California City Pass

Universal Studios was definitely more low key than Disneyland. It's a fairly small park, with not a ton for the little ones to do. We enjoyed the Back lot tour, although it is geared more for a teenage or adult crowd. That can really be said for everything there.  Jaws still comes out of the water, although I remembered it being so much more life-like when I was a kid!

 

Emma enjoyed the characters and Nathan liked the Simpson's ride (except for the part where Maggie slobbers on everyone!)

Couldn’t resist this one:

Casey and Hannah got invited to help with the sound effects show.

Casey must have ‘the look’ because everywhere we went, he was invited on stage! He always did a great job and really played it up!

After a long drive to San Diego, we were on to the last leg of the trip.  The kids really enjoyed Sea World. They loved the touch pools.

Tyler loved petting the Rays. They were so soft!

Randy took the kids on a ride while Emma and I saved seats for the Shamu show. They claim there was no warning and the ride took them under a waterfall. There was no escaping the water! Again, it was not a warm day and they were soaked to the bone.

Since they were already wet, we decided to brave it in the ‘Soak Zone’.

All the shows were top notch. It always amazes me what they can get the animals to do….now if we could just get Molly trained!

Hailey and Casey actually touched dolphins.

Casey was just beginning to dry off when the dolphin turned around and splashed him!  He laid on the ground to dry off.

I don’t know about you, but to me they appear to be laughing at what they did!

San Diego Zoo was our last stop. I had been there when I was a kid, but had no idea how big this zoo was! It covers a lot of ground- on steep terrain!

The baby gorilla was so stinkin’ cute! He kept pounding his chest and acting like a big gorilla. Kind of like a toddler would do.

He was trying to reach some leaves, but ended up hanging from them instead!

These little bears played king of the branch for quite a while. The kids were afraid one might fall and get hurt.

and more bears…

Don’t let his cute looks deceive you. This was one animal I wanted to see. I remembered seeing them when I was younger and thought they were so cute!

Tyler wasn’t the only one that thought these big cats were AMAZING!

This giant sloth is actual size of the prehistoric creature that inhabited California! Can you say R.O.U.S?

Can you see a lab coat in his future?

I don’t have a clue what this is. I don’t think it’s a hedgehog, but I could be wrong. It was just in a little enclosure in the kiddie area. It was actually quite soft. We got a kick out of how it waddles!

 

It was great to see animals so active. Even the hippos were constantly moving! These things are ginormous!

Kind of like my kids, they weren’t phased by all the floaties in the water!

We had a great time and made lots of memories…hotel motel woes, donut shops every morning, hanging our laundry in the motel room, and Hometown Buffet.  I’ve already told Randy that as soon as Emma is 40 inches, we’re doing it again!