We started our trip with a drive down to Las Vegas. We took Allison and Savana with us, so we had to borrow Ryan's Suburban. We had it packed to the brim with people and gear! It was so nice having the girl's along for the vacation. They are both helpful and nice. My kids adore their cousins! The ride to Vegas was a dream. Everyone was having fun and the older girl's entertained my kids the whole time. I think I am going to hire them to come on all our road trips!
We stopped for a rest at Pioneer Park in St. George. We all hiked through the crack. It was harder than last time we were there. I think some serious erosion is happening. Libby had a lizard run across her foot while we were in the cave. She freaked out. I think it scared the lizard as much as anyone.
We got to our hotel in Vegas with plenty of time to swim. It was so hot outside, we could get in the Hot Tub to COOL off. There was a beautiful pool with a fun waterfall that the kids played in. After our swim, we headed to the strip to get a little dinner and to watch the Bellagio fountains show. My favorite thing in Las Vegas is the Bellagio Gardens. It is so beautiful and dreamy. Every time we visit, the atrium is decorated in a new theme. We had dinner and watched the fountains and then headed back to our hotel to sleep!
The next day, we left early for Sand Diego. Jenn and Chad's family met us on the road and we headed into California with them. Oliver took his dog for a quick walk during one of our rest stops.
When we got to San Diego, we stopped at the grocery store and bought picnic food and headed to Point Loma to see the tide pools and watch the sunset. When we got there, we found out that Point Loma closes at 5:00 and we got there at 5:05! It was ok. We switched to Plan B, and spent the evening at Ocean Beach. We had a nice picnic at a table on the sand. The kids all played in the waves and did tumbling tricks on the beach. The weather was beautiful. I love the beach at sunset.
When we got back to our hotel, the kids all took a nice dip in the pool and hot tub. It was our nightly tradition for the whole trip!
Sunday, we headed back to Point Loma to see the lighthouse and the tide pools. It was open this time! yay! Unfortunately, the tide was in, so we couldn't really explore on the rocks. But, we did get a spectacular view of the ocean and took some pretty pictures (that are on Jenny's camera!) The views from Point Loma are 360 degrees of beautiful.
Next, we took a drive out to Coronado Island. We had a nice lunch by the bay at a beautiful marina and then we walked over to Coronado Beach and spent the day playing on the coast. Cord pumped up the raft and took the kids out into the ocean to play on the waves. We built sand castles and wrote messages in the sand. The kids jumped over waves. Oliver was terrified of sea weed. He wouldn't go near it. I had to carry him everywhere. It was so funny. If there was sea weed anywhere near our towels, he would point at it and yell until I threw it down the beach.
It was seriously a perfect day at the beach!
Monday, we started early and headed over to Old Town to hop on our City Trolly Tour. It was so windy on the trolley that we laughed the entire time. Everyone's hair was blowing around like crazy.
We took one of the very first stops and spent the morning in Downtown San Diego on the waterfront at the Sand Sculpting National Championships and the Festival of Sail. The Sand sculptures were incredible. It was hard to believe that someone had crafted such beautiful artwork out of sand and water.
At the Festival of Sail, we got to go aboard and explore several war ships and submarines. I can't believe how small the submarines are. I wouldn't be able to live on one down in the deep dark ocean! The wood "pirate boats" are so beautiful. The kids liked turning the giant steering wheel. There were people dressed up as pirates and we saw cannon battles out at sea. I thought both of the events were really interesting and fun! We were hot and tired and in serious need of refreshment after all our exploring! Everyone found something tasty to eat and we found some shade to sit in for a bit before we jumped back on the trolley.
We headed back to the trolly stop and spent the rest of the afternoon on our tour of San Diego. There are so many interesting places in the city. I would like to go back and visit the all of the museums and gardens sometime.
We still had some daylight to enjoy after our tour. We ate dinner and then packed all our beach gear over to Mission Bay. We played in the sand and the kids floated on the raft on the water. Mission Bay feels like home, because we spent two weeks there last April with my parents. It was good to be back! All of the kids created their our "sand sculptures" and we had a our own contest. Being by the water, slowing down, and spending time with the people you love is so good for the soul. I love it!
Monday, was our Sea World day! I love Sea World. It is so pretty. We saw most of the shows, and wandered through the animal exhibits. I didn't take a lot of photos during the shows, because I wanted to enjoy being there! Libby was SUPER brave and took a ride on the Manta roller coaster. I couldn't believe she did it. The kids got free tickets to feed the Manta Rays. Most of them were too chicken to do it though. They had to hold fish heads in their hands and let the rays eat them right out of their fingers. EWE! I didn't do it either. :) Natalie and Gage really enjoyed playing in the Sesame Street kid area. We had the place practically to ourselves. It was so nice. There is a new area at the park called Explores Reef. It is basically a large interactive exhibit where the kids can touch fish and other underwater animals. Gage and Natalie even got to touch baby sharks. It was awesome. We had a great day.
The girl's got a best friends necklace.
This nice employee covered the shark's eyes so that it wouldn't see Gage and Natalie petting it. :) It seemed to make it less scary for the kids!
Natalie and Gage were loving the Splash Zone as they waited for the big girls to go on the Atlantis ride.
Our time in San Diego was perfect. It went by so fast, we couldn't believe that it was already time to head to our second destination in Anaheim the next morning! Pictures to come. :)
1 comment:
Ahhhh Vacation. Not sure what that is? he..he.. One of these days I hope to remember! For now, I'll just keep painting the house. Looks like you guys had fun! I'm totally jealous. I think you need to hook me up with some tickets. Can't wait to see what the rest of your trip was like!!
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