Wish You Were Here?

Wish you were here....we know you do!!! We took a little day trip down to La Jolla for the day. We mostly hung out by La Jolla Cove and the Children's Pool (better known as where the seals have called home). It was a beautiful day and the ocean was such a pretty color blue.

I missed the beach so much while we were in Utah!


Mommy and Rian looking at the waves.

Daddy and Rian. What a beautiful backdrop!

I totally took growing up in San Diego for granted...it wasn't until we moved that I realized how lucky we are to have grown up here!

Here's the Children's Pool. For those of you who don't know, it actually used to be a children's pool. Matt remembers swimming here before the seals arrived. Now it belongs to the seals, they took it over so they would have a safe haven from the sharks. When we were here, most of them were sunbathing, but a few were riding the waves and playing in the water (we couldn't get a good pic of that). There is a huge controversy over whether the city should let the seals continue to call the beach home or if they should give it back to the children. I say there a tons of beaches here in SD for the kids to play at, so why not let the seals stay. Besides the fact that they smell awful, it's always fun to see them.

I'm Walking (Sort Of)

Rian loves to walk (with help of course)! She always gets so excited to do it!

Rian's cousin Aurora, 4, is helping her walk.

Beach Day!

I was so warm the other day, so we took Rian to the beach for her first time. Unfortunately, it was overcast (does this surprise you?) but it was still warm, so we had a nice time.

In my cute bikini...thanks Mo!

Chillin with Daddy

Rian is getting so good at walking (with a little help, of course). Matt wanted to take her close to the water, so they 'walked'.

She was so unsure of the water. I think because it came up to her so quickly.

Walking back!

It was so cute watching her play with the sand. She would see a clump of it and try to grab it, only to have it crumble in her little hand. She thought it was very interesting hence the look on her face.

Swim!

So we signed Rian up for swim lessons through the Y for the summer. It's a "Mommy and Me" type class and the point of it is to really get Rian comfortable in the water. I mean you can't really expect a 10 month old to swim, right? The classes are twice a week and we do all sorts of fun things: we sing "wheels on the bus", "hokey-pokey", and "motor boat", we blow bubbles, kick our legs, relax on our backs, scoop our arms, and of course dunk them underwater (that's Rian's favorite, not)! Since Matt had the day off work, I convinced him to take her one day. Can I tell you how much it melts your heart to watch your baby and your husband spend such precious time together!

This is a pretty neat trick (however it works better with older children, not infants). The instructor took a noodle and tied it around Rian's body right under her arms and it helps her float. The older kids can swim the whole length of the pool without any help, so I want to try it with my nephew when he comes to visit in July.

Kicking my legs

Kicking the ball

Singing "Wheels on the Bus"

Relaxing on my back

I'm 10 Months Today!

Here's another birthday photo (although we posted it a few days late)!

Sea World

We had such a good time at Sea World. The weather was great and the park was empty (for the most part). I think it's my favorite park here in San Diego!

We love this picture. That would be me with the perfect timing!

It was feeding time for the dolphins! After watching them for a little bit, I turned to Matt and said 'I want a pet dolphin'. He promised me we could go swim with them when we go on our big vacation after his graduation. I guess I can settle for that instead!

Our cute baby girl!

Don't tell anyone...but I fed him a cheez-it or two or three.

I did these two pictures backwards, but oh well. Here is the duck walking closer.

So we sat down by the dolphins feeding area to change Rian's diaper (hence the diaper in the picture). After Matt changed her he sat her on his lap to look at the dolphins and this little duck started to walk up to them.

This was a show called Cirque de la Mer. It's a lot like Cirque de Soleil. It's so amazing watching these people perform.

Look at his incredible strength.

Wild Animal Park

While Matt has some time off before he starts his internship, we decided to have a little family time. We first went to the Wild Animal Park. We got some pretty good pictures of the lions. There was a mommy and her two cubs. They were definitely our favorite. We got up really early that morning and got there right when the park opened, so all the animals were really active.

Rian was really excited to take the little tram ride.

Mommy and her cub

Here's the other cub chillin on the top of the range rover. I thought that was pretty cool.

This is the same cub that was on the car. Do you know how many pics I took to actually get one good one of his face without the glare directly on it? Try 10. But we think it was worth it! Thank heaven for digital cameras!

Fun with Family

We love being in San Diego because we are with our family (well, most of them that is). We're lucky to have this opportunity to spend so much time with them and especially have Rian really get to know everyone!

Rian and Grandma Lois. Cute, huh? This is the face Rian makes whenever we first get our camera out. It usually takes a few pictures to get a real smile, not a silly one.

Rian and her Auntie Andrea. They had a lot of fun playing together and reading books.

Georgia Aquarium

Matt's parents took us to the Georgia Aquarium while we were on vacation. We were told that it is the biggest aquarium in the country, pretty cool huh? They had two huge tanks, one held 4 beluga whales and the other had 3 whale shakes along with tons of other fish. It was fun to see Rian's reaction to all the animals too!

This is Rian at the very beginning of our trip....she was a little unsure of the tank.

But you can see she quickly found the fish and really enjoyed it!

Here's one of the huge tanks. You can kind of see one of the whale sharks in the upper left corner.

Mommy and Rian sitting in front of the tank.

Rian and Grandpa Dave having fun at the aquarium!

Ohhh, we just loved this picture....Rian with her head resting on her Grandpa.

The fam in front of the waterfall.

Rian absolutely loved these penguins. The two penguins were swimming up and down in the front corner of the glass. We parked Rian right in front of it for about 10 minutes. She was so happy! She was talking to them and laughing at them and screaming at them (in a good way of course). It was so fun watching her.

A beluga whale

A whale shark

The sea turtles were my personal favorite.

Getting Ready for Swim

We stayed at a hotel the night before we flew back to SLC because we were flying out of Atlanta, GA (about 2 1/2 hours from Montgomery). I signed us up for a Mommy and Me swim class at the YMCA and it was going to start in about a week, so we wanted to get her more comfortable with the pool. This is how we enjoyed our night!

My mom bought Rian this whole swim outfit including an adorable bikini, floppy hat, and a hoody. Here's Rian showing off her hat!

I had to take pictures in her hoody too! Isn't is so cute?

This is her second time in the pool....her first was when she was only 6 weeks old. She really liked it!

Rian and Daddy

Rian and Mommy