We were lucky enough to have Mom come for fall break this year while Dad was on his annual fishing vacation. Since we didn't really take the kids anywhere this summer, we decided to take a quick trip to San Diego where entrances were free for kids. Ben found a great place for us to stay with a kids room, bunkbeds, and meals included. There was also a heated pool, hot tub & exercise room.
We drove straight to Mission Bay and played along the beach and playground there, then had a picnic before heading to the hotel. The next day we went to Sea World and loved every minute of it! The boys hardly remembered it from a few years ago, and Ruby had never been. She fell in love and didn't want to leave! We went to all the shows and I was lucky enough to touch a dolphin! It swam right under my hand. Awesome, although I wished it had been Dylan. He was REALLY wanting to pet one, and left our spot a few minutes before the dolphin came. Ruby loved the turtles & flamingos. I think the boys really liked the shark tunnel. We all enjoyed Shamu (although they really changed it from last time), the Pet Show & they adapted the seal show to a Halloween theme which was cute. The Blue Ocean show was awesome, they had lots of acrobats. birds flying and dolphin trick of course.
The next day we met up with Barbara & boys and checked out the Mormon Battalion museum, followed by a nice walk & some Mexican food. After that we headed to La Jolla and played at the beach together. It was so fun seeing them. We drove up the beach a little and found the seals after they left so they wouldn't hit rush hour. Quite a little adventure. D wanted to go down to the cove, so I took him, then Mom, Ruby & K followed. Mom was trying to take a photo of us on a rock, with the sea lions behind us, when a surprise wave got us. I'm holding Ruby in one hand, my iphone above my head in the other. I turn around and D is screaming and diving in after a flip flop he'd lost! Complete chaos in 10 seconds! Thank goodness he can swim & I handed off Ruby and went in after him. He was scared, but fine. That night we ordered pizza in and went to bed early.
Our last day was another memorable adventure. We headed to the San Diego Zoo with a nice overcast sky looming overhead. The Oregonian in me wasn't too worried about it, and figured we'd spend a couple of hours there and see the unusual animals we don't see in AZ, then hit the road. We decided to buy the tour bus pass and do that first, so we could get a glimpse of everything and decide what we wanted to see most from there. We also thought it would be a good idea to take the upper deck so we could see everything. NOT a good idea. Within about 20 minutes of arriving at the zoo, we were completely soaked. All the way down our backs, sitting in puddles (think wet jean bums) and soaked through our socks in our tennis shoes. It was hilarious! Since we were all packed ready to leave for AZ from there, we just marched out to our Durango, and changed in the car. I'm pretty sure Mom somehow dropped her undies on the wet ground in the process and I gave a few innocent bystanders an eyefull, but we had fun the rest of the day. We loved the baby pandas, the kids had their faces painted, and Grandma spoiled us with stuffed animals & kettlecorn. An all around fabulous day!
Well since I'm back-logging, I'll keep this short & sweet. We found a new pumpkin patch in our neck of the woods. We took Mom & met Randy & fam there. We also ran into the Snows from our Maricopa ward. So fun! Ruby, Dylan & Ayden went for horse rides. We met the rest of our fam at home for chili & cornbread....yum! Oh, and apple cider & pumpkin cookies of course.
