San Diego Vacation Part 2
The next days of our trip held Legoland Waterpark, the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Safari Park, lots of beachtime with boogie boarding, and plenty of sightseeing. Click to see all our pictures.
San Diego, Day 2
Legoland was our first adventure. It’s just an amusement park, but so many things are made of Legos. The kids loved it.
We got there right after it opened and headed straight for the back of the park (always our strategy at parks, zoos, museums) to beat the crowds.
They had a huge Lego Star Wars area with every character and planet made of Legos. Alex went crazy there! Here is Lego Anakin Skywalker. I think.
Huge Darth Vader.
And my favorite thing at Legoland was the Lego replicas of all the major cities. Here’s New York. It was very cool.
Then…..we came upon a ride sort of like the Log Ride. We said we’d do it later before we headed to the water park, certainly not before lunchtime. The kids begged. They were so excited so John and I had a quick conversation. How wet could you really get anyway? Can’t be too bad. And there’s no line. Answer: completely drenched. The kids were so happy, so we tried to make the most of it and rode it again. Here we are completely wet.
We rode all the other rides (including 2 small roller coasters) and then headed to the Legoland Water Park. No pictures from there….cameras/phones and water do not mix, you know.
San Diego Vacation, Part 1
We escaped the 100 degree heat last week for 8 glorious days in San Diego. What a beautiful place! The scenery, the food, the weather…all wonderful. I was also taking a vacation from my other blog, so I tried not to take pictures of any food…right after this first one.
We stayed at The Grand Del Mar in Del Mar, which is about 20 minutes north of downtown San Diego. It was a great hotel choice for us because it was quiet, full of kids (how’d they keep it so quiet?, we constantly wondered), big with green expanses for running around, had a great pool, fabulous food, and a gelato shop about 30 steps from our room. Here are the milk and cookies in our room on arrival. We instantly knew we’d have a great vacation! The milk was even chilling in a wine bucket.
We spent our first morning exploring the hotel because we had arrived late the night before. Toward lunchtime, we took a drive north from Del Mar to Oceanside. We drove through cute little beach towns, stopped for lunch, and then took the kids out to see the Pacific ocean for the first time. They were a little scared of how big the waves were. At first. More about that later.
Then we headed back to the resort for dinner by the pool and swimming until bedtime.
Who wouldn’t like to have their dinner delivered poolside on a tray??!
Kate’s 9th birthday
Seems like our baby was born yesterday, but Kate is 9 today!! Here are some pictures from her birthday party at Glitterbox on Friday. To see all the pictures, go here.
Kate B., Kate J., and Henley
Abby getting a manicure
Kate showing off her cute nails and birthday cookies
Abby, Henley, Sydney, Kate J., Stella, Kate B.
Blessings Golf Camp 2012
Last day of June golf camp.
Zombies. The youngest next door with Alex.
Junior Golf Camp
Today was Alex’s first time to get to go to golf camp at the Blessings with his sisters. He was thrilled, especially because his best friend (the youngest next door) would be there, too.
As I was getting ready to take pictures, I caught Kate helping Alex put on his golf bag. I mean, is that not the sweetest thing?
And then while we were getting ready to get in the car, he starting dropping his clubs and Abby helped him get them back into the bag. Sweet sister.
Abby got her ears pierced!
We had already agreed to let Abby get her ears pierced for her 7th birthday in August, just like Kate did. But then I guess the two of them got to talking, and Kate told her about having to leave the same earrings in for 6 weeks, so Abby decided she wanted to get them pierced now so she could get new earrings for her birthday in August. It’s actually pretty logical thinking for a 6 year old, so we agreed. The whole family took her to the mall this morning to get it done.
She was so excited to get started. I had gone to the gym early in the morning and John said Abby asked no fewer than 50 times when it would be 10:00 (that’s when the mall opens).
After the lady pierced the first ear, I was so worried about Abby. She was completely expressionless. No tears, no frowns, no smiles, nothing! I guess she just went to the happy place in her mind and blocked everything else out. That girl is tough! In this picture I’m saying, “Abby, look at me, are you ok?”
After both ears were done, she got to look in the mirror. Again, expressionless. Then the lady showed her how to clean them, and Abby did it without a smile or frown. I was certain she was going to burst into tears, but nothing.
After it was all done and she was out of the chair, she finally turned back into herself. Smiling, laughing, and teasing her sister because Kate told her it would hurt, and Abby didn’t think it did.
Memorial Day
On Memorial Day we went up to Joplin for a fun day of cooking out and swimming. Charlie and Trella have a pool with a slide, which was the most fun thing our kids have ever done. They had such a good time with their cousins!
Alex went down the slide no fewer than 100 times. Each time he’d yell, “woo hoo!” He doesn’t typically wear floaties, but John and I didn’t want to stay in the pool to make sure he could make it all 500 times he went down….
Gavin, Abby, and Emma
Just a little sister/brother arguing. Kate is physically removing Alex from the slide because it’s her turn.
Here’s Rowan going down the slide and Alex “shooting” him. They did this over and over. How do boys all know how to make that gun sound?
And the girls chilling out. Kate, Emma, and Abby.
End of School Pool Party
After school today, we invited all our neighbors who go to our school over for a pool party. Such a fun way to start the summer. We love our neighbors, and we missed you guys who weren’t here! I’ll talk about our food over on my other blog, Our Everyday Dinners, later this weekend.
Kate, Mary Helen, Ava, Abby, Reagan, and Olivia
Just graduated kindergarteners Reagan, Abby, and Ava
New third grader Olivia and new fourth grader, Kate
Alex had the best time playing with Hunter and Spencer (not pictured, but why not? Where is he in all the pictures??). Alex seriously needs more boys to play with. He enjoyed getting hit with the water guns and spraying the boys with the water; his sisters don’t enjoy it. At all.
Little Reese didn’t want to get her picture made. Look at that beautiful hair! RED!
And precious little Grace eating a fruit kabob. She and Alex will be in the same grade when they start school.
At first, the girls were just jumping in.
But then, Hunter started spraying them, which made it much more fun. They were all squealing and laughing so loudly I know you probably heard them!
Last Day of School 2011-12
The first thing for today was the 3rd grade awards. Kate accepted awards for Honor Roll and completing 3rd grade (again, everyone gets an award…). It was a little bittersweet because she’s had the same teacher and classmates for 2 years in a row. We will certainly miss Mrs. Brakeville; such a wonderfully, dedicated teacher who really cares about her students.
After the awards, we headed back to the classroom to say goodbyes and grab her stuff. Here are her friends Brady, Stella, and Cheyenne.
Kate and Henley. Such sweet little friends.
Her most fabulous teacher, Mrs. Brakeville. I wish she would take this class to 4th grade, too!!
After goodbyes in 3rd grade, we went down to kindergarten to grab Abby. Here are Abby and Miss Raffaelli. We are sure going to miss her!
Abby with her cute friend, Isabelle.
Kate, Sydney, Henley, and Abby
