SAN DIEGO

This summer we ended up treating our vacation a little differently. We had a trip planned to go to Utah as usual. I had a week off from work. However, the more we thought about it & the 3 days we would end up driving out of 7 & all the running around we had to do to visit everyone I started to get a little overwhelmed. We did some searching & found a great deal on a hotel in San Diego & just did it! It was only a couple of days, but well worth it!! Not to mention I had a couple of days to get things done & was able to save a couple of vacation days as well. Win, win all around. Except for all of the family we didn't get to visit. That was a bummer. I always love to go visit my Grandpa Carroll & I missed out on that this year. Hopefully, we can plan another trip in the fall.

Our hotel was the Hilton & we were on the 19th floor over looking the bay. Pretty sweet! The girls were out pretty quick both nights. Erik brought the cot & they took turns on the cot & bed. (Kylie digs her feet under people in her sleep, so she's not very fun to sleep with.) Part of our stay was a free breakfast. We just assumed it was the normal continental. Yet, we had to have vouchers & the value to each voucher was almost $25!! For breakfast! That's insane! We had a waiter serving us & our bill was $96 the first morning. We just had to pay the tip. It was a big breakfast buffet & Jay loved being served apple juice in a "champagne" glass as she called it. She thought she was fancy. Obviously, we don't get out much!

The first day we woke up & took Kylie to a follow up appt. on her wrist. As soon as that was done we were off! We were able to check in as soon as we got their & then decided to catch a ferry over to Coronado Island. We had a little bit of a jaunt to the ferry & then walked across the island to Coronado Beach. A lady at the hotel said it wasn't bad, but with kids & a short time span since it was already 5pm made it a little rough. We made it though & were able to spend about 30 min. at the beach. (We walked for about 40 min.) The girls loved playing in the waves with Erik & I was happy just being on the beach relaxing. At one pint they had dolphins swimming around them. Kylie was dying to swim with dolphins somewhere & she was able to for free. ;) They were playful that day jumping out of the water. It was awesome! Then, it was off to hurry back to catch our ferry.

The second day we headed to Sea World. Again, we totally lucked out finding a sweet deal on tickets! We walked by the Shamu show & they were filming a new video for the gift shops of the new show & wanted people to sign releases & sit in the splash zone. We did so, got our wrist bands & ended up being seated right in the front row. Needless to say, we walked away COMPLETELY SOAKED! I wish I would have worn board shorts & not denim shorts. Denim is very heavy to walk around in when they're wet. Lesson learned. At least it wasn't a cold day & we weren't freezing. We were able to hold some starfish. Erik's had only 4 "legs". I found one with 7. Pretty crazy! Jadyn wouldn't even touch them. Sea World is fun, but definitely not like Disneyland. Heehee

Our 3rd & last day :( we woke up, packed, checked out & drove over the bridge back to Coronado Island. The girls & Erik had a ball playing in the waves. At one point Erik had a seal swim right past him. He swam parallel with the beach for awhile slowly & a lifeguard truck was announcing to stay away from him because he could be sick & may get aggressive. Jadyn wanted to build a sand castle so badly & we were not well equipped for that. She made do with her hands & some sea shells. Next time, we'll know. As for Kylie - that bright blue cast cover was the best thing we ever could have bought. It was unsightly, but did it's job wonderfully! Nothing got in. My favorite part of the day was watching my girls walk back into the water hand in hand & then still holding hands as waves came & they would turn to face each other to jump them. So cute! I wish they were like that all of the time to each other.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. Going somewhere different, relaxing a little more, being at the beach & just being together as a family!