San Diego Vacation - Island of Coronado

Last year, the Travel Channel rated Coronado Beach as the 5th best beach in America, so since we're in San Diego this week, I decided to hop in our car, leave San Diego and drive to the peninsula where Coronado Beach is located. After all, how could I be so close to one of the top 5 beaches in America and not take the twins there?! So, that's what we did. We spent the day playing on the beach, digging in the sand, hunting for sea shells and getting the cool ocean water in between our toes.

Many thanks goes out to the elderly lady who was taking a stroll on the beach and offered to take this picture of us together, otherwise I wouldn't have a picture to show for the 3 of us spending the day together at this incredible beach.

The temperatures were just warm enough that the twins could take off their shoes and jeans, but just cool enough that the twins could not wear just their swimsuit.

The twins had the whole beach practically all to themselves to explore.

Taylor and Paige, shown above, kept picking up handfuls of sand and would toss them into the ocean water in front of them.

At this moment, a military plane flew overhead. Taylor pauses to look up to see where the awesome sounds of the jet engines were coming from.

Paige digging in the sand.

Now, Taylor's turn to dig in the sand.

Taylor pointing to a boat in the ocean.

Enjoying the vast open space of the beach.

Taylor started to dance on the beach all of a sudden, and it was pretty fun just to watch her lift her hands and turn around in circles.

Making "roads" in the sand.

Paige, arm outstretched, as if she's trying to catch the wind in her hand.

Taylor looking like quite the windblown beach bum.

Paige digging for sea shells.

Paige heading to the water's edge.

I love this picture because it captures the near endless stretch of the beach as well as the fact that the beach was all ours to enjoy for the day.

The twins digging for sea shells together.

Taylor making her way to the water's edge.

In the distant background is a view of the infamous Coronado Island resort and hotel.

A sea gull arrives and spends a few moments with us on the beach before it flies away again.

Near the end of the day at the beach, the girls were literally covered in sand from head to toe!

Check out the sleeves on that shirt - I told Paige that she had "sand hands".

Those "sand hands" helped Paige to do some serious digging in the sand. Although you can't appreciate this shot from this vantage point, Paige is actually sitting down inside a hole that she helped to dig at the beach.

Taylor spent time rolling and flipping backwards into the hole that Paige helped to dig, and she had a blast. Here, Taylor goes into the hole head first and backwards!

Another military jet flies overhead, and Paige and Taylor stop digging long enough to look to the skies as the jet roars above them.

A snapshot of the beach and coastline at Coronado Island.

San Diego Vacation - Pesky Pigeons

On day 2 of our San Diego vacation, we started the day with breakfast at Starbucks. While you can't make it out in these pictures, we were adjacent to a beautiful inlet of water situated just a few yards behind us. A truly serene setting with breathtaking views. Until...

As I was saying above, a truly lovely setting, until the pesky pigeons came along! Seriously, after waving and shooing away this one pigeon at least 10 times, Paige finally implored me to "JUST STOMP ON IT." I know, hilarious right! I guess that means she's seen me squash one too many bugs/spiders that way, so naturally, she reasoned that pesky pigeons should be dealt with in the same manner. Ha, ha, ha! (But, no, I didn't stomp on that pigeon, just in case you were worried about that.) Ha, ha, ha!

One pesky pigeon who just wouldn't go away....

San Diego Vacation - Our Day at Sea World

The Sea World experience today was awesome! And, visiting the park off-season as we did today made it totally accessible and very convenient. We never waited in long lines and we always had close views to the exhibits. Sea World put a smile on Paige and Taylor's faces many times throughout the day - from the shamu and dolphin shows to the amusement park rides - making our outing worth every penny! Oh, and speaking of costs, the admission was just $69.00 for me; and Paige and Taylor, since it was off-season and since they were under 4 years old, were admitted for FREE! Love that! I think I enjoyed the Sea World visit as much as the twins did and would go back again with the girls in a heartbeat. Below are just a few of the pictures from our day....

Arriving at the entrance of Sea World

Just inside the park was a beautiful Christmas tree decorated with a plethora of ornaments featuring, what else, fish, sharks, whales and the like.

The penguin exhibit was a favorite for the twins. The girls loved watching the penguins jump in and out of the pools of water.

Paige stands at the glass wall mesmerized by the penguins as they dive in and out of the water.

Paige and Taylor on the lookout for Beluga Whales swimming just beneath the water's surface.

We spent part of the day watching live feeds of seals. Paige and Taylor would yell out with excitement over and over: "look, that seal just caught a fish."

An up-close glimpse of a Beluga Whale rising from the depths of the waters.

These polar bears were playing right in front of the glass wall where Paige, Taylor and I stood. We probably stood watching these two polar bears for at least a half-hour. Again, the twins were just mesmerized by these creatures, and to be this close to such spectacular animals, well, it was simply fantastic!

On the lookout for sharks.

A view of a Beluga Whale who kept doing "tricks" in front of us - spinning around, flipping onto its back, slapping its tail on the water's surface to make big waves.

There had to be at least 10 Beluga Whales in this one tank!

More Beluga Whale watching.

The twins loved watching the sea lions as they were sunbathing.

One of the many aquariums we saw during our visit to Sea World - we really liked this one in particular because of all the rich, vibrant colors of the fish and the surrounding coral.

Another view of one of the many aquariums we saw today. We liked this one because as Paige and Taylor put it, "these fish were really scary looking."

Waiting patiently for the start of the shamu and dolphins show.

The show begins, and as Paige and Taylor watched the tricks and water stunts, the girls would say, "WOW" while clapping their hands as fast as they could! It was so cute, and I loved seeing their faces beam with excitement as the shamu and the dolphins jumped and splashed in and out of the water.

I got really lucky when I snapped this photo. Here, 7 dolphins jump in unison out of the water!

One of the featured "performers" showing us how to walk on water.

Shamu jumps out of the water, Paige and Taylor cheered and clapped for this one big-time! And, again, I got very lucky that I snapped this photo at just the right moment to capture the shamu's tricks!

The shamu and dolphin show puts a big smile on Paige's face.

When she wasn't beaming with a smile, Taylor was quite in awe of the performance by the shamu and the dolphins as shown in this picture.

This photo of Paige is just priceless and it's what made the shamu and the dolphins show a true highlight of our Sea World experience.

The laughter from Taylor during the show was just awesome. I could have taken a ton of pictures just like this one throughout the show!

After we visited all the sea exhibits and shows, we ventured over to the amusement park portion of Sea World to take in a few of the rides. Taylor, shown here, has just finished riding on the "Spinning Seals" tea cup ride.

Paige, shown here, has also just finished riding the "Spinning Seals" teacup ride and gives her shamu stuffed animal a big squeeze!

In line, waiting for another ride. Again, the smiles and laughter today all day long was what made this experience so enjoyable for me. The exhibits were pretty cool, of course, but the joy on my girls' faces made it all the more wonderful!