We headed south to San Diego.
When I was looking for a place to stay, nothing seemed great. I wanted to be close to the water and any hotel that was remotely close was EXPENSIVE!
Then I remembered hearing about a friend renting a condo once so I checked out that option. WOW! There were SO MANY to choose from and many that were half as much as a hotel.
I found one that I really liked. It had a wonderful location and was completely affordable. I would definitely go this route again. It was a small place but it had a garage, all the stuff we needed for playing and relaxing at the beach, it was just a block away from Mission Beach and an even shorter walk to Mission Bay.
Here a few views from the deck of our condo:
We had a kitchen, a grill, a hot tub and everything we needed. And... we went all over San Diego and it was central to everything.
After we arrived we took a quick walk to the beach then headed to a place that Shane had heard of on Diners, Drive-in's and Dives called Hodads.
We had some pretty tasty burgers. They were huge.... I should have known but I had no idea that the burger would be so big.
The next day we woke up and headed north to La Jolla. We saw the seals at Children's Pool Beach. It was really cloudy and COLD, but cool to see some seals up close.
Then it was a quick jump to the San Diego temple. It's beautiful but I had imagined a VERY large building. All the pictures, architecture and landscaping make it look Gigantic! In reality, it's not that big at all.
This made us giggle.
While we were at the temple, the sun decided to grace us with it's presence.
We headed over to Balboa Park. This is where the Zoo is and this place is just crazy. We drove around for 30 minutes just trying to find a parking spot. We didn't want to do the zoo. I'm sure it's great, but zoo's aren't really our thing and we were so over all the walking. We had thought about going into a museum but once we got there it didn't sound like much fun at all. So, we just wandered a bit then ate our lunch. We saw a cool tree and the kids liked the water fountains.
It was finally warming up, so...we headed back to our condo to get our beach on.
It was a pleasant enough day but as we got closer to the water the wind was just killer. Wind+wet= COLD! The kids didn't seem to mind too much though. (sorry for the picture overload, I just love them all)
Roman headed straight into the water and got far enough that I was nervous so I headed out with him.
I got him to ride the boogie board, but he fell off and got a nice drink of sea water so that was the end of that.
I tried to ride but I couldn't get many good waves without going in even further and it was just so stinking cold that I gave up and came in too.
Then Shane and I froze for a century while the kids enjoyed the sand. Seriously... they could do this all day.
I especially love this one:
They had a lot of fun running out into the waves and back too.
In the end, the wind won and we packed up and went to our condo to soak in the hot tub.
That night Roman and I went for a walk down the beach to watch the sunset. It was nice just to have some one on one time with him and he liked watching the surfers and volleyball players.
The next day was my birthday. YEAH!
We started out the day at Old Town where we wandered and shopped and visited the Mormon Battalion. What a fun little place that was. They taught the history of the Mormon Battalion in a fun way that didn't bore the kids.
Roman dressed as a soldier.
Then, after the whole history etc. they took a picture for us and then let us pan for gold, pump water and make bricks.
For lunch we stuffed ourselves at the Cheesecake Factory and had some yummy cheesecake too. Sorry, too busy stuffing myself to take a picture.
After lunch we headed to Point Loma where there are some tide pools to explore.
We were a little late for the lowest tide, but we did see a ton of hermit crabs. I let the kids hold one, but then got in trouble for it. Whoops.
We also saw some regular crabs and a few little fish. It was pretty cool but difficult for our younger kids to climb around on all the slippery rocks. We gave up on this place pretty quickly because it was crowded and the tide was coming in.
So, we headed back to the condo to enjoy the beach again.
This time we went to Mission bay which was so much more pleasant. No waves though, but there wasn't that awful wind to make us miserable.
The kids made sand castles, chased birds, and threw wet sand at each other.
Marisa gave herself a spa treatment ;)
I decided to try paddle boarding since our condo had one. I thought it would be difficult but I just had to try and it's actually pretty easy. Although, I looked quite silly out there.
Of course Roman had to try... and all the kids wanted a ride. Good times.
We stayed at this beach until the tide came and ruined our castles and the sun was getting lower.
We had to make a quick trip to the nearby playground though.
Then it was back to the condo for one last night :(
The kids enjoyed their little living room/bedroom and enjoyed all the Cartoon Network and Disney Chanel that they could get.
I enjoyed the full size kitchen and bedroom with a T.V. of our own. I didn't want to go to bed because that would mean that the next thing was going home. :(
The next morning we ate breakfast, packed up our car and said good bye to the ocean as we headed North.
We made it home in a quick 11 hours with 4 stops. The kids watched T.V., played video games and took a few mandatory breaks from anything with a screen. We made it without incident and we were glad to have our beds back but so sad to leave vacation land.
I SO want to go back to San Diego for a week (or 10) of just beach time in a condo. Preferably when it's warm. I just wish it wasn't so far away!
