For an entire week, we enjoyed this.
For Spring Break, we spent a week in sunny Oceanside/San Diego. Soaking up the sun while reading about snow back home! We played at the resort, went to the beach, Legoland, Sea World and the Wild Animal Park. We went to a movie, experienced the Mexicali earthquake firsthand and ate treats like there's no tomorrow. It was fabulous! Of course, DQ and I seriously need a post-vacation vacation!
The kids loved trying out their tennis skills! They were pretty good at it.
This is one view from our room. The ocean, the lighthouse and ... the train tracks. At first, I was hesitant about the trains. But it turned out to be cheap entertainment for Eli as he could hear it approaching in enough time to hurry to the balcony to see it pass. It wasn't bad at all.
Eli just carried his shovel and pail and kept his distance from the water. But the others had a great time building sand castles, looking for seashells and running from waves.
Legoland - the one day it was a little drizzly, but we had a good time.
There was a display of different cities all created out of Legos. It was amazing to see all the detail. If only Davis had 5 million legos....
The San Diego Wild Animal Park. I remember going here as a child (so many years ago) and driving our own car through the park as the animals just walked around and often came right up to the car. It's changed. Now it's pretty much a zoo. But you can pay extra to go on the Safari. We just walked.
So I realized that the pictures that I took at Sea World were kind of lame, so no evidence of our day enjoying Shamu and the penguins will be posted. But we went and had a good time.
However, of all the money and time spent at those different parks, this was our favorite. The Mormon Battalion Museum in San Deigo. It was so interesting and the kids loved it! You could practice pumping water - Eli was a pro.
pan for gold -
and even be a part of the presentation about the history of the Mormon Battalion.
It was fascinating to learn of the history of this group of 400-500 faithful latter-day Saints (men, women and even some children) who had such an important role in the settling of the San Diego area.
We walked Old Town San Diego and ate some fabulous Mexican food. It was a great last day! We enjoyed more swimming and tennis at the resort before packing up and heading out the next morning.
Despite the long journey, everyone traveled so well! Thanks to DVD players and iPods. Kind of pathetic, really. But it got us through the 13 hours back home!
And for this boy - He NEVER slept a wink on the way to California and did this on the way back for only an hour!
Family vacations - a lot of work, but a lot of wonderful memories created. So worth the effort.
