San Diego

In May, we finally got to use our time share for the first time in the nearly 3 years since we purchased it. We went to stay for a week at the Carlsbad Inn, right next to the beach in Carlsbad, CA. Basically, 45 minutes north of San Diego. Jes had to work at first, so Lauren and her kids came with Matty and I for the first few days. It was a real adventure to say the least. The drive down was longer than expected due to bad directions, and then, Lauren got lost on the toll road in Irvine. I'll never forget when she went flying past the toll booths in the ez pass lane...he he. We finally managed to find each other again and meet for dinner and eventually made it down to Carlsbad. You would think things would be smooth after this, but noooo.. the next morning the Pilot battery had died and I was thinking it was something with the engine. Meanwhile, we were all dressed to go to church, so we crammed everyone in the Jetta and headed up to to Huntington Beach to disturb Uncle Kevin's singles ward during Sacrament Meeting. Do you remember how quiet singles wards are? Our kids were SOOO LOUD!! Then back to a BBQ with Uncle Todd, Aunt Shelly and Uncle Kevin and Bryan Corbin. It's a tribute to uncle Kevin that his backyard full of random junk provided both Jacob and Matthew a future goal to work for: to ride a skateboard. Apparently the skateboard made a big impression, because they each expressed an interest in riding one when they were teenagers!

Anyway, the next day we headed to the San Diego Zoo and spent the day looking at all the lovely animals. The kids were real troopers, walking around all day. We somehow managed to miss seeing the "world famous" panda bears, but it really was a fun day. We let the kids pick out toys at the end of the day and I was fortunate enough to have to buy the ugliest and most expensive plastic/rubber frog that you have ever seen. It was a $10 plastic frog. Hideously ugly. And yes, it remains a prized possession still.

On Tuesday we went to the beach in the morning and Jacob and Matthew had buckets and sand toys and were totally engrossed in making floppy sand castles. There were dolphins out in the morning really close to shore and it was amazing to watch them. Kayleigh, meanwhile wouldn't leave the blanket and didn't want to touch the sand, so eventually she gave up! Jes flew in to San Diego and came up after lunch, later Lauren headed back home and our Smith Family vacation started.

Over the next few days we went to Legoland, Sea World and the Wild Animal Park. It took all of my energy to survive the week. I had just found out I was pregnant and was still taking tons of fertility meds and shots. Sea World was amazing, and Matthew loved all the shows, especially when we were splashed! He must have been confused because we asked him what type of animal Shamu was, and he was very adamant that " Shamu is a Shamu." Not a whale, or orca, or killer whale. Also, we FINALLY saw DOLPHINS!! the HOLY GRAIL!! not only that, but Matthew got to touch them and feed them fish. We fed the oldest and most crazy looking dolphin you have ever seen. It had NO TEETH, so it was like old dolphin gums chomping at us waiting for another fish. They told us it was 43 years old. I had no idea they lived that long.

Next day, we spent at LEGOLAND! It is perfect for little kids and I would highly recommend it. Matthew could go on everything and it wasn't nearly as crowded as Disneyland. Everything looked like a Lego, and everything was made for kids 2-12. perfect.

My Vacation Review:

Legoland : **** excellent!

Sea World: ***1/2 bring dry clothes

San Diego Zoo: ***-- if you can handle the walking... enjoy, if not, ride the tour bus

Wild Animal Park: ** lots more walking, but as a bonus, your child will think he's been to Africa ad tell everyone that he went to Africa on vacation. (it's true--he keeps asking when we're going back to Africa, so I had to break out the globe and explain our relative distances!)

Carlsbad Beach: **** what's to complain about---it's the beach!

Pics: Matt, Jacob and Kayleigh, Petting the Dolphins, growling like a bear at the zoo, matt and jes at Legoland