Father's Day at Big Bear Lake

For Father's Day this year I had the idea to drive up to Big Bear Lake. It's about an hour away from where we live and Brian loves being outdoors. I'm too nervous to go camping with Chloe yet, so I figured this would be nice day trip and we'd be able to go home and sleep in our own beds without the fear of Chloe having a rough night. It was a gorgeous day. We started off the day opening Brian's present, the t-shirt he's wearing in the pictures. It says "Daddy Since 2013". Cheesy but cute. Once we arrived in Big Bear we ate lunch. It was nice and quiet because we were the only ones in the picnic area. We then drove around the lake to the Discovery Center, which has a small museum for guests to look at. After that we headed out on a trail. The trail was called the Alpine Pedal Path. I knew since we would be pushing Chloe in her stroller it'd be better to take a trail that was paved. Brian was sad at this decision at first because he said we probably wouldn't be surrounded with enough nature. Luckily he was pleasantly surprised by the trail. We took a path through the trees and then it came out right by the lake. It was beautiful and nicely shaded most of the way. I feel so blessed to have such an amazing man to be my husband, and he makes a terrific dad. Chloe really loves spending time with him whenever he is not busy doing schoolwork. He makes her giggle so much, it's cute to see them playing and running around chasing each other.

LA Zoo & Aquarium of the Pacific

In the beginning of June my sister and her family were able to come down from Utah for a short visit. The trip activities were focused all around our little ones. Although it would have been fun to take the kids to Disneyland the cost was just way too high. In searching for activities that we could do I saw that the Los Angeles Zoo and the Aquarium of the Pacific had a combo ticket price. It saved us a nice chunk of change to do this instead of other activities that can be done in wonderful Southern California.

On Monday, June 2nd we went to the zoo. This was Chloe's second trip to the zoo and I think she enjoyed it even more than the first trip that we had made at Hogle Zoo. When we first arrived we rushed to the elephant exhibit to see a show in which the zookeeper's cleaned the elephants and went did some tricks with them. Chloe thought it was fun for about ten minutes and then she decided it was better to go and explore the plants. After the elephants we went to the bird show and Chloe loved seeing the owls, unfortunately Brian had to take her out of the show because she didn't want to stay seated and they wouldn't allow us to stand with her because it would scare the birds. We happened to walk by the lion exhibit when they were moving to a new shady spot, and so it was really neat to actually see the lions moving instead of sleeping like you normally see in the middle of a hot day. The rhino was splashing in the water taking a bath/staying cool when we saw him, and Chloe was ready to jump over the railing and join him. It was a long day, with a lot of walking. Chloe had so much fun she had fallen asleep in her stroller by the time we made it over to the petting zoo portion for our last activity of the day. Jayden had a blast petting the goats though.

Conked out!

Goats!

On Wednesday, June 4th we made our trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific. It was funny for me to go there again because the last time I was there was for my Senior Prom. Chloe enjoyed the tanks for ten minutes or so, but after watching the sea lions swim around she preferred to run around saying "Hi" to people more than actually looking at the fish. Chloe love's birds and so she really enjoyed chasing the pigeons outside as well. Chloe's favorite portion of the day were the exhibits which she could touch the sea creatures. She was able to touch a shark, rays, sea cucumber, anemones, and starfish. Having her touch the rays was funny because she would get scared and pull her hand back as they came up to her to be touched, but once she did touch them she felt a little more confident. After we were done with the aquarium we headed to La Creperie Cafe for a little treat. It was so good. If you are ever in Long Beach I highly recommend eating there.

Touching the sharks

Jayden didn't want to share the penguin

So much love, even for statues...

Touching an anemone

It was a fun week and it's always great to visit with Leanna, Doug, and Jayden. I miss them when they are in Utah and our kids can't play together.