good-bye san diego, thanks for the memories!

Some vacations I am ready to pack up and go home......this time I was not. It had been an exceptional week. We enjoyed a great mix of time with family, one "whopping outing" (Sea World), the beach, and exploring new places......and I only turned on the computer one time.....an amazing thing for me. I took a few last shots from the top of our hotel, we said good-bye to Oceanside, and hit the road......

view to the left......

center.....

and right......

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This day truly marked the end of our summer......after a weekend at home, we would dive into school - ready or not. Back to the real world - a good reality. As the van motored toward home I eventually pulled my planner out of the bag for the first time and started to contemplate the upcoming week. By the time we pulled into home I was happy to be there......aside from the blistering heat. Home, sweet home.....we are blessed.

san diego (Day 5 - nighttime)

After a sunny day at the beach we cleaned up (for the 100th time), ate a nice home-cooked meal, and headed back up the street for the evening version of the farmer's market which included less than desirable music, fair food, and lovely arts and crafts.

Each of the kids found something to spend the last bit of their money on.......and I located an abundance of items I had to have. I tried to exercise self control and not purchase them all.....

The sun setting on our last night......

One last walk down the pier......

Lights out on our last night......we seemed so far from home!

san diego (Day 5 - the beach)

Our last afternoon at the beach was fun-filled! The kids' favorite activity all week had been jumping waves and searching for bits of shells. Finally I was brave enough to go into the cold water for a picture....and not fall in with the camera!

Daddy went out to "ride the waves"

Madison was entertained by the same activity.....

I prefer low risk wave jumping with the little ones......(I am such a daredevil!)

Concentration......

the usual full speed.....

back to concentration.......and then in his own little boy world.......

Jonathan also enjoyed playing dangerously close to Allie while she was working on the sand castle. I watched him threaten to knock it over several times as he wobbled too close.....but luckily Allison was enough in her own la la land she didn't get irritated and Jonathan soon lost interest and sped off to throw sand.....

Little beach babes.......

As you can see it was a rough afternoon......

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.