Heading Home...

After a wonderful week of adventure and fun, it was time to head home. Home to the AV! We couldn't be in So Cal and not head back to our home in the desert! We had been away for 3 years, and we were so excited to see our family in Lancaster. 

It was a Sunday, so we got up early and checked out of the resort in our Sunday clothes and made the two and a half hour drive in time for church. It was so fun to walk in and see everyone! They were so excited to see us, and save for a few people, we hadn't seen anyone since we left. Of course, everyone in our ward family knew about Luke as they had been following his story closely. Partly because of that, but mostly because they love us, it was like they rolled out the red carpet...just for us! Never in my life have I felt more loved at church. :)

After the block, Jerry and Jeanie Dunn offered to hold a potluck get-together at their home so everyone could come to one place to see us. And so many people came! We spent all night visiting with everyone, and the kids played with their friends. It was the most perfect part of the whole trip! So much so that I didn't take my camera out once. :( It was rather late when we finally left the Dunn's home and went back to the hotel we were staying at. Morning would come early, and with it a 12 hour trip home.

We slept well, in the same hotel we stayed at the night before we moved. It was a totally different experience this time...with far less tears! In the morning, we stopped for breakfast at IHOP (the kids' favorite) to officially put an end to our awesome trip.

And it was awesome! Once in a lifetime, really. On our way out of Lancaster, we stopped by our old house (which all the locals still call "The Call House") to show the kids. Danny and I stood there looking at the expanse of desert that we used to call home and marveled at where our life had taken us. Never in a million years could we have imagined what awaited us when we pulled away from that little home in the desert. 

It was a long 12 hours home, with mixed feelings. There's always an emotional let-down after vacation. But we had been gone for a long time, and we were ready to be home! But we weren't excited to go to a home that didn't have Luke in it. It's all so complicated. Our saving grace was that in just a few short days we would be picking up our puppy! That was definitely something everyone was looking forward to!!

An Evening At The Beach

We got back from the zoo in the early afternoon and decided that with our last evening in Carlsbad we had to go back to the beach! We hadn't been since our first night, which is a shame. We love the beach! It was a beautiful evening, and the weather was perfect. The kids had a blast playing in the ocean, and Danny and I enjoyed watching them! The pictures tell the story better than anything I could write, but suffice it to say that it was the perfect way to end our time in Carlsbad. :)

San Diego Zoo!!

Saturday was our last day in the San Diego area before we started making our way back to Utah, and the only thing left on our epic list of "to-do's" was the infamous San Diego Zoo! I couldn't believe how busy it was!! 

The scenery was just beautiful. Most of the paths were like walking through a rain forest. Compared to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake, it was like a whole other world! 

We were excited to see some animals we'd never seen before...really, that's what sets San Diego Zoo apart from every other zoo, right? We did get to see a Tasmanian devil and some cool looking hyenas...

...and of course, the bears! The grizzly bears were huge! And there was this Chilean or Argentine bear that was just adorable. I swear he thought he was Winnie the Pooh! We stayed and watched his antics for a while. :)

But while the Pooh Bear was adorable, let's be honest. We were really just making our way to the pandas!! Now, Danny LOVES panda bears. He remembers seeing them when he went to the national zoo when he was just a kid. The rest of us had never seen one in real life, and I for one was very excited! It was quite a line, however. But that's cool, after a week in every park in So Cal, we were used to it! And we did get a good look at a red panda and some yak thing. :)

Finally! Finally it was our turn to see the pandas!! And we got a wonderful look at his butt. Stinkin' thing wouldn't move!! And because they move you through to keep the line going, we didn't get to see much other than a panda butt and panda ears. I'll admit, it was a little disappointing. But we still got to see a real live panda butt! :)

 

As we walked through the different areas, there was this monkey was just chillin' in the bushes! Funny how we were all excited about him, and he could are less about us. :)

One of our favorite stops was at the hippo habitat. I've never seen a live hippo before, and they are humongous! The kids, of course, instantly recognized a photo op with the bronze hippo. And with the live hippo. :)

There were so many cool animals! There was this one animal that was like a cross between a zebra and a mini giraffe.  We also saw this crazy crocodile thing with the craziest snout/jaw. I really did grow to have more of an appreciation of the diversity of creation between our visit to SeaWorld and the zoo. It's hard to comprehend! 

The monkeys were obviously awesome. They always are! The San Diego Zoo had quite a diversity of monkeys, and they were all pretty active that day. The funnest monkeys were the orangutans, though. It was the birthday of one of the baby monkeys, and she was turning one year old! They had all sorts of toys and streamers and melons and treats scattered about for the orangutans to enjoy. That baby was about the cutest thing we'd ever seen! We stayed for quite a while and enjoyed watching them. The chimps were also quite active, though I've seen enough "Planet of the Apes" movies to be fooled by their seeming innocence...they were totally planning planetary domination, I just know it. :)

I'm so grateful for a husband who can read a map and figure out where we want to go! I know I'm not good at that. :) After the monkeys, there was still so much of the zoo to see...but we were honestly getting tired. We found a nice place to sit, consult the map, and discuss what we most wanted to see before we called it a day. 

We decided we wanted to see the polar bears for sure, and on our way we passed the birds of prey and the zebras.

The polar bear, now he was entertaining! He was so playful and adorable, I even caught him sticking out his tongue! :) This was another favorite spot of ours, and we stayed for a while watching this cute guy.

 

We decided that the last must-see animal had to be the koala bear. On our way we got to see cougars (obviously a family favorite!), foxes (to which my kids kept asking "What Does The Fox Say?", and lions!

The elephants are always neat, but this time we got to see an elephant getting a pedicure! With a little lettuce treat... :)

 

We saw camels, zebras, and giraffes along the way as well. Claire was particularly excited to see the giraffes, and selected the perfect shirt for the occasion. Giraffes are sort of her favorite. :)

And finally, the koalas! Like the pandas, these were a big reason for us to come to the zoo! And they didn't disappoint. They looked so cute napping and eating their eucalyptus. Well worth the wait for sure!

And with that, our amazing adventures in So Cal were over. All that was left was to enjoy one last night evening in our magical paradise before packing up and heading to Lancaster the next morning...