8 Years Down and Forever to Go!

Back in August (yes, I am almost done with our summer posts!), we celebrated our 8-year anniversary.  It fell on a Tuesday this year, and I had an activity already planned with my Activity day girls that night, so John surprised us by taking the day off and we had a fun family-filled day.  I have such a wonderful husband, and he let me sleep in that morning and surprised me with a massage at my favorite spa :).  How did I get so lucky!?!  Ok, so back to our day. We got a late start to the day, so our first stop was lunch at In N Out.  That is Brody's favorite restaurant now, or so he tells us.  Apparently, he has a fond memory of their green palm tree cups.  Now he wants shakes there all the time.  It has really helped him switch over from only eating chicken nuggets to burgers.  Finally!  I was kind of sick of McDonald's as our only fast food kids spot.

After our lunch stop, we drove down the 5 to Carlsbad.  We haven't done that drive in a while and have really missed it.  It takes you along the coast and past Camp Pendleton.  You can almost always see military training going on with either helicopters flying over head, soldiers on the ground, or tanks doing drills.  We were lucky enough to see the latter.  Brody has been into playing with his army guys lately and was enthralled by it all.  Even though it isn't a long drive, it made for a very exciting time.

Once we made it to Carlsbad, we headed to the Sea Life Aquarium.  I found cheap tickets at a Groupon-type site and, since we had never been, I thought it would be fun.  There was one major downfall, though, and here is my advice to you:  Don't go if your child has been dying to go to Legoland.  I knew that the aquarium was by Legoland, but I had no idea that it shared the same parking lot, used the same will call for tickets, and i's entrances were right next to each other.  Poor Brody.  He was so excited that he thought were were surprising him with Legoland.  It seemed like a slap in the face by going over to the aquarium .  Luckily, he wasn't too disappointed and, once he saw all the fish, all was forgotten. 

Brody loved checking out the giant octopus.  It was pretty cool.

They had a Lego sandcastle that you could build.

We need to get more Lego's in our house; look at these kids quiet and concentrating.

Then we went to check out the starfish and see who was brave enough to touch them.  Brody loved touching the fake starfish and showing Piper.

Piper and Mommy were brave enough to touch the real ones too and had a lot of fun seeing how they feel.

Brody and Daddy on the other hand took a while before they would get close.  One of the aquarium staff had to talk them into it.

He was pretty excited after he finally touched one.

Jellyfish are always my favorite at any aquarium.  They are just so beautiful.  Even though they have stung me on 3 different occasions, I still like them.

They had a very cool underwater tunnel that you could see into the shark tank.

And had Lego men hanging out with the sharks.

Brody loves having fun with his Daddy.

After the sharks it was off to see the huge sting rays.  The kids thought their faces were very silly.

Piper wanted a better look at them.

More starfish to touch!

Even though she can be shy at times, she also has a very adventurous side to her.

Hey!  What are you two doing in there?!?

Overall, it was a fun aquarium.  It was quite small, though, so I am really glad we didn't pay full price.  It did have some great things to see, so it made for an exciting time.  After the aquarium, we went to the outlets nearby and did a little shopping.  The boys walked away with new Vans, while the girls picked up a few new shirts.  The kids were becoming a bit difficult, so we didn't check out the whole mall.  We decided it was time to go home and rest for the rest of the day. 

We have always gone out as a couple to celebrate in some way, so it was great to be able to celebrate as a family and have some fun together.  I love my life and am glad that I can spend it with John and we can share in these memories and fun times together.  Happy 8 years to us!