California Trip 2009

Our last BIG family trip for a couple of years. We went to sacrament meeting then came home, ate and loaded the car then took off. We got to El Cajon in exactly 6 hours. The trip up wasn't so bad. We brought new hot wheel cars, pipe cleaners, books, movies etc. so the kids were busy the entire way up. I was comfortable for the most part. The beds at the hotel on the other hand were horrible to say the least. Oh well.

Monday morning about 8:30 we headed to our favorite beach, the south side of Torrey Pines. A family of dolphins were there when we arrived, that was a nice welcome. I lathered up the kids with sunblock and off they went to the water. ALL OF THEM! Even Canberra and Zander, who didn't want anything to do with the water last year. I didn't put any block on since I was going to park it under the umbrella the entire time. BAD IDEA I learned that night! I was seriously under the shade the entire time after I put the sun block on the kids. I got fried to say the least, and only in the places the kids DIDN'T touch with sun block. So I was all swirled with major painful sunburns on my legs. My chest, shoulders and face got fried as well. That day the kids got brave and went farther and farther into the water and let the waves push them back onto the shore. Zander was back and forth from the water to digging in the sand. Seth was back and forth from the water to catching sand crabs (from catching to stabbing with a stick). He would go up to the guys fishing and ask what kind of fish they were catching and one of them showed him a real squid. My niece Savanna and Shane pretty much stuck to the waves the entire day. We left the beach about 4:30 and went back to the hotel to eat and sleep. We bring our food and drinks so we didn't have to go out to eat every day. Big money saver.

Tuesday we headed off bright and early to the San Diego Zoo. We had to drop off a Depeche Mode ticket to the guy who bought it. They were staying about 2 miles away from the zoo. Worked out great. I have to say, we won't be going to that zoo anymore. Way too much money and it wasn't even that great. Same animals any other zoo has just spread out 50 times farther! RIP! Probably why I didn't take any pictures. Kids had fun though. There was a baby gorilla that was cute, it would bang it's chest and was right in the front. They liked the reptile ramada thing best. They saw all kinds of snakes and bugs and insects. I just sat while they looked around it to rest while I could! We ate out that night to get some real food (if McDonalds and Taco Bell is considered real food) My poor feet and legs were swollen crazy that night! And so painful from the burn. I didn't sleep at all!

Wednesday, beach day again. I did learn. I coated on the block and stayed under the umbrella the entire time again. We had some cousins come join us that day and that just made everything more fun for the boys. Joe, Margie, Sam, Marc and Ashley AND Charlie and Jodie with their kids Shane, Kayla and Tara. That was a nice surprise! We didn't know they were coming. I was starving that day and couldn't stop eating! They brought food for a great sandwich! What a life saver! The boys got even more brave that day and went farther into the water and had a blast! They were learning how to body surf. Seth found a fishing line with a hook and wanted so badly to go fishing. I had to tell him we'd go fishing really soon if he'd give me the rusted hook. He did, but now we have a fishing trip to plan! Canberra and Zander rolled in the sand and would run to the water and run back and roll in the sand again, they did that for about 30 min! It was a bit more windy that day so it made it kinda cool. But it was still a very nice and clear day. I didn't get any new burns thank goodness!

Thursday we headed off to the Wild Life Park. That was nice, we walked around the entire park. It was MUCH warmer than the zoo with less shade but they had the DINO LAND that showed 7 dinosaurs. They moved and growled and one spit water. The kids loved that. Although we had to pay an additional $25 to see the whopping 7 dinosaurs. Should have been half that! That was the highlight of that park, too bad it's only a 4 month exhibit! We did get to enjoy watching a mommy duck try to get her ducklings to the water. She had quite the journey. She got stuck in an area and people kept scaring her and the babies. So we took it upon ourselves to help her get to the water. We moved away leaves so she could see where to go and stopped people so she could cross the footpath. She made it. It was great, the kids loved it! Just like the zoo, we would NOT go back to the wild life park. Once in a life time thing. I'm hesitant to even go to sea world! I just want to go so see the shark tunnel. I think the kids would love that! But we won't get to go to Sea World probably until the twins are 2 years old. We'll see. We ate at IHOP for dinner that night, they had a thing going with every adult meal you'd get a childs free. We scored on that one! I love their Sweedish crepes!

We left in no hurry at 10:00am Friday morning and had another 6 hour trip. We got home to a CLEAN house and had little to put away. We ate and had all the kids in bed by 6:30, just in time for us to leave for Daniel's parents 50th wedding anniversary dinner. It was nice to have a tender medium/rare steak with mashed potatos and gravy and a salad! YUM! Especially after eating PB sandwiches, luna bars, oatmeal squares, fruit snacks etc... for 4 days! On the way home from dinner, every time I closed my eyes all I could see was my big soft fluffy BED! I slept like a rock last night. Daniel gave me a nice massage and as soon as he stopped I was seriously OUT COLD!

The babies did great the entire trip, I felt NO pains at all. I walked slow and sat every chance I could. Poor Daniel had it rough at times. Zander would want to be held and Canberra wanted in the stroller so he'd be holding Zander and pushing the stroller. But we weren't ever in a hurry so it wasn't too bad.

I asked the kids what their favorite part of our trip was:

Shane: playing at the beach and going to the zoos. The funnest thing was the dinosaurs and jumping in the waves and catching sand crabs.
Seth: seeing the dinosaurs and at the other zoo, um... petting the animals. I liked catching sand crabs and sea shells at the beach, the water was freezing.
Canberra: it was fun playing in the water. I like all the animals in this whole wide world. The flamingos and the ostriches and pigs and deers...
Zander: Uuum, play water... umm dinosaur, spit on my face and have fun.