A Week of Fun in San Diego

We arrived in San Diego on Sunday, April 28 and were allowed to check in to our AirBnB early, so took advantage of that time to clear and clean out our car and camper and do lots of laundry. The kids both took naps while Spencer and I cleaned so we were able to be very productive. We had our gear cleaned up and airing out all over the house by the time Spencer's brother, Austin, and his family joined us around dinner time. The four kids, between 1 and almost-5, were excited to see each other and get a week of cousin-time together. Spencer and Austin, who both work for the same consulting company (but with different customers), were planning to work from our AirBnB house throughout the week.

On Monday, we decided to hit up the Fleet Science Center for the morning. After a fun time playing mostly in the "Kid Zone," we made it home for lunch and Hatcher and Emmett got to spend their quiet time playing together while Josie and Darwin napped. We didn't take on anything else that afternoon, in hopes of having well-rested kids for the next day.

On Tuesday, we took advantage of the rainy forecast to hit up the San Diego Zoo. It was wonderful! We got there pretty close to opening time (9am), met up with our friends Chris, Rio & Sierra, and made it all the way until 4pm, when all of the kids basically asked to leave because they were so tired and done. We started the journey with a bus tour, then headed out with our wagons and stroller. The highlights were seeing "elephants eating food" (Josie), walking through the "bird cage"/aviary and the seeing the cheetah who lived with the golden retriever (Emmett). All of the kids loved riding a sky tram/gondola as well. Josie still asks for the story of the day we went to see the elephants eating food. She was impressed! And the kids slept hard that night.

Wednesday was scheduled to be a bit warmer, so we headed to Chris, Jen, Rio and Sierra's AirBnB on the beach. They were right on La Joya, near a playground and public beach. The kids were pretty tired from the zoo adventure, so we took it easy by playing with sand toys at the playground and on the beach, then heading home for a nap after a picnic lunch. That afternoon, we had the chance to meet with my cousin, Mike, who has lived in San Diego for a long time, and who I hadn't seen since I was a kid. We met at Mission Beach and had a picnic dinner while the kids played in the sand. We got to watch the sunset while eating ice cream - the kids decided they really liked Mike and asked to see him again (and asked for the visit to include ice cream again, too.)

The next day we headed back to the coast, but this time to a place called The Children's Beach, near La Joya, where a bunch of seals live and play. We watched the seals, played in the sand and climbed lots of rocks before picnicking and heading home for nap. That afternoon we headed to another playground in downtown San Diego. My kids had a hard time dealing with their exhaustion that afternoon, so we took it easy on Friday again.

Friday morning we sampled some baked goods at a gluten free bakery near our house, then headed to Balboa Park to check out the Model Train Museum. The kids all LOVED it. We ended early that morning to try to get home for lunch and nap. Emmett loved all the quiet time he got to spend with his cousin, Hatcher. Their favorite activity turned out to be building forts out of the couch cushions, and they loved calling Darwin random words, followed by "head" ("Darwin is a cereal-head! Hahahaaa!"). They got to have lots of time to be silly together.

Austin, Summer, Hatcher and Darwin headed out Saturday morning to head back north to Oregon. After saying goodbye to them, we met with our friends, Del and Ali, who used to be our next door neighbors in Fort Collins. They invited us to meet at Liberty Station - an old military base converted to park and shopping/food area. Then after lunch and a lost nap time, we purchased a new car top carrier (our old one we sold earlier in the week because it rubbed the paint on the door of our car every time we opened the back hatch - the new one is shorter and wider), then met up with Cousin Mike again, this time at a little beach in front of a club where he likes to do some ballroom dancing, and where he would be dancing later that evening. We brought along some popsicles and the kids were content. We ended up staying at the little bar and hearing the band's first few songs and dancing with Mike a little. The kids only loved him more after that experience.

Sunday marked the end of our time in San Diego. We headed north out of town toward Death Valley National Park. We were sad to say goodbye to the city in which we had just spent such a lovely week. But we hope to head back that way sometime in the future - it is such a nice place to travel with kids.