san diego (Day 5 - the market)

It's not everyday we desert and city rats can wake up and see this view across the street:

And then saunter out the door for a nice morning walk up to the farmer's market! Divine!

Everything looked luscious and yummy!

Allison and Jonathan enjoyed tasting HUGE concord grapes and "ehm"....touching the flowers.....we even found an excellent library book sale where we picked up some classics, picture books, and worship piano books! It was a relaxing morning leading up to a long afternoon on the beach!

san diego (Day 4)

Each day of our trip was filled with gorgeous scenery! Searching for the most stunning pictures was one of my daily goals! So early in the morning we set out to Torrey Pines State Park. It was intriguing to see pine trees, cactus, and the ocean all together! We hiked around for a short time. The kids were not as into the views as I was!

After enjoying the delightful landscape at Torrey Pines, we drove south to La Jolla - one of our most favorite places to play......my aunt and uncle introduced us to the area on our first trip to San Diego with the kids to see the seals which hang out right on the rocks! I have pictures of the kids playing in these same coves and beach now 3 different times (about every 2 or 3 years). The joy on their faces is the same - as they play and jump in the waves. They say it is like having their own beach.....such fun.

La Jolla

I have no idea what this kid is saying or doing here - but he spent a lot of time the whole week on the beach talking to himself.....in his own world! Hilarious.

Have almost this same picture - like 6 years ago.......I need to dig it out......

One rare photo of me running from the cold water....you know me - always cold and rarely letting anyone else hold the camera! It was difficult to get good pictures of Madison because she was always in the water looking for shells and I was chicken to get in too far!

Sweet memories and reflections of a special day!

san diego (Day 3)

After approximately 12 hrs. at Sea World, we drove a few miles up the coast to check into our timeshare in Oceanside.....10:30 pm is not the optimal time to drive into an unfamiliar area and check into a place but hey.....we managed. I am convinced Jonathan was in a deep sleep before we left the Sea World parking lot, so wasn't pleased to then be awakened in the timeshare parking lot. High pitched screaming is what we heard for the next 20-30 minutes that he was in some sort of sleep/awake transitional state I don't wish to experience again! I am sure the neighbors were happy when he finally fell asleep on the pull out couch bed with a cheese stick in his hand (he kept saying he was hungry so I finally handed him one in desperation.)

The next morning it was bright and sunny after the kids slept in......and we were off to explore the beach across the street!

View from the Oceanside Pier

Wave jumping Ryan

Sharing thoughts with Grandma

Our beach babe - after a full recovery from the previous day!

Humble Arizona kid sand castle!

After hours of cleaning off sand, shaking towels, showers, sorting shell bits, etc. (can you tell how much I love sand?) we spent a significant portion of time deciding if we should drive and find a restaurant, walk, flip a coin, ask the front desk.......argh! We were so indecisive and split. Some were adventurous and wanted to try any local joint we came upon......some of the more conservative in the group would have been much happier with the safe and secure choice of a nice chain restaurant we'd been to 100 times. I'll let you guess who was who.....:) Anyhow, we ended up at a local place after much walking and discussing.......cute place - decent food.

Later we enjoyed a walk on the pier at sunset.

After that it was time to say good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa who were continuing their trip up the coast to Sacramento the next day. It was precious to be able to share a part of the time with them and we were thankful for it.....we still had a few days more of exploring to do before we would have to say farewell to the ocean.

a great week in San Diego (Day 2)

On day 2 of our trip we decided to knock ourselves out at Sea World. The kids have not been there and we had good discount tickets. I have to say - I still am just not sure about paying so much money for these one day excursions! Yes, yes - the memories are great but my goodness.....just bugs me. That said......we did have a super day - opened the place at 9am and left around 9pm!!!!! Troopers!

Kids loved the Shamu show....

Ryan the budding photographer snapped this one of a few of us opening the day with a soaking.

New dolphin show was cool - I actually really enjoyed the professional divers....but the dolphins were impressive too...

These two were hilarious with

their map reading......

I stood at the bottom of the ride below for over 45 minutes.....count them 4 5......waiting for Merl and Ryan to come down so I could get the perfect picture of them with looks of terror on their face. I practiced on more than half the boats coming down to make sure I had the shot perfected while also keeping an eye on those making their way to the top before the plunge. I told the guys to wave and I kept my eyes peeled for Merl's orange and blue hawaiian shirt he had on. I, the planner had it all figured out. Ah......except for the fact that I forgot Merl was going to wear his red rain poncho......so......

Here is a lovely picture of complete strangers coming down the the coaster.......

And......here is a photo of the back of Merl and Ryan after they completely came down and passed by me and I realized I had missed the "perfect shot"! Ahem......the people around me must have thought I was a freak with all the talking to myself I did after that....

Grandpa and Grandma were keeping the younger ones entertained during the above affair......

As always - the day flew by and before we knew it the time had come to leave. Wish we could bottle the experience up to pull out of our hats every once in a while when we need some good laughs and fun.

a great week in San Diego (Day 1)

It is perplexing to me how far away from reality I can feel when I am on a real vacation.......and then just two weeks after the trip is over.......my recollection is so faint! I was almost not motivated to even write about it. Seems like old news - we've done so many other things since returning home. But I've kind of promised myself I'd try to keep writing our family memories down to preserve them since I seem to lose brain cells by the minute! This trip I thought I might try to keep a journal of thoughts to make iteasier, but honestly just spent too much time with the family, seeing things, or sleeping! (Yes, I know a "real vacation" of sorts would actually be away from kids, etc. - but I sort of got that too this year.....yum!)

We were fortunate to be able to travel to the San Diego area for almost a week, thanks to the generosity of my aunt and uncle whom we often stay with and an opportunity for a timeshare through my in-laws.

Our first full day we divided and conquered. Ryan and Merl have been dreaming of visiting the USS Midway since we walked by it two years ago sort of by accident.

Since we thought this activity might not suit all ages of the group....and I did not wish to chase a 3 year old daredevil boy across the deck of an aircraft carrier fearing he would fling himself off the side.......I opted for shopping at Seaport Village with my parents, my mother's cousin, my aunt, and the 3 kids.

We window shopped for the most part except for the girls very carefully and cautiously spending a little of their money on a few shells in one shop....and picking out a souvenir for Ryan (sweet).

Photo op with Grandma and Grandpa Spence

A new friend....

We had a little ice cream too :)

Finally, the boys walked the short distance over to Seaport Village and we were reunited. Nice relaxed day to kick things off!