Mon-Wed or days 48-50

Well, time in California has come to a close and I am now home in the Dallas area!

Happy to be home but I will miss everyone in California.  It was SO wonderful to see so many people and really get to say goodbye.

• We had a great time Monday going to the Safari Park in San Diego and the kids loved watching the animals.  They laughed as they watched birds swim.  They were in awe of the cheetah and really enjoyed walking around and looking at the different animals.  I had such happy moments there as I had flashbacks EVERYWHERE of my little 6 month old Joel on the old tram, or eating pudding with baby Joel.  Going to the bird shows, having Joel on David's shoulders walking around.  I remember one of the first times we saw the male lion laying up against the glass area.  You could FEEL the warmth coming off this animal as you pressed your hand to the plexi-glass and knew that was the ONLY thing separating you and this giant cat!  I remember taking Connor there for the first time and all of the fun we had with baby Connor watching the the little animals.  It was great to be there and watch how grown my kiddos are now, but they still loved the carousel ride and now they look at maps and help me navigate!
• On Tuesday we went to Seaworld with my sister, her daughter, and her daughter's friend.  We had such a great time there as well!  Joel was about 6 months old the first time we took him there as well.  I TREASURE all of the summertime memories we have of Joel and Connor at Seaworld for so many years!  They had so much fun petting dolphins, riding almost ALL of the rides there, feeding Mantas, watching the great shows, and I enjoyed watching their faces through all of it.  There is nothing like going and doing things you did as a child and doing it with your kids and watching their faces!  They LOVE the shows and they laughed so hard at all of the silly jokes!  I had such a great time with my sister and it was nice to be able to spend some wonderful quality time with her talking and laughing.  It was such a fun day as well and I am grateful for all of the happy moments made at Seaworld!
• Wednesday we ate breakfast with a friend from our old neighborhood.  The boys had a nice time playing with her son and eating pancakes.  It was really nice to catch up with a wonderful friend (especially since she was my original muse behind this whole "happy moment" journey.)  I know you read this blog all of the time Jen, so thank you for the wonderful happy moments in California!  After packing all of our belongings and getting airport ready, we headed to lunch with my parents and ate at one of our favorite local lunch spots.  It was fantastic as usual and we had a really nice last visit with my parents.  At the airport, we arrived about an hour and a half early, but we found a place to plug in the dvd player and watched dvds and I let the kids run around an area of empty gates to get their energy out!

The best happy moment of Wednesday was coming HOME to my husband's arms and getting in our car and being greeted by our doggie.  We are so grateful to be home and to have had some amazing moments in California.  Now on to the Dallas JOY journey and hopefully many more happy moments to come here!