Family Party

We went to Anaheim for a Quillen family week long house party at the end of July, and it was SO great to spend time with family in a beautiful place.

It was especially great because JD got to come with us, and because a wonderful family adopted Teo while we were gone, so we had no worries and every human family member with us.

We started off a little rocky - due to a mis-communication about renting a car between me and JD, but in the end I was glad we did because my Sister in Law gave us the coolest vacation tip ever and we used Costco rentals to get a really great deal. She also gave us another great tip - a web site with deals on passes into sights there. Thanks Sis!!

We visited the Aquarium of the Pacific Monday - it was so neat! I love aquariums, and this was had petting tanks which were especially fun.

Toddler lesson learned today: Strollers are less handy for toddlers than babies. I spent most of the time pushing an Stuff-filled stroller, sans toddlers. 

Look, mom, crazy Chambered Nautiluses! These were my favorite. They were so cool

Petting the Jellies

Lilu's favorite part was standing up on the rim of the exhibits and staring into the tanks

We went with family, but with toddlers and small children it wasn't easy to stay together, so we mostly explored on our own.

This was a tunnel through a seal tank and I just let her run free through it. She loved watching the seals, though they were a little fast to catch on camera when she was holding still. 

She was not happy about sitting on my lap for a picture. She was already done with the penguin statue at this point, and it was hot.

We sure loved petting the sharks though! They were all piled in this corner, so they were close enough to the surface for her to two-finger touch. I learned that sharks pile when they feel threatened so they look bigger. Sorry sharks. 

 Lorikeets!

Korrali loves birds. She can spot a bird fluttering around quicker than a bunny hopping home. She thoroughly enjoyed the lorikeet exhibit. She was so excited that she could get so close to birds, because in the wild, they definitely don't let us get this close. 

After the Lorikeet Forest exhibit we were done for the day.

 Tuesday we took a little break and stayed home with Korrali's cousin, Evan. Who is about a month older than her. They not only had similar schedules but they got along great and having two toddlers for a few hours was definitely more fun than one (for them particularly).

Right after this, Evan dove out of the raft. I scored it a 10 and ran to jump back in the pool to help out.

My favorite memory of the day though was going outside, Korrali sat in a push-able car and Evan voluntarily pushed her around. I think he enjoyed the freedom of using just his feet with the support of the car. I love watching toddlers come up with their own games.

Wednesday was beach day, and we all went to a nearby beach. We arrived a little late (due to lack of sleeping at all the night before.. our whole nuclear family decided to have a 4 am house party. ugh.) but had a great time!

She loved the waves here in Chicago, but lake waves are way tamer than ocean waves. She ran right in...

Got whacked by a wave... and screamed. And stayed away from even the wet sand for then next hour and a half.

Instead Daddy helped her chase birds.

She loved playing with Uncle Jesse - he got her to get close to the water again.
Where she got whacked by another wave. Oops. 

So she stayed on the outskirts the rest of the time, sitting in a beach chair with Daddy.
This angle makes him look a lot heavier than he is. Just sayin'.

She loves construction cones. Look, she chose it over the nearby bird. She is a toddler of odd enthusiasms.

She even found a beach cup and enjoyed placing it upside down on the cone.
She sees things and comes up with things most people just ignore.

Look, we were there all together!

 Thursday we went to the Discovery Science Museum. SO COOL!

The baby room - Korrali really like the Weebl people. Evan was way too cool for it.

Korrali has seen these pushing pins at our local children's museum, so she was very enthusiastic about using her pushing skills.

This was a fossil discovery exhibit. Korrali loves dinosaurs, and rocks. Sold.
There were exhibits for everything science, on about every inch and in every nook of the place.

This was the favorite. Lights that turn off and change color when you tap them. Toddler nirvana.

Geysers! You stomped on some pedals and the bag filled up due to pressure. Korrali LOVED it.
She still stomps on everything metal on the ground she can find.

Can you spot the plane? It's taking off from a moving conveyor belt. Just one of the myths tested by MythBusters and shown in the Myth Busters exhibit in the museum. Korrali was fascinated again. Her favorite was a rainfall myth , they had the myth set up in the exhibit, and she kept daring herself to run through, and then asking me for help in ASL. She doesn't like falling water, ever since the waves whacked her on the beach.

That night we all went to DownTown Disney! Free parking (though we valeted) and so many fun people and music.. Korrali thought it was pretty fantastic. She danced to all the music, and played in every fountain.

We loved the Lego Store, she proved that feeling these giant Lego structures is an innate part of humanity.

Yep, every fountain. We even through pennies in this one. She learned that while we were waiting for her Dad to have an injection a while back, so she initiated the coin tossage this time.

 Then we got our expensive caricatures, watched the fireworks and drove home. We left the next day, JD to go home, and us for a second leg of adventuring. What a fun, fun week.