California Knows How to Party....

Well, yet another, much too short trip. This time we thought we would switch it up, and not go to Disneyland, but enjoy more of the many attractions Southern California has to offer. This time, we decided to take my nieces to the Long Beach Aquarium for Emery's birthday. If you know Cody, you know that he loves aquatic animals, and he is practically obsessed with fish (we have a 50 gallon tank at home). So he was as excited as anyone to go. We got to touch sting rays, and sharks in the pools outside. That was interesting. The texture of their skin was completely opposite. Rays are very slimy, and sharks have very sand-papery-like skin. It was cool though. The sharks were very mellow and just liked to lay at the bottom on the pools in the sand.
The tanks were filled with interesting fish. The girls had fun finding all of the different colors, and sizes of each fish. They also liked to point out the funniest looking ones.

There were HUGE tanks. And LOTS of people. It was really crowded, but having the kids was quite an advantage, people like to make room for them to sneak by and get a closer look.

The seals are always good for entertainment. Fallon & Emery liked them the best, I think. They would watch them all day if we would let them. They liked to watch them swim in the tanks and do flips, but they liked to see them do little tricks up top as well.

The otters were really energetic. I have seen quite a few out in the wild, and they seem to have a lot of personality. Probably one of MY favorites to go and see.

I didn't count the tanks, but there were ALOT of them. Filled with all of the fish in various areas. The tropical were the most eye-catching.The kids also go to see a diver inside the tanks, that was hooked up to a mic, so he would answer questions that people had while he was swimming around. It was neat. So that was our Thursday.

Friday, Cody and I went with Erin and her kids to the Oaks Mall. I haven't been there in probably a year or more. We relaxed, did a little bit of shopping, and just enjoyed walking around together. HOLY COW has it gotten bigger!

Just before we went and got our family pictures done, Jeff blessed little Porter at home. It was an awesome blessing, to say the least, we were very proud of Jeff. Porter, being the content little guy he is, stayed quiet and just listened to his daddy's voice. That evening we went and got our family pictures taken, since we had some new additions since last time; Fallon, Rhett, Cody & little Porter. It was a lot of fun, but the beach isn't the best for keeping one's hair in tact. But we had a lot of fun with it, we will just have to wait and see what they look like.

Just thought I would throw in a close-up of Porter, since you can't really see him, and how cute he is in the family shot.

And then on Saturday, we hung out until it was time for this little guy's birthday. We could not believe Rhett is already a year old!!! We had fun at the part with both our family & Randy's family. We enjoyed some good food, and LOTS of candy!

All in all, it was a wonderful few days! Only wish we could have stayed and played longer. The whole time I was trying to think of ways we could stay...but alas, I came up short. We are back in Utah, and back to life! We can't wait to go again and spend time with my family! Miss you guys already!!!!