San Diego, part 2

We went down to La Jolla for the day (the resort was in Carlsbad, right next to Legoland) and started off with watching the sea lions at Children's Beach. 

 

Alison and I ran to the end of the pier and took a picture as fast as we could in between waves crashing up onto it.  We successfully didn't get wet!

Then we walked to Burger Lounge for lunch.  Restaurants were supposed to open back up for dine-in eating this day, but they lied.  Thankfully there was enough seating outside for all of us and Alison and Eli got to have a nice little date :)  I loved it...it's not often these two sit and talk nowadays.

Then the boys took the kids to play at a park and all the girls did a little shopping.

Alison found a cute skirt and had fun trying on some things.  Also a weird thing right now; you can't try on clothes in most stores, so if you can, you celebrate. 

Then we headed to the beach!  This was Courtney and Caleb's first time seeing the Pacific ocean!

The kids built several castles and Colin taught Courtney how to boogie board.  We looked for sea glass and picked a few seashells.  And Alison lived her best life, eating poptarts and reading.

Our last day together we just hung out at the resort by the pool, eating yummy french fries and going down the slide.  

Now I just have to figure out how to make this an annual thing, because it was just too much fun to let it happen once.

San Diego

March was a busy month! I'm not complaining in the least; it was certainly refreshing to get out of town and stretch our legs a little bit.

Why did we go to San Diego?  It's a funny story.  Lydia and I polo pretty much every day and she was complaining about the arctic cold of Kansas and she was so over it that she was literally swimsuit shopping because she was dreaming of being on the beach.  I told her that she should just literally come to the beach; plane tickets are cheap now and she would have a place to stay.  I've learned that there is no joking when it comes to talking about the beach, because Lyd literally called her mom the next day and convinced her to book their time-share in San Diego for their whole family to come spend Spring Break on the beach. See? One little suggestion ignited an entire family to book a trip. Shortly after, I booked a hotel room just a few minutes from their resort (it was just 2 hours from our house and I wasn't missing an opportunity to see her).

Ben had to stay home and work, but the kids and I went down and crashed their resort.  It was a rough couple of days ;)

Within minutes of sitting down, Kyle had gotten us all fun drinks and the kids were all playing together in the pool.  I gave him major props for even getting Alison a virgin daiquiri. 

22 years of friendship is a beautiful thing.  

It was so fun to see our kids instantly click and have the best time together as well.

The pandemic has had a few blessings come it and I would say this trip was definitely one of them.  Lydia's mom said that they have never been able to book this resort because it's always booked up years ahead of time.  Thank you pandemic and a period of time when no one could make a reservations and there were able to snatch a spot.

 

While we cooked dinner, the kids played the switch together.

 

After dinner, we roasted smore's on the giant fire pit.  I always knew this family was a good family, but when I found out they flew their own marshmallow roasting sticks all the way to California, I was all the more convinced they were my kind of people.

Ben's birthday!

We walked around downtown Monterey the morning of Ben's birthday.

 

Waiting for him to get some coffee: 

 

 We found the statue of Steinbeck, which was fun because Ben just had Alison read some of his work for literature.

We had lunch at a seafood place on the water to celebrate Ben's birthday.

 

We drove home that afternoon and where there a few little gifts waiting for him.

Monterey & Big Sur

We went up to Monterey for Ben's birthday weekend! A year over due, as we were supposed to go up to San luis Obispo last year.  We were so thankful to finally explore some new territory of California.

Saturday morning, Ben and I went for a run.

Finding food was a little bit of a challenge, as Monterey was even more locked down than Camarillo, but we made it work.  We found an Italian place for lunch that had a pick up window and we ate in the car next to the ocean.

Then we drove down the 1 to Big Sur.

 No one got car sick and the views were incredible!

It looks like a painting, but this was real life.

Why go all that way and not go for a little nature walk?  We went into the state park to see the redwoods and somehow we ended up with a little more adventure than I planned for.

 

 

This is a classic mom picture.  I'm wearing Alison's old coat that we realized on the trip is too small (why does that always happen?!?!) and holding a comic book that Eli brought along under my arm...and jumping across a river.  I really should learn to just carry a giant backpack with me everywhere.

 

Don't you strike a yoga pose when taking hiking pictures?

We were back in Monterey for dinner and found a Mexican restaurant that had a few tables outside.  It was really cold by this point and we all huddled together next to the one working heat lamp. 

Pinnacles National Park

The best picture is going first..I could look at this picture all day long.  I tell them every day to stop growing, but they just won't listen.

We stopped for a hike in Pinnacles National Park on our way up to Monterey.

It took us a little longer to get to the trail head than we thought, but once we got on the trail, it was well worth the venture!  It was absolutely beautiful and a really fun hike.

 

 We turned around at Bear Gulch...not the best name for such a beautiful place.