San Diego

Spring Break...

It all started back in February when I was feeling a little stir crazy and started dreaming about a vacation near the beach and then when the tax return came back a little larger than expected, we decided to go ahead with it.

Day One:  Travel to St. George. Stay in a Hotel.

We were glad to be headed somewhere warmer Sunday afternoon as we left Cache Valley amidst snow flurries.

Day Two: Swim at Hotel, Visit Brigham Young House 

St. George was still pretty cold by my standards, but it didn't deter the kids from trying out the outdoor swimming pool the next morning when the temperature struggled to hit 50 degrees.

Gavin thought it was too cold too!

 We also stopped by to visit Brigham Young's Winter home.  

As we continued our journey to San Diego the kids really enjoyed seeing the palm trees and traveling in style.  Jotham splurged and bought them all wireless headsets so Mom and Dad didn't have to listen to the movies.  We still got the a capella version of all of Frozen's songs and really quit enjoyed how Hollie belted it out.

Day Three:  Visit the USS Midway

We'd planned on exploring La Jolla Beaches on Tuesday, but it was raining.  So we toured the USS Midway, a Naval Carrier turned Museum.  Mark and Hollie were bored and a little freaked out with the mannequins dressed up in uniform, but Gavin thought the airplanes were top notch and Hyrum and I could have spent another hour exploring.  

The weather cleared  by the afternoon so we headed back to the Beach and enjoyed the waves, the kids were all too young to remember the last time we were here so it this was their first experience with the ocean and of course all the pictures are blurry.   Later that evening after dinner, we rode bikes to the Children's Pool which used to be a swimming hole that the sea lions have taken over.

Day Four: Old Town San Diego & Early Morning Tide pools

We woke up this morning extra early to check out the La Jolla Tide pools during low tide.  We saw all kinds of amazing creatures, anemone, hermit crabs, even a lobster (we think) and a few other interesting but unidentifiable creatures. 

We ran into a hispanic family that was collecting mussels to eat and they told us how to prepare them.  We took one home to cook and let the kids all have a taste. (Although we later learned that this was a protected area, opps!) 

After breakfast and our early morning explorations, we headed to old town San Diego. We had a most excellent time visiting with a blacksmith, seeing the sites, walking through the shops and overall just a pleasant morning.

When we came to the Johnson House, oh my, oh, my... I had a hard time holding onto my wallet.  I've always loved millinery and Haberdashery, I mean the word is even fun to say! Haberdashery! And then there on the top shelf in the back corner where men's hats!  I couldn't resist.  The kids where going crazy in this "don't touch" store and I made Jotham stand there and try on all the hats, bowlers, coachman's, tall ones and fat ones in brown, gray and black.  The shop owner even brought more hats out from the back room.  Imagine my delight when she even offered me a job! Seriously! That would be my dream job!   Finally, the last one she brought out, he tried it on and that was it! I felt silly but tickled when I plunked down my money and walked away with a very expensive hat he will probably only ever wear a couple of times.   But, my, doesn't he look dapper!

 The Mormon Battalion site was a-mazing!  They've redone it in the last few years, and its full of fun interactive videos and hands on experiences.   

And a quick stop for ice cream on the way home.

And back again to the beach

I don't think those kids ever tired of chasing and playing in the waves.

Day Five: SeaWorld

SeaWorld was definitely a highlight for the kids, but Jotham verbally declared amusement parks to be ranked a "0" on a 1-10 scale of fun.  There are a few things I wish somebody would have told me before we went.  For example: buy a dollar store poncho (they are a shocking $8 a piece in the park) before you go.  Because kids are kids they will always want to sit in the splash zone and Shamu splashes, a lot, and then you won't have to walk around in damp clothing for the next couple of hours.  Oh, and most of the rides are water rides wherein a poncho would have been pretty nice, since it wasn't that warm.  Actually don't even bother with the rides because really they have almost the same ones at Lagoon.   Oh, and yes... don't forget the sunscreen. We'd already gone three days out all day in the California sun without any problem, but there must be something about SeaWorld because our necks got burnt.  Live and learn, live and learn.  

The Arctic Exhibit was one of our favorites.  Gavin was so funny while exploring the polar bear cave, a little apprehensive to begin with and then when he heard the bear growl his fight or flight response kicked in...and there was no stopping him.  When we finally caught up, there was no way he was letting us back into the exhibit, "there was a bear in there!"

Day Six: Beach and Point Loma Lighthouse

We had so much fun on the beach, mostly playing in the sand, playing frisbee and wading,
it was cool and overcast with the temp only in the mid sixties and the water was freezing!

Hyrum trying to make Mark wear the seaweed 

hair to go along with his Merman sand outfit

Hollie showing off her sand and seaweed rendition of Hannah

 Mark was willing to brave the cold water to try boogie boarding, but was unsuccessful.  Hyrum got the hang of it and convinced Hannah it give it a try.  After getting hammered by the waves, she decided she much prefered collecting sea shells.

Later that afternoon we headed down to Point Loma to see the lighthouse.  It was really interesting and fun.  We couldn't go all the way to the top, but just poked our heads up through the trap door due to seismic stability.   There wasn't a lot to see at the site, but it was a nice scenic area and I really enjoyed learning about refracted light and the history and life in a light house.

 Day Six & Seven: Headed Home

We loved staying in the condo.  It was just a short block from the beach and we had ocean views and could hear the waves rolling all night long.   I came home and declared our house too big.  A two bedroom 900 square foot home was big enough for all the essentials and made my kids hang out underfoot instead of hiding away somewhere and for some reason I really liked that. 

 Realizing I hadn't taken any pictures on the beach of us all together, after we loaded the Yukon and I made everyone head to the beach for a quick family photo.  I was disappointed with myself that I hadn't made it a higher priority.  All week, I'd had a really hard time remembering to take photos, let alone good ones, so much funner to live in the moment then to step out and pause for a photo to help them remember it. 

We spent the night at my Aunt ChristyAnn's just outside Las Vegas, and wished we could have visited longer but, the drive Saturday afternoon turned stressful when we realized Jotham's cell phone was inadvertently left at our lunch stop and we had to make a four hour detour to return to get it. Thankfully, some boy scouts had found it and were keeping it safe for us.  

We were pleasantly surprised that our Yukon still had XM Radio and so we were able to listen to ALL of conference and arrived home safely on Sunday.