San Diego!!

We were lucky enough to take a quick family vacation to San Diego a few weeks ago. Adam had some work for two different clients in San Diego and Los Angeles, and our gas and hotel rooms were paid for by the clients!!

The 5 hour drive went by so fast, and Allie was such a trooper. The boys have always been great travelers, but we were happy that Allie is comfortable in her car seat and didn't have any issues. When we went to Vegas in June, Wes asked a lot of questions along the way. This trend continued to/from San Diego. It goes something like this:

Wes: Are we out of Arizona?
Me or Adam: Not yet buddy, we still have a ways to go.
Two minutes pass
Wes: Are we out of Arizona?
Me or Adam: No, we still have about 2 hours.
Two minutes pass
Wes: Are we out of Arizona?
Me or Adam: Okay, when the clock turns 5 p.m. we will be out of Arizona.
Two minutes pass
Wes: Has the clock turned 5 p.m.?

Now, keep in mind that this conversation happens while he is wearing headphones and listening to music or a movie. So he is yelling at us, and we are yelling the answers back at him, and he always has to ask "What?" before he can hear us. We try to tell him to take off his headphones, but he yells "What?" It makes Adam and I laugh pretty hard. Once Wes finds a clock or his watch that he can see, and we give him a time, he will stop asking, but he will remind us that we only have such and such time remaining. Generally speaking, Wes is more calm when he is wearing a watch. He takes after his mother -- always needing to know the time. My mom tells me that even when I'm wake up from surgery, I ask her for the time over and over again.

While we were in San Diego, we visited Sea Harbor Village a few times. Our hotel backed right up to it, so it was a nice place to walk around, ride the carousel, and look out at the water. Adam got some great photos of the kids during our time there.




On Day 3, we headed to Anaheim and took the kids to Disneyland. They had so much fun. It was crowded, but they didn't mind waiting in lines -- even Allie. Goldfish and sour gummy worms kept her happy. She loved the rides and her eyes would just be huge as she looked around at everything. The boys got to go on a big roller coaster and the Star Wars ride. They waited 70 minutes to ride Star Wars while Allie and I watched the parade, and then I comfortably read my book as she slept in the stroller. Earlier I took Allie to see Minnie Mouse. We waited in line for 45 minutes, and with about 3 minutes remaining she fell asleep in my arms. I was able to wake her up for the picture but she looks so sleepy and refused to smile. It was such a peaceful and fun day, and we were able to go on most of the rides as a family.

Late that night, we arrived at our Ramada hotel. We went from a super fancy Hyatt where we were treated as platinum members to a really ghetto Ramada. We were expecting it, but Adam had a shoot at NFL studios in LA the next morning so we wanted to be close. We had called ahead for a late check-in, but they had sold our room anyway by the time we arrived. We were given the penthouse suite. Did anyone know that ghetto Ramada has a penthouse? This Ramada looked like the crummiest Motel 6 you could find. The Penthouse was on the top floor (level 3), and it was about 2,000 square feet. Huge. It was dusty, and the decorations were odd. The lamp shades still had plastic on them. It was pretty bare. The curtains were like thin sheets and they were torn. The closet doors were broken and as I was trying to open one I was afraid of what I would find behind it. However, it was a place to lay our heads for the night. We were grateful for that -- until the morning when I saw stains on the sheets I had slept in. The weren't from me or my family. Yuck!!! It still makes me shiver to think about it.



On Day 4, we drove home in the afternoon. We loved our little trip, and the weather was gorgeous. When we swam in San Diego it was actually cold! People were laying out by the pool in sweatshirts. The weather was just perfect. The entire mini-vacation was perfect.