Summer Travels

Dakota Dunes

Playing on the patio.
Amaya's BFFF (Best Furry Friend Forever) Meggie

Amaya and the Golfers (sans Corey-on his way to a wedding, and Matt-don't know where he disappeared to)

Amaya getting drawing lessons...
...and loving the attention.
Enough of those boys, let's go blow bubbles.
Look mommy, the tree has a face.

That is so funny and...

silly (giggle, giggle).

(I included all of these because her facial expressions crack me up. You have to click on the picture/enlarge the picture to see them.)

Toy Story 3 night with the cousins-Jena, Lauren, and...

...Brycen.

Daddy and daughter at the Omaha Zoo.

Lauren checking out all of the bees.

A bird's eye view of the zoo (1st chair: Amy, Brycen, Brian; 2nd chair: Jena, Grandma Kim; 3rd chair: Lauren and Grandpa John)

Amaya just looking sweet.

Taking a load off and enjoying the a/c in an indoor exhibit. It was high 80's and low 90's with like 70-90% humidity while we were there. Sticky!

Lauren enjoying a breather, too.

Amaya and her bestest Jena.

Fish Lips

The Gorilla's foot is bigger than Amaya's head!

Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the cave!

Look at Brycen checking out the gorilla in the background. His expression is priceless. It's like "whoa that gorilla looks mean...I am glad this glass is here."

Brian chuckling. Brycen still not sure what to make of it. And the gorilla, well, he appears to be pondering something. Perhaps he's trying to figure out a way to make the glass not be there/wishing he could meet this cute little boy.

Then the gorilla turns and makes eye contact with Brycemeister and we get more priceless expressions. The gorilla seems to sigh in resignation realizing there is no way to meet this little guy.

And again, more priceless expressions checking out the gorillas.

Amaya's favorite part of any zoo. The carousel.

Brian and Brycen

Amaya and Jena

San Diego

This guy was actually stacking and balancing these rocks. No apparent tricks here. We couldn't figure out how the heck he was doing it. He had quite the crowd gathered, too.

A carriage ride in a Cinderella carriage. Priceless.

Our horse was even named Prince Charming.

Sea World Blue Horizons show. It was fabulous, though it was more like a Cirque de Soleil with divers, trapezists, bunjee jumpers, etc.

The Shamu show was of course fabulous. It was my favorite.

Amaya and Scott had the Shamu chant down.

Had to throw this picture in. Many of you know how I looooove sharks.

Amaya made friends with this little girl while waiting in line for a ride at Sea World.

Their dolphins made friends with each other, too.

Watching the ride and waiting patiently for their turn.

Finally our turn! Amaya said it was worth the wait.

Legoland

This is Amaya's first time going up on this ride.

She's still oblivious to what's coming in this picture.

And then it happens. The ride drops down suddenly and fast, and Amaya's expression is one of "whoa, what the heck" as she grabs on for dear life.

White knuckle grip, but then.....

she realizes what a thrill this ride is.

A look of sheer exhilaration and jubilence.

She insisted on riding again....

...and again. This last time even keeping her arms up like daddy to add to the thrill.

On to the cars.

And more thrills with arms up. She had to ride this one multiple times, too.

This was a self-powered roller coaster. Kind of different.

San Diego Zoo

We got some great pics of the koala bears, polar bears, and grizzley bears. But this is my favorite picture from the San Diego Zoo. Amaya just hanging out with her friend Mr. Seal.

-I just realized I need to upload photos from our beach days. We used a disposable waterproof camera at the beach, so those photos are on a disk. Oops. Amaya had a blast building sand castles, making sand angels, and spish-splashing in the ocean. It was love at first sight when she saw the beach and ocean.

-That's all for now. I hope to get back to my monthly blogging sessions so hopefully it won't be several months between blog entries this next time. Happy Friday everyone!

-Check out the other 2 blog entries I did this week entitled "Summer Activities" and "The Many Faces of Amaya" if you have more time to kill. :)