We had so much fun on our family trip to San Diego. There were of course ups and downs, but I loved it! We stopped in St. George for the first few nights and loved the resort there. We could have stayed for a whole week and not been able to enjoy all that there was to do at the resort and at Zion's National Park. We spent Saturday at Zion's and it was amazing. I had never been and it was seriously so amazing. The pictures can hardly do it justice. We decided to do a hike called Angel's Landing. It is pretty famous because the last quarter mile (optional) is a pretty skinny path with a drop off cliff on both sides. there is a chain to hold on to, but it sounded terrifying and I was definitely not doing it or letting any of my kids do it when we started. By the time we got to the top something had changed. Maybe the elevation had gotten to me or maybe the beauty of everything was blinding me to the danger, but I decided that I wanted to do it and to bring Teagan and Eloise along. Even as I write this I just feel sick to my stomach, what was I thinking?!? We did it, it was awesome, there were no close calls and I was the only one who slipped a little (nothing too scary). Every person that we passed praised Teagan and Eloise for being so brave (except the ones that silently judged us for putting our children's lives in danger haha) We watched grown men and women turn back, Eloise and Teagan never seem to be nervous at all. We made it to the top and it was so incredible. The way down I was in the back instead of the front and it all the sudden got a little scarier watching my precious children walking that close to the edge of a cliff. I was glad when it was over, but honestly, during the hike I never felt very nervous. Then I got home and looked at pictures and videos and started wondering what I was thinking. I'm glad we did it.
We drove to San Diego on Sunday and went to the Mormon Battalion, it was so interesting to learn about those pioneers and all that they faced. It was the perfect Sunday activity!
Monday we went to Lego Land and everyone loved it. There were hardly any people there so we rarely had to wait more then 5 minutes for a ride. The kids went on this roller coaster at least 10 times, maybe more. Logan and Everly were buddies in the stroller, he loved riding with her and was so sweet with her! Addy and Ellie loved all the lego structures, especially the Lego Friends ones, they are lego lovers for sure. Everly was adorable on the carousel. She laughed and laughed and did her hilarious quick inhale throat growl thing that she does when she is excited.
Tuesday was a tennis, beach and pool day. We met my good friend Erin at the beach and the kids boogie boarded and played in the sand for hours. I don't think I saw Teagan for more then about 10 minutes all day because he was in the water the whole time. It was so great to catch up with Erin and see her cute little kids. The house we stayed at had a pool so the kids loved to play in it while the adults recovered from being on vacation for a few hours.
Disneyland
Wednesday was Disneyland. We had fast passes and it wasn't too crowded so we got to ride a ton of rides compared to what it is normally like. It was just going to be us at Disneyland but Jeff and Julie surprised us and came last minute. I had sent Julie my location through our phones the day before and it was still on so they actually tracked us down and surprised us as we were waiting at Star Tours. The kids were excited, especially Teagan. I think Eloise was a little sad that she was going to have to share her big brother. The kids thought Disneyland was really fun but I realized that we need to watch all the old Disney movies before we go next time because a lot of it didn't make much sense to them. It was really fun to be there at Halloween time. Everything was decorated and we even got to see Jack Skeleton in person! We had a great day, but there were SO many people there and I think the kids liked LEGO Land better which was way more affordable. I'm glad we went so that our kids can check it off the bucket list though, we definitely made some memories.
Thursday we recovered some more and then went on a harbor cruise tour of downtown San Diego. It was so cool to see the city from that side and learn some of the history. We got to go under the coronado bridge which was cool for me. The kids ran all over like crazy people the whole time, they started getting a little rambunctious with each other by the end of the week. We went to eat Mexican food down by the Padres' stadium and had to separate into families to try to get a little peace. On the way home we stopped at Peterson's Donuts in Escondido (the best ever!) and let each kid pick out a donut. Those donuts were one of the highlights of the trip, so yummy!
Friday morning the Lewis family headed home and we decided to stay for one more night. My friend Erin Packard, had invited us to sleep there so we took her up on the offer and it was so worth it! We went and visited Zac's old PT school, St Augustine, in San Marcos. The kids tolerated the tour and Zac loved taking a walk down memory lane and seeing everything new. It was so crazy to think how much our lives had changed in 8 short years. Life really does pass by too quickly! After that we headed to Torrey Pines Reserve. It is basically a big cliff that overlooks the beach and there are tons of trails to take to see the view. We did a 1 mile loop and it was perfect. It was crazy because all the trails were sand. So foreign to us Idaho folks. The view was gorgeous so we did a quick photo shoot. I love nature and it was fun to get to see hiking that was so different then what we are used to.
Then we headed to the Packard home and hung out for a while. We decided to go eat at a fun local BBQ joint for dinner that was super yummy. Our kids were shy for about 5 minutes and then they loved each other and had so much fun together. After dinner we headed back, put the kids to bed and chatted the night away. We caught up and laughed so hard and just enjoyed seeing each other again. Hopefully, it won't be 8 years before we get the chance to see them again!
We got up early Saturday morning, ate delicious waffles and then headed out for the drive home. We decided to just go all the way home in one day. It was a very long day and we were all sick of the car by the end, but we made it alive. It was such a wonderful week to spend as a family. After discussing things afterwards we decided that in the future we will just do family vacations with our family. The kids all loved being together so much that they couldn't handle 5 minutes without each other and drove the parents insane asking when we'd see them again. haha We've decided that we can visit each other at our homes and then the adults can take vacations together (we didn't get near enough time playing tennis!). We still had fun and it was still a great trip though. I definitely think we will be heading back to San Diego again!
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