One of my favorite things about having our own family now is creating traditions for our kids. After Moses' first Christmas, Jarrell and I had several conversations about what we wanted Christmas to be like for our children. One of the things that was important to us was the aspect of family and creating memories and formative experiences during the Christmas season. The idea that we came up with was instead of doing a lot of presents we would take a trip each year as a family and do something together. Last year we went to the San Diego Zoo and this year we visited Sea World. Some of our close friends gave us annual passes as Christmas presents and went with us. We were extremely blessed to spend our Christmas with our good friends the Escobedos.
We stayed in Old Town San Diego which was extremely beautiful. It was the location of the first European settlement on the West Coast of the present day United States. There were a lot of little shops, outdoor markets, Mexican restaurants with women making tortillas right in front of you, and live mariachi music. We ate at a Mexican restaurant that had a balloon man in it and he recreated Moses' Mickey Mouse.
We visited Sea World on Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day. There were so many fun shows to go to and there was a whole Seasame Street themed area for the kids. The highlight of the trip for Emery was meeting Elmo. She was so excited, we went back three times :) There are some pictures below highlighting the time spent.
 |
| Emery putting on her glasses for the 4D Showing of Polar Express. It snowed inside the theater. Definitely the only snow San Diego will see. |
 |
| Emery loved the starfish. She wasn't suppose to pull them out of the water though and we couldn't get her to stop! |
Our friend bought some fish so that Moses could feed the sea lions but he was too grossed out. I was holding out the fish and trying to show Moses it was okay and a bird came by and stole it.
 |
| All of the shows were amazing but the Killer Whales were my favorite. They were so beautiful and entertaining to watch. We saw them up close and I couldn't believe how big they were. |
We were really only there to see Elmo but Grover hopped in the picture too.
The babies playing together in Elmo's Bay of Play. They had so much fun throwing these cubes at each other.
Now that we have done the San Diego Zoo and Sea World, what should we do next Christmas? What are some of the traditions that you do as a family?
I think taking a trip at/for Christmas is a great idea for a family and I have thought of doing the same when I get married some day and have my own family. I'm so glad you guys had such a good time :)
ReplyDeleteI love traditions so much. My favorite Christmas tradition for myself, is probably Christmas eve night. As a kid, we used to go to my dad's parents and then to his grandparents and stayed late into the night. Since my parents were divorced he would then take me back to my mom's late that night after everything. When my great grandma quit doing Christmas at her house, we had extra time and decided to do something special with the time we had. We started going down town Indianapolis and looking at the lights at the center circle there, and that over time developed into dinner at Buca's, with a window seat so we can see the snow (if there is any), lights and people passing by outside. It is an hour or so drive, and that part is always one of my favorite parts as well. It's a simple tradition, but sometimes the simple ones are the favorites too!