Spring Break - San Diego trip - Saturday & Sunday

Saturday, March 26, 2016  (I need to add pictures for this day)

Beth & Jeff and their kids arrived late Friday night and it was great to see them again!  We got to meet their sweet Savanna for the first time - talk about a cute baby!  She is so teeny and those big brothers of hers would carry her around and love on her every chance they got.

We got up Saturday morning and Ammon & Kirsten made a delicious bunny-pancake & bacon breakfast.  We were a huge group, so that was an extra act of love to make it for that many people.  It was so fun and so yummy!!  My kids always put whipped cream on their pancakes and I had just never tried it.  I tried it this day and now I'm hooked :)

After breakfast, we headed towards La Jolla beach.  We found a fun hike to do, which the kids all did great on.  It was so beautiful to look out over the beautiful ocean.   After our hike, we had a picnic lunch out of the back of our Suburban and then headed to the beach that was right there.  Unfortunately for us, a dead whale carcass had apparently washed up on shore several days before and it was sooooo stinky!  You could still see the grease marks of the blubber as they probably dragged it away.  We walked far enough down the beach so that we couldn't smell it any more and the kids started to play in the water.

Thankfully, Sam fell asleep on our walk in because he was (and still is) only army crawling and that would have been hard to keep him from getting his face full of sand.  The kids had a great time in the waves.   A little while into it, Hailey had to use the bathroom, so Jon walked the long walk back with her to the bathroom.  Of course, she didn't have to go by the time they got there.  

Several minutes after she got back, she told me she had to go again.  We asked her to just hold it, which ended up being a huge mistake, because she ended up pooping in her swimming suit.  Right after, a huge wave caught us all off guard and soaked all our towels, bags, diaper bags, etc.  Grrrr!   

The Bowen's (or at least the mother) was done at this point!   We gathered all our wet, poopy stuff and headed back to the house to clean up.

That night, the boys stayed home to have pizza and take the kids to the park and the girls headed to the General Women's Meeting.  My girls and I love going and even though I was sad to miss going at home with my mom and sister-in-laws, it was such a treat to go with Kirsten and her girls and Beth.  The meeting was great and after, we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner!  Delish!

On Sunday, we got ready and headed for church.  (I was an idiot and someone managed to spray Diet Coke all over myself as we arrived, so I ended up wearing my jacket the whole time).  We certainly picked the right ward to attend.  As the meeting started, Kirsten told me to look behind me and when I did, Vilo Westwood (from the Riverside Ward in Columbus was there!).  She was visiting the area too and it was fun to see her.  We also picked the congregation that Mitt & Ann Romney attend when they visit their San Diego house.  Ann said the opening prayer and we got to see Mitt afterwards.    What a great couple!

After church, we went to the beautiful San Diego Temple and took some pictures.  It's breathtaking and peaceful!

Poor Sam - he was so done at this point!  He ended up weaning himself this day.  He bit me in the morning and didn't like being scolded for that.  I tried nursing him again that afternoon and to go to bed that night and he wanted nothing to do with it.  I was really sad for about 5 minutes, as he is my last baby.   But, we got him to take a bottle (talk about a tender mercy!) and we just adjusted the rest of the trip.  

Cute Savanna

We headed back to the house to prepare and eat a delicious Easter dinner - ham, baked potatoes, cooked carrots, creamed corn, Jell-0, & rolls.  Yum!

Hannah & Kyle helped Beth make these cute Cheetos carrots

After dinner, we drove to another beach (I can't remember which one) and got to see the sea otters that come up to the beach to nurse their babies.

We passed by a wedding that was just finishing up, and they gave Hannah a bowl of petals.  She was in heaven!

It was a gorgeous, cool evening and fun to walk along the rocks and shore!

Spring Break - Sea World - March 25, 2016

Two summers ago, we went to Santa Cruz with the Rasmussen's and the Johnston's.  We had such a fun time with these 2 amazing families, that we decided to try to do a trip together every other year (our fingers are crossed that we'll be able to keep doing this - it's no small feat to find 4 or 5 days when we can all meet somewhere).

We all agreed that San Diego would be a perfect place to go and that the summer was just too busy, so we should do it during our spring breaks.   Come to find out, all three families had different spring breaks. Ahhh!   So, we all pulled our kids out of school for a couple of days and made it work!

We got up really early and left at 5 in the morning on Thursday, March 24th to drive to San Diego.  It was nice to drive the first few hours in a dark so the kids could sleep (Jon was the best driver and so willing to do this) and we got all the way to St. George before stopping.   The kids were great in the car and we pulled in SD around 4:00 their time.   The Rasmussen's were able to come that day as well and were at the grocery store buying groceries when we got there.  

We had a fun night having dinner together and catching up!   The house we rented was in a cul-de-sac and was great.  It had a hot tub, but the water seemed really dirty and it smelled like dirty gym socks.  Bummer!  But, the house had a pool table the kids loved and a fenced in backyard.  

The next morning, we got up and spent the day at Sea World (Beth & Jeff drove to SD this day and hadn't wanted to go to Sea World).   The kids or I had never been and even though it was fairly crowded (which we figured it would be), it was a great day!  The weather was perfect and we were able to see all the shows we wanted to!

 Jon took the oldest 5 on bigger kid rides and I took Hailey to the smaller kids rides.   She is darling at amusement parks and I love watching her excitement!

 This boy did a good job sitting in his stroller.  I nursed him a couple of times there (which ended up being almost the end of his nursing days)

The kids were able to snap a few pictures of the shows:

 Paisley & Hailey became the best of friends - they are the cutest girls ever!

 We saw the last Shamu show of the day and thought we better get in line early because we heard the afternoon show filled up so quickly they had to turn people away.    We sat up at the top of the "Soak Zone" and basically stayed dry.   The animals are beautiful and amazing!   Sea World does a really good job of rescuing animals and helping them.