Sandy-Yay-Go!

My kids had October Break last week, so we decided to take advantage of the time off and go to San Diego for some relaxing fun. The whole Nielson family joined us, so we had tons of fun!

This is us, packed to the gills, on the ride over. We were camping at Campland on the Bay again (a family favorite), so we had to bring a ton of stuff. Lizzie had the coveted spot - all alone in the back, but at one point I heard a muffled yell "Help, Mom", and looked back and everything had avalanched on top of her, and I had to dig her out. Poor girl!

Here's a few things we loved from our trip:

1. WEATHER

Noelle kept thinking it was "freezing cold" and wore her jacket and socks with her flip flops just about everywhere. But to the rest of us, it was perfect!

2. CAMPING

3. OLD TOWN SAN DIEGO

We decided one afternoon to venture out and explore the Old Town. I had remembered some good Mexican food place there (not so good anymore) and we needed to get away. Going anywhere with our big group of 5 families was a little ridiculous. We had like a billion kids that loved being together, but didn't love having parents try to keep track of them.

We found a store that sold suckers that had crickets and scorpions inside of them. The kids all had to try them. Yuck!

4. HUFF & PUFF PARK

The campground had an awesome park. Most of us brought our bikes and we would ride around and always end up at the park. The kids could have played there all day, every day. Why do we bother planning activities?

5. SEA WORLD

We all went to Sea World one day - which everybody had labeled "Snore World". I thought it was great though, and the kids seemed to really like it too.

The girls were jazzed about the Shamu slugbug.

Brynn was totally freaked out by the sting rays. We tried to throw her in, and just succeeded in getting her shirt wet for the rest of the day and her being cranky for the picture.

As we were going along, they were out walking the flamingos, so our girls walked right along with them.

We all love the shark exhibit! Tea cups are always fun. Kirk had planned on getting them spinning like crazy, but sadly they are cemented in place now. Lame! (But look at Lizzie's face - she seems a little anxious about the whole thing.)

We rode Journey to Atlantis 3 times. It's kinda like a Splash Mountain. Lizzie cried her eyes out on it last time we went, but this time loved it and even bravely put her hands up some the time. Brynn was tall enough to go on it too, and I was surprised at how brave she was. Here's a picture of the picture they take (because we're too cheap to buy the actual picture). I especially love Kali's face (sitting next to Liz) - it shows the terror we all felt at that moment.

At the end of the day, we went on the Roarin' Rapids ride like three times in a row. Don't plan on going on that ride if you aren't planning on getting totally drenched. At one point, you basically go through a waterfall. Fun?

6. BEACH

Seriously why don't we live here? The kids played all day in the water, in the sand, in the water, and in the sand again.

The seagulls and other gray birds wanted to attack us the whole time. Maybe it was because the kids (and adult boys!) kept feeding them all of our food.

8. TIME TO GO

Kirk's brother, Kade, won this gigantic Shamu at SeaWorld, and so he auctioned it off to the kids to see who got to take home. I guess Marissa won - she bungee corded it to the top of our car, and was crushed when Kirk said no. So she gave it to the kid down the way who the little boy cousins had beat up enough times that he deserved a little peace offering before we left.

GOOD TIMES!