Spring Break

We did a LOT of driving over spring break, but we had a pretty awesome time.  We were really craving the beach so we planned a trip to San Diego for a few days.  Then, Joe had an appointment come up in the bay area so we decided to drive through CA.  We got to see Chris and Lisa and spend some time with my mom and dad.  My poor mom had just broken her arm a couple of days before but it was still good to be with them.  Then, we stopped off in Fresno on our way down south to see our friends Justin and Marin and their cute kids.  It was so fun catching up with them and our kids hit it off really well.  They were even nice enough to feed us.  Then, we headed down to San Diego.  We arrived at a hotel late that night and got some good rest before heading to the beach the next day.

Mission Bay:

This beach was more crowded and less spacious than we would have liked but it was still so nice to be there and we had a blast.  I had fun paddling out a bit on the boogie board until a lifeguard came and told me to come in because the currents were strong.  It's a good thing he did because I had quite the struggle coming in but I made it on my own.

The boys loved when Joe pulled them around on the boogie board:

Mom-fail of the day:  I put sunscreen on the kids when Elizabeth was in the middle of burying Natalie in the sand and forgot to do her body when she got out.  Oops.  She got a pretty bad burn:

That night we went to the house we'd booked on airbnb.  We loved it!  It had room for all of us, with a nice kitchen, two bathrooms, and even a little gated off yard.  It was perfect for us.  

The next day was our trip to Sea World.  This was a dream of Joe's that we got to fulfill.  It was so much fun!

They had some fun rides.  The girls and I went on a rollercoaster called the Manta.  Here's Eli and I on a tamer one.  (He actually was having fun, I promise.)

The highlight of the day was when Joe and the girls got to have a "dolphin interaction".  It was quite pricey but we're not sure when or if we'll ever go back so we decided to splurge on it.

It was awesome!  I mean, look at these pictures:

I think their faces pretty much say it all.

Elmo might not be as exciting as a live dolphin, but he comes pretty close for us Sesame Street fans:

They had a really fun kids area:

When our day was winding down, I decided to take the older three kids on a raft ride while Joe waited in line for the orca show.  That was a big mistake.  We got drenched!  And by then the sun was going down and it was freezing.  Poor Nate was miserable.  Luckily we had their complimentary towels from the dolphin experience to wrap around us or we wouldn't have made it.  Even still, it was a cold night.  The orca show was pretty awesome, though.

The next day we stopped off at the beautiful San Diego temple:

After that we went search of a good beach.  We had more trouble when the one we'd planned on required a really long hike to get to.  So, we went to a more accessible one that was super crowded.  It was actually really fun in spite of the crowds.  It was this little cove where there were tons of sea lions.  You could swim and they'd be all around you.  I had fun swimming out a ways with the girls.  Natalie was quite concerned with this one just lying on the sand:

She and Joe got up close to some others, too:

Then we went up on the bluff for lunch where the kids found this tree:

Look!  All of us in a picture for once!

That night we had dinner at an Indian place near our house that was really good.  Then, we walked over to the Mormon Battalion visitor's center which was right by us, too:

That was pretty cool and we were glad we went.

Natalie got to be a volunteer and show how much gear they carried with them:

One big musket!

Panning for gold right before they were closing for the night:

Some other random pictures from the trip:

Lizzy's pretty braid:

I love the different colors in her hair.

The next day, we packed up and left as early as we could for Goblin Valley in Utah.  Jon and Jaime contacted us after we'd already scheduled our San Diego trip to see if we wanted to camp with them.  We thought that it wouldn't be too far out of our way to stop off on the way back so we said sure.  It ended up being kind of crazy but worth it in the end, I think.

The drive there took SO long, for various reasons, so we didn't get in until 9pm.  They decided to go to a hotel that night instead of camping since it was quite cold and it was maybe going to rain.  That was good for us because we didn't want to set up our tent and everything in the dark.  Our poor kids were so sad, though.  They'd been looking forward to camping the most.  

The next morning we woke up and then headed out to Goblin Valley.   It was awesome!  A kids climbing paradise!  It was fun to watch them let loose and climb everything in sight.  It was so beautiful, too!  The pictures don't even do it justice.

It was really fun.  From there, we decided we'd better just get home.  We made it by late that night.

All tuckered out:

The late night and travel exhaustion made our Easter devotional tricky but we still had it, even if a bit simpler than normal.  The one single Easter picture I have is this one, proof that we did dye eggs:

It was definitely an action-packed spring break!