San Diego part three

On Wednesday morning, more surfing practice for the big boys. Ben just really took to it. "Just one more wave!"

Then we went to La Jolla to look around. We passed the San Diego Temple, and Ben and Andrew said it looked like Asgard, and Millie said it looked like Elsa's Castle.

We got a golden parking spot right by a big field. Then we walked up and down looking at the seals and sea lions. James named one "Big Chunga." They were so loud! And it was a bit smelly. But really fun to send a picture of the creatures to my siblings with no explanation, only the caption, "current location."

In that backpack were her little toys and precious things.

In the field, Max and Ben tossed a football, and the little boys climbed these twisted, leaning trees from the winds..

JB the photographer got both of us in a shot. His vacation beard was coming along nicely.

Then we went over to a spot JB had read about with fish tacos and stuff. 

Half the kids like fish (living inland, we just don't eat it enough!) But the other half liked the chicken and steak options, too. And there was a cookie place a block or two away we tried as well. 

Thursday I was very happy for the chance to take the three little kids to Legoland. We have been back in 2012 (see young Max and Benny and toddler Andrew in this post) and then we went in 2015 with a baby James (see all the cute pictures in this post!).  

Here we are when JB and the big boys dropped us off.

We ran around to everything we could, and got there early enough to miss most of the lines, until we got to one long line for the indoor Chima laser adventure and the kids did NOT like waiting. I gave gum and snacks and that got us through.

I remembered riding this ride with a young Jamesey

And now he had his own helicopter.

Millie found these girls to pose with, but her goofy brothers were pretending to kiss them.

They acted like the shark was eating them

Here's the screenshot of the Lego Chima points board

Their favorite parts where when we found a room where you could build and race cars.

They were enamored with this donkey creation. But the Star Wars Lego creations of years past were gone. Probably because of licensing?

I insisted on the boat ride through miniland USA. It was sunny and so pretty hot, but definitely not like the triple digit smoky weather I kept seeing posts about in Utah.

We had such a great day, and they really did so well not begging for Legos, so they got to pick out a little something at the end. Millie picked a minifig package, and when we left the park and got to the van to open it, it was Emmet, and she sobbed because it was a boy. But she rallied quickly, I think Andrew arranged a trade.

That Thursday night JB took the kids on some rides around the neighborhood on Matt and Alison's electric bikes with room for kids on the back. He is so much fun! I am not as adventurous.

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Friday morning we were up early to clean up and pack up and hit the road. Millie didn't want to use any of the bathrooms along the way home, stubborn girl (but she gets it from me, I also never liked public bathrooms growing up, but needs must as an adult).  We stopped at Raising Cane's outside Las Vegas. Here's a hungry James, finally trying something new, as documented by JB. I was on the other side of the table cheering him on.

 Thinking about it...

Grabbed it...

Liked it

Then we just powered through for the rest of the drive home that whole day. I put in movie after movie. The big boys liked the new minivan arrangement of having the captains chairs on the second row. They could stretch and sleep more.

The back row of three little kids did....ookay....most of the time.  I loved our trip so much, and will happily go back to the beach today.

San Diego part two

Sunday we watched Church via Zoom, and tried to keep it still a lowkey day, reading our Come Follow Me lesson on the California King bed (which was fantastic). 

We did walk down the pier at Oceanside. I'm including both pictures because look at cheeser Millie.

That night, Alison and Matt made us dinner in their house and our kids played and played with their four kids in the backyard and with their Legos. New best friends!

Matt told JB about a good surfing spot, and he took Max and Ben to try it out Monday morning. They were hooked.

 Then we all went to Oceanside Beach. This was a great spot, with a long shallow area and rolling levels of waves, perfect for more boogie boarding. I even tried it!  And it was gorgeously cloudy and cool. Look at the three littles running into the waves.

We tried Angelos in Oceanside. It came with a lot of fries.

On Tuesday, we tried out Mission Beach. This was also a great beach, with a tempting boardwalk if we had bikes, and we saw a TON of kids and tweens in some sort of surfer or lifeguarding camps all over the beach. They are the ones in yellow shirts in the background of the pictures.

We had to park two blocks away, by the spot where kids were being dropped off for that camp. One kid started counting our family as we passed by, and I saw him mouth "One, two, three, four..."

We got some great Phils BBQ to eat afterward, but James and Millie refused it, so I got them something quick from Burger King but messed up their orders (one likes cheese and no ketchup and one likes ketchup but no cheese or something??!). Notice all the sand below spilling from Millie's seat to the floor....

Then we drove up to the Torrey Pines Glider Park to watch the Hang Gliders.

I could have stayed a lot longer to watch them, and share stories of my crazy adventure where I paraglided off the Swiss Alps in the summer of 1999, but our kids were tired. Until we got back to the casita, and they ran over to play with the Davis kids again.

San Diego part one

We started driving as soon as I was done with work Thursday at noon, and stopped to eat in St George where the car temperature read 112, then we pulled in to Las Vegas around 6pm for the night. It was a sketchy part of town but the hotel had a pool!

 

Then the next morning we kept going to California. We stopped at the outlets in Barstow but haven't been in a while, because they had moved and we went to the wrong spot! Then we tried the outlets in Carlsbad, and Max and Ben really got to pondering about which shoes they really wanted/needed, while I made the mistake of taking the three younger kids into the Disney Store "just to look." Big mistake. Big. ("But I WANT that!")

We got to our AirBnB, which belongs to our sister-in-law Collette's sister Alison, and it was so sweet and charming and in the perfect spot - a mile from Tamarack Beach, and we spent the evening greeting the pacific ocean.

Immediately I felt such calm and peace after such a rough time at work in the last few weeks. Waves and cooler weather are very soothing.

The next day, Saturday, we went over to Kobey's Swap Meet. Again we separated, and, as JB put it, "We each took one for the team." JB helped Max and Ben look around, while I talked and talked to these three little kids about budgets and looking for a good price.

Max and Ben found new hats, and the little kids each got a toy.

Then we drove over to Coronado Island.  What a great place! Very busy, with hard-to-find parking, but being around the 4th of July, there were flags everywhere and the red white and blue bunting on upper balconies and houses. Gorgeous neighborhoods, with lots of bikes and golf carts. That's the only way to easily get to the beach.

Here's James after enjoying a treat of some red Powerade.

The kids took turns on boogie boards over and over. 

Then they all got tired out, and took a nap at the same time! (I was constantly sunscreening the big boys if they took off their swim shirts)

Then we picked up some pizza (JB went in to order and I drove around and around trying to find parking) and we found a park in the middle of town with a great playground and shade.

JB took so many great pictures of the trip, and I have to include this selfie as he rested at the park.

We all slept so well that first night!

Fourth of July weekend

I love this holiday, I love how our neighborhood goes all out, and I love that a lot of things were back this year. And I love our new flag for the front of our home!

JB and I find that wearing our school colors works really well together on the holiday.

The children's bike parade was back this year down the main street in our neighborhood.  It happened on Saturday, July 3rd.

After the parade, we volunteered to help at one of the booths and handed out freezer pops in the heat. This was a great job because we could stay in the shade and cool down from the heat.

Then on Monday the 5th, I was sent down to Provo at 4am to report live on the Freedom Festival Grand Parade. It was a busy morning running around getting pictures and interviews and video and doing live reports. But it was so encouraging to see so many people happy to be together and happy to fly the flag! I wished my kids could have been with me to see the floats.

I thought all weekend of the last verse of The Star Spangled Banner in particular, about God's hand in our nation, and about those men and women who protect us. We have freedoms in America like no other country, and we have to make sure we don't lose them or take them for granted. We have to vote like it matters -- because it does.