Family Trip to San Diego

Ryan and I both love San Diego. We had both been there separately, but never together. This spring we took the opportunity to make a family trip there, and we got to go with my dad! (Hopefully next time my mom can come too!)

Day 1- We left the house at 9:15 AM, picked up Dad and went to the airport. The girls were wonderful on the flight. We arrived in San Diego at about 1:30 PM. We got our rental car and drove to the hotel.

We got unpacked and settled in a little and then went to dinner at Miguel's. It was really yummy Mexican food!

After dinner we went to a nearby beach. Brianna got very afraid of the water, so she and I cuddled on a chair. Maya scavenged for seashells and then Ryan held her and let the waves get their feet. Dad sat with Brianna and me. It was pretty cold and windy (and getting late) so we went back to the hotel. We planned the week and then Dad and I went to the grocery store to get breakfast items so we could eat in the hotel each morning.

 

 Day 2 - We got up and had breakfast in the hotel room.We loved having an apartment for our hotel room(s)!
We went to the San Diego Temple grounds. We saw two hummingbirds, a snail, and a spider making roly poly for lunch.

Drove to the Mormon Batallion Historical Site. Cute delivery! They had videos and rooms staged for the story. At the end, the girls got to pretend to do laundry and pick out a tiny piece of "gold".

We had lunch at Pizza Bella. They have a delicious seafood pizza. Maya ate 2 big pieces (of cheese pizza). Brianna took a quick snooze on my shoulder, but freaked out when I handed her off to Ryan so I could go to the bathroom. I stuck her in the LILLEbaby and hoped she would fall asleep again, but she never did.
We walked around and did a little shopping and got ice cream. We headed back to the hotel close to 4 PM. Brianna fell sound asleep, and asked to be put into her bed when we got to the hotel.
Ryan and I took Maya to the pool for 30 minutes while Brianna slept. The air was too cold to stay any longer than that.
We woke up Brianna, got redressed, and drove to Oceanside for dinner. We walked down the pier (1/3 mile long) and ate dinner at Rudy's at the end of the pier. It was a cute diner and it was fun to be out over the ocean, even if it swayed a tiny bit.
After dinner it was almost 9 PM so we came back to the hotel and put the girls to bed.

 Day 3 - We went to Sea World! The girls loved the dolphin interaction when they got to pet the dolphin's nose.

The sea lion/otter show was really fun and entertaining.

We had lunch at a smokehouse in the park. It was surprisingly delicious. Maya and Brianna were super good and played together nicely while Ryan and Dad got the food (which took a bajillion minutes).

We saw polar bears, killer whales, walruses, penguins, and beluga whales (to name a few).

The girls got to on their first amusement park ride: Elmo's Flying Fish. I rode with Maya and my dad took Brianna. And then Brianna and my dad went on the tea cups! The rest of us sat that one out.

I put Brianna in my LILLEbaby and she finally fell asleep for a while. We saw the sharks and then the dolphin show. Brianna loved the jumping dolphins!

After the show we headed back to the hotel. We stopped at Tip Top Meats, a little German joint, to get dinner to go. We took dinner to the hotel, and then Ryan and I went to the temple to do an endowment session. It was lovely and wonderful to go into that temple! Gorgeous Celestial Room!

 Day 4 - Today we went to the zoo! We started the day off by going on a bus tour. It was nice to see some animals that we didn't get back to seeing again later. It is a 100 acre zoo!

We saw lots of monkeys, a polar bear, giraffes, lions, a panda bear (or at least the rear of it), orangutan, a lot of birds, warthog, zebra, snakes, alligator wanna-bes, a peacock, gorillas, and tigers. We saw a lot!

In an aviary my dad said that birds in the zoo don't poop, and then he got pooped on! Ha! Brianna freaked whenever a bug came near her; sweet thing. Maya was a trooper and walked 95% of the time.

Maya got a little penguin (which she named Pushkin) and Brianna picked out a tiger.

After lunch we rode the Skyway to the front of the park and headed out to Coronado. Driving over the bridge to get there was neat.

We went straight to the beach and changed into swimsuits. We took chairs and towels and found a nice spot. Maya and Brianna spent a little while playing with the sand toys.

Ryan and Maya went out into the water, and then I joined them. Papa and Brianna stayed by the chairs. The water was SO cold!! Maya got unhappy when she got splashed in the face so we went back to the chairs, where Ryan turned our babies into mermaids.

At about 6:30 we used the showers and changed back into our clothes.

We went to dinner at Peohe's, which turned out to be rather fancy (and delicious). Thankfully the girls were very well behaved. We had seafood, and it was amazing. The restaurant sat right on the harbor, so the view was also wonderful. Eventually Maya and Brianna both fell asleep. At the restaurant. It was after 9 PM by that point, so I was glad. We finally got back to the resort at almost 11 PM. Straight to bed for everybody.

Day 5 - Due to the late night before, we all slept in until 8:15. After getting ready, we left a little after 10 AM to go to Legoland. There was private entrance right from our resort parking lot.

Maya and Ryan played in a hideaway similar to a lost boys hideout. It looked like so much fun!

We walked around and looked at different areas of the park. Minitown USA was really cute with all of the different replicas.

Attack of Godzilla!

Highlights included:

• Brianna played with giant legos

• Maya drove a little car all by herself

• Maya and Ryan built a big lego wall - picture on the husband's phone
• The girls rode a little train together (twice)

• Maya and I drove a boat together

• "Helicopter" ride

• Funny little show that Maya enjoyed with Papa

• Carousel (rode it twice!)

• Apple Fries, and letting Brianna go to town with legos while the apple fries were being fetched.

• Maya rode her first roller coaster with me and Ryan. She had a blast! I was so happy that it didn't scare her.

• Rode two different boats to look at fun (huge) figurines

• Brianna took a short nap in the LILLEbaby

• Both girls are great at traveling! 

We left the park at about 6 PM and went to dinner at Casa de Bandido. Neither kid was very hungry, but the adults ate just fine. Brianna got pretty crazy and we had to take her out. 

We got back to the resort at 8:15, put the girls down, did laundry, and relaxed.

Day 6 -  Woke up and went to breakfast after checking out of the hotel. After breakfast we drove along the coastline highway for a little ways before getting on the freeway.

We went to Sea World again! It started raining right when we got there, but thankfully it cleared up pretty quickly. 

We saw the stingrays and octopus and huge fish.

Then we watched the dolphin show again because it was such a hit with the girls the first time.

And then we went to the Shamu show! It turned out to be a little less exciting than I remembered. Part of the time the whales did not cooperate with their trainers. It was still fun to see those beautiful creatures.

After Sea World, we went to the USS Midway, a retired military aircraft boat...barge. It was HUGE.

Ryan got to see the same kind of plane his grandpa flew in the Air Force. Ryan and my dad kept commenting on how they could spend all day there and how amazing it was. 

Maya was really great and stayed with Ryan the whole time (she walked almost the entire trip - all 6 days!)

Brianna was a different story. While she stayed with me (because she was strapped to me), she was super ready to go home. Every time we got on a helicopter she would say, "Helicopter fly home?" She bawled almost the whole time we were there.

After the Midway we headed to the airport. We had dinner there and the girls watched Finding Nemo while we waited for the plane to board. The flight went great; we all slept.

We got back to our house after midnight. Brianna was so happy and giddy to go to sleep in her own bed. 

It was such a fun trip and I'm very glad we got to do it with my dad. Until next time!!

Weekend Trip to Colorado Springs

This past weekend we got to go to Colorado Springs to attend the baby blessing of Eviana, Brendon and Crystal's new baby girl. I loved getting to snuggle a newborn again. I couldn't believe how tiny she seemed (even though she was born at more than 2 lbs heavier than Brianna was at birth; it's amazing how tiny a newborn always seems). 

Maya and Brianna were both so excited to meet their new cousin. Ever since Eviana was born Maya would ask when we were going to see her. 

Brianna took to the mothering role quickly. She loved sweet Eviana. She got to feed her a bottle and loved to hold her. She did "This Little Piggie" with Eviana's fingers. But Brianna got a little irritated when Eviana would flail her arms and touch her. ("Touch me!") It was fun to watch them together.

Maya loves playing with her older cousins. Brielle was really wonderful with Maya. The first night we were there Maya had a sleep over with Brielle and Aislynn. She thought it was the greatest thing, and was super excited when we told her she was staying the night.

Ryan and I took Brianna to a hotel to sleep. Brianna got to watch Sunday morning cartoons for a little while so that Ryan and I could get ready.

I had forgotten to take diapers back to the hotel with us, so we went back to Brendon and Crystal's house at about 9 AM to avoid a diaper explosion. When we got there, the kids were all lined up on the couch eating dry cereal and watching Inside Out. I was so glad to see that Maya wasn't phased by Ryan and I not being there when she woke up.

Maya loved to snuggle Eviana too.

We left on Monday morning and took Ryan straight to the airport to fly to China for 2 weeks on business. The girls did great in the car. Brianna didn't even fall asleep the entire 2 1/2 hours, which was fabulous so her afternoon nap wasn't messed up (a much needed thing for a mom who works from home).

We really enjoyed our weekend getaway to visit family!

Scary Maya Moment

This past weekend we went to Taylor's baptism. It was great to witness the ordinance, and Maya is super excited to get baptized someday. She wanted to watch more!

After the baptism we all went to Brady and Erin's for food and social time. Around 6 PM, Maya was jumping on the trampoline with most of her older cousins. They were being very careful and watching her, but accidents always seem to happen anyway.

We heard panicked kids and then the back door opened and they kids said, "Maya is crying. She fell off of the trampoline (onto concrete and rocks)." Instant heart racing!! Jared (I think - to be honest, I never looked at who was carrying her) brought her in carried in a seated position, facing forward. Maya's arms were dangling and her head was hanging crooked to the side. She was silently whimpering. Even MORE heart racing!! I yelled, "She's not moving!" Ryan ran over, tried to put her head up but it flopped back down (apparently when one is panicking all knowledge of not messing with a person with a broken neck or back goes out the window). He snatched her from Jared's arms and ran into the office to lay her down and check her out. By then, she was crying hysterically but not moving. Ryan kept squeezing her foot and pushing on her legs but she was not pushing back. Brady was about to call 911 and then she finally started kicking her legs.

After things calmed down slightly, we gave Maya some Motrin because she was in a lot of pain. We found a large bump on her head, but no other marks or scrapes. I held a bag of frozen corn on her head while Ryan and Brady gave her a blessing. (Funny side note: Brianna was in the room with a balloon in her mouth. She was flicking spit all over my face during the blessing.) Ryan told her that we get hurt to learn how our bodies work. He blessed her that she would be fine and that her mind would not be affected.

After the blessing we went into the family room and Maya laid on me. And then she fell asleep. So of course everybody is now concerned about a concussion. We kept trying to wake her up, but it was difficult. I called Brendon (super grateful to have a doctor in the family!) and after a few minutes of discussing what happened and her current state, he suggested taking her to the ER because she couldn't wake up. As Ryan and I were leaving to take her, the cold air woke her up and she stayed awake. Thank goodness. We did not want to have to deal with the ER and were so glad that she was acting more alert.

We kept close eye on her that night and made sure she was comfortable. I am so so so glad my baby girl is okay. It was a very scary moment.

It also strengthened my testimony of priesthood blessings. I truly believe the power it has helped to heal her quickly. The bump on her head was gone the next day, and she was acting happy and herself by morning. It could have been so much worse.

Fun Times at the Koenig's

Maya was originally in time out....

Brianna is loving to put shoes on all by herself - including ones that aren't hers!

Sometimes Maya likes to pretend to be a puppy. She has on tokidoki Donutella ears! Not to worry, I stayed close by while she was leashed.

Maya is practicing taking photos.

And Brianna has a boyfriend!

Park Days

Oh, hello Spring Time!! We are so so so so happy to see and feel you again! 

Easter

We started our Easter celebrations this year at play group the Tuesday before Easter. We had an egg "hunt" in the cultural hall at our church building. The girls loved it! 

On Saturday we went to Gulley Greenhouse to see the Easter Bunny and pet live baby bunnies. The lines were forever long, but it was worth it! We also dyed eggs together that evening. Maya did a great job at being careful with the eggs. Brianna's went more like PLOP!

On Easter morning the girls got their Easter baskets filled with small toys, books, and other treats and then we had our Easter egg hunt. We had to do it inside because it had dumped snow a few days earlier. The girls didn't mind, and I actually really liked being able to hide the eggs the night before and not have to worry about them getting snatched up by greedy critters.

After the Easter basketness, we got ready for church. The girls looked so pretty in their dresses. But I didn't take a picture. WHAT?! It was a crazy day with not much time for it unfortunately.

When we got home from church Ryan and I got busy finalizing food and setting up for Easter dinner with his side of the family. It was nice to see everybody again. Maya loves getting to play with her older cousins, and they are so sweet with her. I'm so glad we live close enough to family that she and Brianna will grow up knowing their cousins well.