San Diego

Earlier this month, we had a real family vacation.  The first time all 3 of us have gone away, stayed in a hotel, the whole bit.  It even required an entire day of flying.  Eric had a work conference in San Diego, so Natalie and I decided to tag along, add a few days to his stay, and make a trip of it.  It was wonderful, eventful, and so nice to be away together.

We found this great store in the Indianapolis Airport before departing

Mom & Natalie at the koala exhibit at the San Diego Zoo

(note: for some reason this pictures uploaded in a really bizarre order, stick with me for a second)

Eric & Nattie pose at the San Diego Zoo entrance

Nat about to board her first ever flight, a 4 hour journey from Indy to Phoenix

(see, I told you!  Should be in order from here...)

Natalie finally put together waving on the trip, and waved at anything and everything.  

Here, she shows the koalas some love.

The San Diego Zoo was amazing, but we LOVED the koala exhibit.  In all, they have 25 koalas.

Camels

Meerkat enjoying attention

Snakes, snakes......

The elephant exhibit.  This exhibit was huge, and amazing, but the elephants 

were all hanging out by the pens.

You can't really tell from the picture, but Natalie was face to face with a lion about 8 seconds before I snapped this, separated only by a piece of glass!

Can you imagine carrying that around on your head all day?

Love this red panda.

And giant pandas!

Bears

Giraffes, another amazing exhibit

Mama and 1 year old baby

He was so relaxed

Just keep swimming

View of the bay and the USS Midway from our hotel room

Natalie and I had a day to ourselves while Eric worked, so we went to Balboa Park to explore...

Balboa Park

Botanical Building in Balboa Park

Loved the Spanish influence

Nat with a sweet mosaic dragon

enjoying some freedom from her stroller

Maritime Museum

The three of us met up to take in a Padres Game.

USS Midway

Another day, Natalie and I took a drive across the Coronado Bridge to Coronado

Hotel del Coronado

A drive back across the bridge and up, up, up to Point Loma where we visited the 

Cabrillo National Monument

View of San Diego from Point Loma

Cabrillo National Monument

lighthouse at Point Loma

tidal pool below Point Loma

Nat and I explored the shops at Seaport Village during a bizarre power outage that lasted 12 hours!

The power outage provided the perfect opportunity to take this beautiful picture

Eric, Natalie, and myself toured the USS Midway

Navy planes aboard the Midway

Aircraft carrier coming into the bay

incoming carrier passing the USS Ronald Reagan, the Navy's newest carrier

a destroyer passes under the Coronado Bridge

Natalie has her first frozen yogurt, a Pinkberry!

We visited Old Town....how fun!

Fiesta de Reyes

Loved Geppetto's toy shop

Natalie practices walking in Old Town

As you can see, we had a great time!  Natalie did wonderfully on the plane, and adjusted quickly to the 3 hour time difference.  Our only snag of the whole trip was a fluke power outage.  It left us dinner-less, and caused us to wait in line for upwards of 20 minutes for an elevator to our hotel room (on the 19th floor), but otherwise, we managed just fine!