All BROWN Eyes: surprises.

a few weeks ago we told the kids that we were going on a vacation. so one morning, we drove them down to mesquite, nv. the next morning we got up and told the kids we had a special surprise for them. but they had to wait, cause it was going to take a long time to drive there. the kids did really well driving 2 long days in a row. they had no idea where we were going until we hit the ocean! they {okay, me & cory too} were super excited. connor had been talking about the ocean for a while now. each day we had a new surprise for them. whether it be playing at the beach, going to sea world, playing at the park on the beach, going to the san diego zoo, visiting family, and even disneyland! the kids loved every minute of it. this was our first big family vacation as just our little family and we made lots of precious memories.

we {i} took lots of photos, and here are some {okay, a lot} of the highlights.

waiting for "it's a small world"

teacups

we enjoyed breakfast with minnie & friends. this is connor and 'dale'. we just investigated and found out that this is dale. dale has the red nose and chip has the brown one, like a chocolate chip. and there you go...chip 'n dale lesson for the day! you're welcome.

mabel was super excited to meet minnie.

on the balboa pier

view from our condo's beach

dolphins came to our beach on 2 mornings while we were there! it was so awesome! i sat there forever trying to get a good shot of one of them jumping...this is the best i could do. there were at least 12 of them swimming not to far from shore.

riding the tour bus at the zoo. it was a lifesaver! that zoo is huge!

cute panda bear at the zoo. connor & mabel each came home with a stuffed one. i told them about when i was little and my oma & opa bringing us stuffed panda bears from one of their trips and so they were convinced that they needed some to come home with us. if you look closely at the pier picture, the pandas joined us.