San Diego - The Middle

After completely roasting my children at the beach on Monday, what could be better for their health and well-being than a trip to Legoland on Tuesday?  Nothing else comes to mind!  Okay, that's not how it actually happened.  When we were in the planning stages for this trip we decided that we should have one fun outing for anyone who might be interested in going.  San Diego has a lot of exciting destinations to consider but those of us with little kids (meaning those of us actually wanting to go on an outing) all decided the kids would love Legoland.  It seems like the upper age limit for kids at Legoland is about 12ish and since Cap has been an avid Lego-fan we thought he'd still have a pretty good time even though he may be on the upper limit of enjoying the place.

Tuesday morning we woke up somewhat early and hit the road for the 45 minute drive.  Peter's family and Adam's family both joined us for a fun (and kinda long) day of walking miles and miles across the park.  I'm going to be honest - Legoland felt a little like it was Lagoon (our local amusement park) but was trying really hard to be Disneyland.  It did pretty well - there are lots of fun things to do, the rides were cute, and the themes were fun.  But there was just a little carnival flavor in the air.  That's ok - I'm really glad our kids got to experience the place.  Our time with our cousins was really fun, the best part being that Cap and his cousin Smith were old enough to just go off on their own for about three hours.  That was awesome.

Bitty absolutely loved this ride called the Beetle Bounce or something like that - she discovered that screaming at the top of her lungs in absolute freedom and joy is a very happy thing for her.  She did it a lot.

And I confess that when she convinced me to join her for a ride I found it to be rather giggle-inducing.  The thing started bouncing up and down and I could not stop laughing, as was documented by my camera-wielding husband:

Another favorite photography moment for Troy was the fun Peter and I had on this spinny-ride.  We pretty much just called everything by their Disneyland equivalents.  Thus, this was the tea-cup-ish ride.  Peter and I were cracking each other up making sick faces and spinning each other as hard as we could.

My kids were total troopers, because it was a pretty long day and by the time we left I was beyond ready for quiet and calm.  This is especially true considering the fact that they were so sunburnt - Bitty's face just got more swollen as the day went on and poor Skippidy looked like someone had poured bleach in her eyes.  We snapped this photo of her:

It's such a sad little picture! We couldn't help but post it on instagram with the accompanying caption: "Soon the rebellion will be crushed and young Skywalker will be ours!!"

If you don't get it, go watch Return of the Jedi.  Then you'll either feel even more strongly that we're horrible parents or that we're hilarious.  Either way, you can't deny that Skippidy looks just a little like Emperor Palpatine with those red bags under her eyes.  Poor girl.  So yes, the kids stayed tough and had a great day. I was so glad there were attractions that fit the needs of all my kids - pretty mild stuff for Bitty, wilder stuff for Stomper and guess what, Skippidy rode on four somewhat major roller coasters.  She always said she wanted to do them, then got more and more nervous as we waited in line, then every time we got off she yelped in delight and declared them each to be, and I quote, "AWESOME!!!" Ok, the first roller coaster we went on was the the biggest and she almost came unglued after the first big swooping hill but I quickly comforted her, she swallowed a looming sob, and after that loved every moment of every roller coaster.  That was fun to have her with me on those.  

When Wednesday rolled around we needed another mellow day.  We spent some more time at the beach except for Bitty, who pretty much hibernated on our bed with her daddy for the entire day, binge-watching episodes of Master Chef Junior.  Nathan won.  She was really really happy because he was really really cute.  Which makes her really really cute.  Yes, Bitty needed a vacation from the vacation and we almost didn't see her at all. But Cap and Skippidy and I enjoyed more beach time.

  I'm...so sorry. I couldn't help but post the baby butt.  It's too cute.

TRYING to keep Skippidy out of the sun a bit.  She fared much better on this day.

 We had plenty of down time that day and Cap and Smith got some high-quality t.v. viewing in...

In the evening we took a (really LONG) walk to a place called The Baked Bear that makes a variety of cookies and their specialty is for you to pick 2 cookies, pick an ice cream flavor and they make an ice cream sandwich out of it.  So good.  I'm telling you, it was a long walk but we all decided it was worth it.  So much so that we went back a few nights later.  Here are the grandkids by the Octopus on the walkway by Mission Beach:

Skippidy actually conked out on her dad's shoulders as we walked home

The San Diego trip was definitely in full swing by this point and I'm so happy to say that the grandkids got along so very well together.  I saw so little strife.  Things were a little tough with my mom because she had pretty restless nights and confused days, but I felt good about the time I was able to spend with her on several mornings while Elizabeth slept.  My interactions with her were much more positive than they have been in quite some time and I felt like I could actually be of service to her.  I was so enjoying the time with my dear siblings.  The trip was looking to be a major success.

SanDiego - The Beginning

Where to start, where to start.....I'd better just warn you now that these are going to be some very picture-heavy and lengthy entries.  I mean, we just spent a full week in San Diego with my entire family and we had a lot of fun, and a lot of adventures and we took a LOT of pictures.

This trip was a long time in the planning and coming to pass - we were originally supposed to be going to Mexico last October but due to this teeny little natural disaster called a hurricane, the trip was cancelled.  I sure hope that area has recovered well.  The family decided that despite the set-back we still wanted to travel together and began planning another trip. This time we decided to stay state side and found a lovely beach house on Mission Bay in San Diego California.  It was nice and big and had plenty of space for us, which we especially needed because my momma's Alzheimer's disease has progressed enough that we knew we needed a care-giver to join us or we just couldn't help mom the way she needs.  Actually, that one extra person (Magic Elizabeth, we like to call her) made our housing just slightly crowded and so my sister decided to stay in an Air B'n'B nearby, which she was happy about because it gave her and her older daughters a little bit of privacy and separation from the rest of us crazies with little kiddos running around.  In hind sight, maybe my mom and Elizabeth should have stayed elsewhere....they may also have benefited from avoiding the commotion!

My kids were so excited to take their first plane ride

The first travelers to arrive at Mission Bay were Peter and Sheri, then my parents, then my family.  We enjoyed spending the evening together out on the sand which was directly out our doors.  Well, there was this pathway you had to cross first to get to the sand.  It was only about 5 feet wide but it was treacherous - I've never seen so many walkers/bikers/roller-bladers/skateboarders in my life!  So many people there enjoy exercising at ALL times of day.  But once you traversed the busy sidewalk, there was a wide and warm beach leading down to very calm water.  I was glad that was right outside our door because we felt pretty safe with any of the kids playing around there except the two babies.

I might have more pictures of this sweetheart than I do of my own kids - she kind of stole the show!

On Sunday our small group tried to observe the Sabbath at least a little bit - we went in to Old Town San Diego where a Mormon Battalion Museum is.  It is a really fun place to visit - it's not just a museum that you browse through, occasionally reading descriptions here and there.  It's really like a fully interactive experience with the missionaries serving there all dressed up in period costumes and guiding you through a story-like experience that really brings to life what the battalion must have experienced.  I was really impressed and enjoyed it a lot.

After the museum, we totally lucked out - it was Father's Day, around 11:00 am and we were all starving - it seemed like a tough day to eat out since so many people would be taking out their dads for a celebratory brunch.  But there was a big Mexican restaurant just up the hill from the museum and they happened to have a table available for a large group so we walked right in.  Wasn't expecting that!  We enjoyed a really delicious Mexican buffet with everything from basic breakfast fare like waffles and omelettes to fantastic cheese enchiladas and chile verde and all sorts of tasty stuff in between.  We ate our fill, I'll tell you that.

I've never seen a balloon guy quite like this before - those hats were quite impressive

After lunch came a quick trip to the San Diego temple where we briefly wandered the grounds.  We bumped into another Utah family who was gathering there for a family reunion just like we were and enjoyed chatting with them for a bit.  We laughed as we both discovered that we were waiting for relatives from Seattle to arrive.

Sunday afternoon brought the arrival of Margaret and Adam and their families, and the partying began in earnest after that.  We decided to spend our first weekday of the trip at the beach.  Not only was our beach house comfortably settled on the side of the quiet bay, but it was just a 5 minute walk across to the actual ocean.  We packed up lunches, made quick shopping trips to buy stacks of beach towels, coated our selves in sun screen, donned our new swimming suits and headed out.  We should have brought some sort of luggage carrier with us we had so many beach chairs and umbrellas and towels and blankets and cokes and chips and sunscreen.  And the more family members who joined us the more stuff they brought!  

Park and Iva - these two cousins were a kill.  They were so cute together and so busy and fun - especially when they were trying to chat with each other

We spent hours in the sand and waves.  I absolutely love the ocean.  I find it so fantastic that kids, who seem to get bored at my house after every 30 minutes, can spend hour after hour just running, splashing, digging for sand crabs, building stuff in the sand and asking to be buried alive.  It was late in the afternoon before we knew it.  And now is the part where I confess that I can be fairly accused of child neglect.  I really did re-apply sunscreen two or three times that day.  But each of my kids wound up with pretty impressive sunburns.  I felt so horrible!  Cap's was mostly on the back of his legs.  I had been on the lookout for chaffing from the boogie board he rode for so long, not realizing that he had spent the day turning his calves to the sun and they were pretty baked.  Skippidy basically toasted her eyes - they're still slightly red today and it's been more than a week since this happened.  Plus the top of one ear in particular got so burned it actually blistered.  Where oh where is my shame-faced emoji when I need it!  And poor poor Bitty - she was maybe the worst.  Not only did she also broil her thighs, but I guess I was nervous about getting sunscreen in her eyes and so I didn't reapply very well there.  She ended up with basically a bandit's mask of sunburn that didn't blister but was swollen and puffy made her miserable.  I remember the many sunburns I got in my life and I know just how rotten they all felt.  I'm so sorry kids!  I wasn't trying to neglect you!  I will say that every day after that saw the kids receive a measure of sunscreen they had never seen before.  I absolutely plastered them every day after that.  They didn't get any more sunburned but they were pretty toasty for most of the rest of the trip.

attempted beach selfie