Thanksgiving week

This year we went to San Diego for Thanksgiving week.  It was absolutely wonderful.  We visited old friends, went to the zoo, the the San Diego Safari Park and to Sea World.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and we all had a great time. 

I am not able to post pictures on the blog anymore :/, so until I get that figured out I am just going to have to settle for only writing.  So beware, you may or may not want to keep reading.  I want to write about it so I don't forget, but I don't know that it will be interesting to anyone but me.  :) 

When we were in San Diego we went to the beach and realized this was the first time Luca and Mia have EVER been!  They were in heaven.  It was pure joy for them to run from the waves and wade in the water.  (Things we take for granted and don't realize the true beauty of sometimes).  Luca in particular absolutely loved it. The older boys loved watching the surfers catch waves and I think they could have watched for hours.  Of course no one wore swimming suits because it wasn't that warm out, but by the time we were done, all eight kids were soaked.  :)  Nothing a little game of tag can't help dry off.  ;)  To say my kids loved being with the Riggs family is an understatement.  They had a blast and Mia is still talking about them.  I hear this from time to time as she looks at pictures on my phone "Them have twin girls, a sister and a brother.  Them my friends".  It's so cute.  She loved being with them and was spoiled endlessly by the girls.  All the attention....she just ate it up.  I was worried the boys would be stand offish since the kids their age were girls (and we all know girls have cooties) haha, but I didn't need to worry.  They were instant friends and loved hanging out with them. 

When we travel, something Udine likes to do is try new restaurants.  Ones we can't eat at here at home.  I love that he does this because we get some really great food and fun experiences while we are away!!  Udine and the boys loved watching the show Man vs Food and there were three different restaurants that were featured on the show that he wanted to try while we were in the San Diego area.  We made it to two of them.  The first was Lucha Libre and the boys thought it was the coolest.  I wish I had the pictures because that would explain why.  I thought the food was good, but nothing to rave about.  I had french fries in my burrito for the first time and it was actually really good.  :)  The second restaurant was Phil's BBQ.  The line was long to get in, but definitely well worth the wait.  I think it was the best BBQ I've ever had.  I would go back in a heart beat!!  We also tried a great burger place called Fat Burger that our friends recommended.  It did not disappoint.  :)  I almost forgot!  We also went to Pollo Compero.  A restaurant that Udine ate at in Guatemala.  He misses it and whenever we are near one he wants to go.  (This is the same restaurant we walked for a long ways to get to in Miami back in January).  Ooh, Udine, you probably haven't had that food twice in one year since you lived in Guate!!  You got lucky this year!!  :)  Anyway...

We loved going to the San Diego Zoo.   There are so many animals in each exhibit that there seemed to always be active animals we could watch.  We loved watching them.  It was an exhausting day of walking, but I was impressed with Mia that she handled it without a stroller.  Mia's favorite animal was the panda bear.  Luca's favorite was the koala bear.  Alessandro's favorite was the snake neck turtles and Diego's favorite were the monkey's.  The monkey's were actually really funny to watch.  There was one in particular that kept picking on another and it was hilarious.  It reminded me of siblings pushing each other's buttons. 

The Safari Park was a huge disappointment for us.  After going to the zoo the day before, it seemed pretty lame.  Not nearly as many animals.  And even seeing the animals in the "safari" was not all that great.  There were other things we could do there, but everything cost A LOT of extra money and we weren't willing to pay for it.  So lesson learned, we won't be going there again. 

Sea World was a huge hit though!!  So many fun things there.  We loved all the shows.  We saw a seal show, dolphin show, dog show, 2 shamu shows.  During the dolphin show we sat in the "soak zone" and well, we got soaked!!!  Mia was not happy.  We actually thought we weren't going to get too wet because the dolphins didn't seem to get the people too wet.  But at the very end some whales came and they definitely got us wet!!  Touching the bat rays, dolphins and star fish was also a huge it.  Elmo's world was loved by Luca and Mia and we rode the rides multiple times there and the kids also ran around the huge play area multiple times.  There were a few roller coasters there and Diego really wanted to go and since Udine doesn't do roller coasters and Alessandro is too scared to, I was the one designated to go with him.  I was so scared to, but in the end, was really glad I did.  We went on each a few times and it was a blast.  I handled those better than the tea cups.  ;)  I did end up getting sick there the last day and that was miserable.  I tried to push through, but when the vomiting started I just went to the car and waited for everyone else to finish their day of fun. 

We had an absolute blast and I am so happy we were able to go on this trip. It has become a fun tradition and we can't wait for the next time we head to CA.

FINALLY!!

The day has finally come!  They actually started digging!!  I am soo excited!!

Pumpkin Fun

The older boys carved their pumpkins all by themselves this year.  I think they were a bit disappointed.  Diego drew his own creative picture, but when he carved it, you couldn't really tell what it was.  (It was a character he likes to draw with a big head and little body).  And Alessandro picked a really hard one to carve, so it ended up being hard to tell what it was as well.  We advised them to do easier ones, but they were determined to do these.  Maybe they'll listen to us next time.  ;)  We made mummies with the little kids which turned out to be great!!  I think I prefer decorating pumpkins over carving.  :)

 I love the tongue sticking out concentration look.  hahaha

Happy Halloween!!

I really didn't get any great pictures of the kids in their costumes this year.  I don't know what my deal is!  I used to be so good about snapping away.  I need to get out of this funk and get back into it because I love looking back at pictures and it makes me a little sad when I do and can't find a good one of something we did!!  Oh well.  Anyway, Halloween always seems a little crazy for me.  The craziness begins with the school parade.  After which we go to Udine's work for a little carnival fun and then home to go trick or treat.  The kids were soo excited to go trick or treating.  Luca and Mia were bound and determined to keep up with the big boys.  They did great until Mia's shoes started hurting her because she was wearing her "princess shoes".  But even with that she lasted about 2 hours going at the big boy speed.  Her and Luca was giddy excited and it was fun for me to watch them run door to door.  We ended the evening at Peter and Amanda's to see all the cousin's in their costumes.  The weather was absolutely beautiful that day which made it for a very pleasant Halloween.  Fun was had by all.  :)

The sun is too bright!!!!

 Luca the shark

 Mia as Snow White

 Alessandro the hot dog

 Diego the pizza

 Doughnut eating contest

 

 

 They had a great face painter there this year.  The kids loved it.

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

 

Pickles

Happy Birthday Pickles!!!  We don't actually know her exact birthday but we say it is Sept 19 2007.  She got to celebrate and have hot dogs in her food!  :)  Anyway, I just saw these pictures Udine took so I thought I'd make a record of her 5th birthday. 

Zoo

For fall break we wanted to do something fun with the kids, so yep, we went to the zoo again.  I know I've posted zoo pictures a lot of times, but it's something we like to do as a family and I always want to document it.  It was a cooler day so lots of animals were active.  It is the first time we've been able to see the new exhibits with the polar bear and sea animals.  We had a great time like always.  :)
 

 This gorilla was hilarious!!!  He was playing a lot and all of a sudden ran to the window and slammed his hand on it right in front of Diego's face.  It was like he was mad at Diego or something.  Too funny. 

This guy kept swimming in circles 

Some sprinklers went off and scared these bears.  It was cool to see them run and then stand up like this to see what was going on.

 They love to pose for pictures...it never gets old for them

 The tigers were eating rabbits....eewww

 We love making Mia go in the reptile area because she can't handle the smell.  It is soo funny to watch her.  She can't get out of there fast enough. 

Scheels

Scheels just opened up near us and it's a pretty awesome store.  Finally a store nearby that carries Packers clothing/gear!!  Woohoo!  :)  The kids had fun taking pictures at all the little displays.  They wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel that's in the middle of the store, but we said No, so they had to make do with all the free stuff.  :)