Finally our summer vacation came! We were so excited to get the heck out of LV, we took off Friday night around 6 and drove to Rancho Cucamonga to get a head start on our vacation. We didn't realize the hotel we were staying at the following couple nights was only about 40 minutes away. : )
We went to the beach the next day and had such a great time. Caroline slept for almost 3 hours lulled by the sound of the waves. When she woke up, guess she wasn't to impressed (see pic below). The kids love the water, but Jake is obsessed. We cannot get that kid off the boogie board. He hangs with Bud and I just fine. That night we went to an ice-cream parlor called Farrells that serves great treats in an extremely loud (and annoying) atmosphere, but we enjoyed our "Pigs Troph" just fine.
The next day, Sunday, we headed up to our old stomping grounds in LA after checking out the Newport temple. We stopped by my absolute favorite, Randy's Donuts, then on to our old neighborhood where the kids played at the park we used to go to all the time. I took a picture of the kids on that tire swing because Jake and Jo used to spin on it a lot until one day Jonah threw up right in the middle of it. : ) Then with Tito's Tacos in hand, we headed up to South Pas to see our good friends, the Nielson's. Our kids get along great and we have some arranged marriages in the works... Paige and Mae are so cute together and even Caroline has a great friend with their new baby, Rees.
Monday we headed down to San Diego. We took it easy getting unpacked, doing some laundry and grocery shopping. That night we drove around downtown and walked down around the aircraft carriers.
Tuesday was Mae's 4th birthday. We went to Sea World to celebrate. It was a hot day and very crowded, but we had a great time. Elle rode her first roller coaster, which she was not impressed with. The boys went a second time, but she wanted nothing to do with that. When we asked her later what her favorite part of Sea World was she said, "the roller coaster." Go figure. The kids loved the shows and feeding the sea lions, and especially getting their little Shamu stuffed animals at the end of the day. We had tried to ride the tower earlier in the day, but weren't allowed to because all the boys were wet from one of the rides, so we waited until the very end of the day to go and there was a bit of a line. Mae ended up being a different kind of "wet" by the time we got to ride it, poor thing. They should've let us on the first time. : )
Wednesday we hit the beach again and had a great time. When we headed home around 5pm, Bud kept talking about how hungry he was and how he wanted to hurry home, shower, and be back in the car in 30 minutes. This is not like him at all (much more like me), and I couldn't figure out why he was in such a hurry. We headed to Islands for dinner. Jonah was in front and I saw him run over to a bench and start hugging some random person. I couldn't see because of a tree blocking my view, and after saying, "Jonah!", saw that it was my parents! I was so surprised! It was so much fun to see them and they spent the next couple of days with us.
We headed to Old Town the next day. This has been a tradition to get some good Mexican food (even though the restaurant's name changes every time we go), and some salt water taffy. I cannot get enough of that stuff! We headed to the Mormon Battalion visitors center afterwards. It's been redone and is so cool! My parents watched the kids that night and Bud and I got to go out to dinner. We had so much fun and I highly recommend Rappongi if you're ever in La Jolla. Friday we hit the beach for one last time. My parents ended up taking Jonah, Elle, and Mae to their hotel to swim at the pool since it was pretty cold and windy that day (thanks Tingeys for the wetsuits!). Bud, Jake, Caroline and I hung out for another 4 hours and honestly could've stayed longer. It was so nice. We were very sad to leave the next day, but so grateful to the Fullers for letting us stay at their condo. A weeks vacation with 7 people wouldn't have been possible without their generosity!
