We had such a great time at the beach this year! We took a week and drove through Las Vegas on the way there and back. Our favorite day was going to the beach....so pretty much every day was a good day. We did visit the Wildlife Animal Park/Zoo Safari and had a great time but the whole time we were there we were wishing we were at the beach.It was fun to sleep in and enjoy a nice calm continental breakfast. Then the kids enjoyed a dip in the hotel pool. We usually grabbed lunch and ate it on the beach in the afternoon. Then played until we were sick of the sand and the waves and headed back to our lovely hotel. We had to pick up food and take it to the hotel with us most nights because we were all too exhausted to eat out after our relaxing day at the beach.
So funnest things list. On the drive home we took turns going around the car stating what our favorite memories of our trip were. Byron and I always do this after a get-away so we won't forget our favorite parts. So top few here...
Carter: Collecting sea glass at Children's Beach
Tyler: Getting his shark necklace at the Scripps aquarium.
Ali: The Wild Animal Park (she feels very at home there:-) She especially liked the bird show.
Byron: Looking through tide pools, we did this a couple times but Scripps was his favorite location.
Erin: Swimming with the seals at children's beach.
Carter: Snorkeling at La Jolla Cove, diving down to see fish.
Tyler: Seeing seals at children's beach.
Ali: Driving to Vegas
Byron: He had a total ball watching Ali boodyboard surf at Children's beach. She laid on her board and let the waves bring her in and out, in and out. She just laid there and rode the shore waves. She got knocked over a few times and came up with sea weed and a hair full of sand but she was smiling her little cheeks off.
Erin: Finding mu cheney at children's beach. It is a piece of broken china that the sea has smoothed off on the edges.
Carter: Catching waves and boodyboarding at Ocean Beach with stinky dog poop. Dog beach was to the right, people beach was to the left, but it was sure stinky getting to the people beach.
Tyler: Boodyboarding with Carter.
Ali: Seeing jellyfish at the tide pool. "It was scary cool." She actually said scary cool.
Byron: Omlettes in Vegas. Awesome at Embassy Suites.
Erin: Eating at Old Town San Diego with awesome pots full of succulent plants.
Well our list went on for three or four more turns each. Then we started on the least favorite moments....and one worth noting is Carter with sand in his swimsuit was dubbed "sand paper diaper pants" because he was walking so funny home from the fireworks. Also noteworthy was the spill brothers who both spilled a full glass of water at a restaurant within three minutes of each other one night. Our waiter was impressed.
It was a great vacation and we will hopefully repeat it in a few more years. We are dreaming of Florida for next year. We will see what happens.
Tide pool gazing at Children's beach.
Carter is the king of crabs. He had fun catching lots of these little guys.
Still smiling.
I asked Tyler to take a picture of the pot behind us, this is what we got.
These photos crack me up. Ali is suck a trooper and always there to put a smile on my face.
Those things are hard to walk in! She made it all the way down the beach to where Byron and the boys were. It was very amusing and she got lots of smiles and she flip flopped her way down.
This reflection photo is one of my favorites from the trip. Ali loved digging for sand crabs once she figured out how.
Awesome tree near La Jolla Cove.
This Carter and I snorkeling in La Jolla Children's beach. Can you believe how close those baby seals are? It was so fun. They would come right up to us and check us out. Carter is searching diligently for sea glass, I was enjoying the seals. This was a life highlight for me. So amazing! Then I was walking along the beach looking for sea glass later and actually found a piece of porcelain, double sided design all rounded at the edges. Amazing find!
Scripps Aquarium. So fun to look at all the cool fish they had in there. Ali got to see a shark, she was so excited.
The pier at Scripps University. They have an oceanography major and the students go out and collect specimens, etc. We snuck down and checked out their tide pools. Amazing! We saw awesome sea stars and sea slugs and lots of barnacles, muscles and crabs. Really fun! The kids especially liked the big globby jelly fish. Yuck.
I think he has a career.
Sea weed monsters at La Jolla Cove.
Ali and Byron spent some time snorkeling in LaJolla Cove. She did a good job and even saw some orange fish. She was very excited.
Ali is sitting next to me in the sand playing around and all the sudden she goes. " I AM going snorkeling." She jumped up and got herself ready and then went off and found Byron who took her out for her first trip. She told us all the way to California that she would not be going snorkeling. I guess a girl can change her mind if she wants, right.
Here we are waiting for the fourth of july fireworks over the beach. We did not have the best time and Carter had sand paper diaper pants going on in his swim suit. We eventually left after a few fireworks went off and called it a night. We were all very tired and thoroughly enjoyed the bucket of chicken we brought home with us to the hotel room that night.
This is my little mermaid girl Ali. So cute!!!
Tyler looking very Spanish soldierish. Kind of scary. They had a museum and cool chain mail in it. The boys loved it.
California 2011!!! This was at mission beach where we spent some time playing and boogy boarding in the water. The kids were digging for sand crabs and found lots of them. A few even snuck home in our sand pail and stunk up the place the next day. Unfortunate.
We did not catch this but the fisherman who did let us hold it. It is some sort of a sand shark but we thought it looked more like a sting ray than a shark. Anyhow, impressive. Of course Byron and the fisherman were old buddies by the time this photo came around. Byron enjoys talking with any fishermen and finding out all about what fun he is missing out on.
The hotel in Vegas we stayed at had this awesome statue. And swans the kids got to feed. Not to mention their amazing omlette breakfast. It was a good hotel.
Oh and a waterfall in the pool.
