SoCal Vaca

I'm the third and final person to post about our Southern California vacation; Jenny and My Dear Husband already posted. But since this blog is our family scrapbook, I shall post as well.

Janet in her new sunhat and Jenny in her hippie headband at Seaport Village

Trevor, Michael, Jenny Rich

Rich in his new hat

We left on Saturday, July 25 and flew into San Diego. Since we couldn't check into our condo until 3 pm, we headed to Seaport Village for lunch and walking around the cute shops in the sunshine. Later we checked into our beach condo in Oceanside and got groceries and dinner and walked down to the beach.

The view from our condo

Sunday we attended sacrament meeting at the Oceanside 4th ward. It was nice for me to sit with My Dear Husband and sing hymns with him. Jenny commented that he has a nice voice and we don't often get to sit with him at church and hear it.

After Church we picked up Brian at the airport while the other kids went to the beach and then we drove up to Irvine and had a delicious meal and lovely evening with Rich's cousin Gerry, his wife Neena, their daughter Melissa, her husband Serge and baby boy Axel.

The cousins: Gerry and Richard


The whole group
(minus Trevor taking the picture)

Monday we headed to Seaworld and enjoyed all the shows and rides. The kids did the dolphin encounter where they got to feed and interact with the dolphins and their trainer. Rich and I did that in Tahiti and it is really a fun experience.







Tuesday we spent most of the day at the beach. Michael and Trevor were crazy on the boogie boards. Jenny and I got in the ocean for a while, but the waves were so powerful we decided to get out before we got hurt. We just love laying in the sun and listening to the waves the best anyway. Rich, of course, enjoyed sitting in a chair completely covered in sunblock reading his kindle. That night we went back to Seaworld to enjoy the nighttime shows and fireworks.

Rich "enjoying" the beach

Brian

Cute couple

Michael

Wednesday we headed north again to Knott's Berry Farm. This was Michael's vacation and that was his choice. We really love the rides there. Well, Rich doesn't enjoy rides so the Founder of our Fun just sat nearby and read his kindle. My favorite is "Montezooma's Revenge." The boys really like "Ghostrider," but I found it too jerky in my old age.

The Founder of our Fun

The highlight for me was when we got off the Ghostrider and joined Rich where he had been sitting waiting for us. There was a booth close by where a young girl, employee of Knott's Berry Farm was guessing ages and weights. Rich said she wasn't that good at it and since I look young I should give it a try. So we gave her $5 and she wrote down that I look 40 years old. Well, since I'm actually 51, she lost and I won a prize - a teddy bear. The best part was being told I look 11 years younger than I am!




Thursday we drove into San Diego and went to my favorite mall ~ Horton Plaza. I love that it's outside and on so many levels. Of course, the boys weren't too thrilled with shopping, while Jenny and I could have spent the day. We did do some quick shopping for Michael and school clothes before we met our friend, Amberlin Bodily Baxter at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. (Amber's parents live in our ward and she lives in San Diego with her husband, Paul)

Then we were off to our FAVORITE place ~ Coronado. We love the beach there, the charming small town, the Hotel del Coronado. It's just the best! We enjoyed walking in the hotel and showing it to Trevor ~ a first-timer to Coronado. We spent some time on the beach and then took Brian to the airport to catch his flight home. That evening we had a nice dinner and started packing so we'd be ready to fly home Friday morning.


We had a lovely vacation. As a mother, it was nice traveling with adults who all take care of their own belongings and are quite well-behaved in public places. Thanks to My Dear Husband for planning and funding such a great time.