San Diego Part 1

Here is our trip to San Diego. Benjamin applied to go to a conference and was accepted. He had to make a commitment (like a project that he would carry out) and ended up being honored at the conference for his efforts and plans. (More of that in a minute!) Because it had to do with school, one of the departments at his school (Des Moines University) paid for his ticket. And what do you know? The conference was at UCSD! So he definitely had a place to stay! And so we came along too. Haley and I flew on one airline on the way out and a different airline on the way back. They also had different requirements as far as pregnancy, and I took advantage of that. This is just before we left. I was 32 weeks and 5 days pregnant. The cut off for when I could no longer fly with them was 33 weeks. On the way back, I was one day shy of 35 weeks. You guessed it. THAT airline said that I couldn't fly after 35 weeks. It was awesome.

Haley has always been a great traveler. One funny story: As we were getting ready to land, I was trying to warn her that we were going to stop pretty quickly so it might be loud. She decided to "help". To everyone else, it sounded like a freak out when she yelled at the top of her lungs, "STOP THE PLANE!!!"

She is now big enough that when we fly, she needs her own seat. It was definitely nice to not have her in my lap, (which was almost non-existent) but we had to pay for the seat then! Oh well. This is her first time in her memory that she went on a plane. She enjoyed it the entire way there and back. Benjamin flew out a day later and flew back after 5 days. We stayed for 2 whole weeks. It was so nice to be with family, especially since we are unsure when we will be able to make it back again. (Those seats seem so small, but it definitely looks roomy when you see it with such a little person in it!)
The conference Benjamin attended was called the Clinton Global Initiative University. It changes locations every year. Bill Clinton, former President of the United States, put it together and attends every year. His big push is helping the world by working together. A big part of the conference is networking and group brainstorming so that efforts by individuals and small groups can be more effective by working together. There were lots of celebrities and dignitaries there. Benjamin was honored for his commitment to help bring about free podiatric care to the homeless of Des Moines. He was brought on stage and honored by the lovely MANDY MOORE. He spent about 45 minutes talking with her before that meeting began. They are now best friends. He says that, YES, she is just as nice as she seems on TV. We joked about setting her up with my brother Scott, but I don't think her husband would appreciate it!


My Dad is so low-key. He was watching a TV show and Haley decided to feed him grapes. She had been doing it with a play plastic fork and finally started just doing it by hand. My Mom told me later that he had no idea until he got undressed that night that she had also been putting grapes in his pocket... That was an interesting surprise!
On the way to the ZOO!!!
I love this picture. Just a Daddy and his little Princess.

Even when we come into town, everybody else can't put their lives on hold to play with us all the time. Luckily Shannon had some paid time off in between jobs. We got to spend a lot of time with her. She came with us to the Zoo as well. We are so glad we had the Zoo membership from my parents, too. We went a couple of times while in San Diego this last time. It is so big and there is so much to do and see. We are so spoiled to be able to frequent the World Famous San Diego Zoo.
Here we are with the awesome Giraffes. We took lots of pictures in front of lots of animals, but figured we didn't need to share every animal with you. There was a pretty new baby giraffe too. We had an awesome day.
We decided that if Haley got tired we would just carry her. We just wanted to go and have fun without a lot of hassle. Just after we got there, a couple said they were leaving and gave us their stroller! It was so awesome. She could get in and out on her own so she could see. We didn't have to keep lifting her out or unbuckling her. She loved that when we pulled up to a fence or something, she could stand on the edge, almost like having a step stool. When we drove past the rental booth, they were something like $13 for a single stroller for the day. We were pretty excited.
We were trying to decide what we were going to go see. Haley decided she should be the navigator. She took her self-appointed job VERY seriously.
This rattlesnake took a liking to Haley. It followed her along the glass. I am pretty sure he would not have been as friendly if the glass wasn't there. It is just amazing to be able to experience so many amazing animals in such a close way without the fear of being eaten!
This is continued in the next post! We did so much. I didn't include a lot of great pictures and it still didn't fit!