each time.