The Grand Finale of our Family Vacation!

Alright, so this is the end of our fab vaca! We got to celebrate my dad's birthday while we were in California and naturally, little R started to hear the, "happy birthday" song and had to get right up to where the action was. She put herself right on g'pa's lap and at the end of the song, she didn't hesitate one bit and blew out the candles for g'pa. I'm glad my dad was such a sport and allowed her to do that.

After the birthday bash and another trip back to the beach for G's sake we finally came upon our last day before flying back home. We ended it by hitting Long Beach and taking the kids to Aquarium of the Pacific. I personally had never been to this aquarium and really enjoyed myself there! The kids did awesome in the touch pools and loved how much hands on stuff there was to do here. Any chance I get to take my kids to museums/aquariums or any other exhibit that offers hands-on learning, I'm so there!

Little R with her dad trying to get her comfortable enough to touch one of the little sharks or stingrays. She never did touch all these moving sea creatures but we got her to touch other stationary objects.
G was fascinated with the anemone's. He'd giggle as they'd sway and hit his fingers.

Here are the stationary objects we got little R to touch, the gorgeous starfish! I never realized all the different colors starfish came in! There were purple, orange, pink, red, green and brown!
Our favorite little trooper! This child went day after day of not getting a decent nap and still she'd be content and go with the flow. Her first flight, her first vacation, her first theme park, her first aquarium, her first hotel stay....the list goes on and I couldn't have asked for a better baby to have on board this trip! We love you baby R!!!

Nothing beats sitting on the pier, smelling the ocean air and watching the tide come in. It was a perfect ending to an amazing trip....until we got home at midnight to find our child (little R!) had pushed the light above her seat on before getting out of the car so our battery was dead! Always watch that ALL the lights go off in your car before walking away to hop on an airplane! Just a tip! Thanks for reliving my family vacation with me!!