Travel Log

We're home from vacation. Here is my family journal/travel log. For a condensed version, see the pictures in the previous post.

We left Thursday night after Roy got off work. Our plan was to drive 'until we were tired and wanted to stop'. Since Roy drank 6 Mt. Dews, he really never did get tired. The kids were awesome! Of course, they slept most of the way. When we got to Oceanside, CA it was approximately 3 hours before we could check into our condo and before Grandma and Grandpa arrived. Luckily, we were in Southern California with a BEACH. After locating the condo to park the car, we headed to the beach and Oceanside Pier. So much fun. We played, got checking in, showered, etc. The typical first day of vacation stuff.

Saturday morning, Grandma and Grandpa had to go on a 'tour' and listen to a 'spiel' for their timeshare company. "Only 45 mins." the concierge said when she scheduled it. Four hours later they were done and we all headed out. We decided to take the Coaster (a commuter train) into San Diego. For those of you who don't know D, HE LOVES TRAINS! And that could be considered an understatement. He was THRILLED!!!

We rode the train to Old Town and moseyed around for a while. The kids did great. It was so good for them to walk and exercise after spending the day before in a car. D especially liked looking at the toys and the old carriages and wagons. After a few hours we returned to our condo via the Coaster again. Once again, there was one little boy full of rapture at the whole experience. (He didn't even notice the drunk married guy loudly and crudely hitting on a woman across the car. Ah, to be young and oblivious...)

Sunday morning we broke with our usual tradition and took the kids to the pool. We usually don't do that on Sundays as a matter of trying to keep the Sabbath holy but we felt bad for them because we hadn't gone swimming at all yet. They had fun. K actually spent most of her time in the hot tub with Gma & Gpa. D played hard in the pool.

After swimming we got all ready and played a scripture game. Then Roy and I and the kids went to visit some family that live nearby. As Roy pointed out when we left, we hardly saw D the entire time. He and his cousins played hard! K had a really great time too. One of her older girl cousins took such good care of her and played with her. It was great. Roy and I got to just sit back, relax and visit with family that we rarely get to see. Since they will be moving to New Hampshire in the fall, we will probably not see them again for at least 3 years! I'm so glad we got to visit.

Monday was a big day -- SEA WORLD!! D has been looking forward to it for so long. We first went to the Sea Lion show. I enjoyed it, however it was geared more towards an older, TV watching crowd. D asked me about half way through, "When does the Sea Lion show start?" Oh well. We saw Shamo twice. The first time we sat in the 'Soak Zone'. I recall sitting there on previous trips to Sea World and not getting very wet. The show has obviously changed as they now actually encourage Shamo to soak everyone. The kids were less than thrilled. Roy was cracking me up as he held a very upset toddler and said ridiculous things like, "That's enough Shamo. Bad Shamo. Stop! No Splashing Shamo." It was kind of nice to have the kids get wet though because then we didn't have to worry about them getting too hot. The second time we watch Shamo we did sit way up high and away from the 'Soak Zone'. It is really an amazing show.

We watched the dolphins, touched starfish and bat rays (D wouldn't touch the bat rays but he liked feeling the starfish), walked under the shark tank so there were shark swimming all around, fed the pink flamigos and walked all over the park seeing EVERY SINGLE ANIMAL LISTED ON THE MAP. Really, the kids loved it. They were always amazed and fasinated with each animal. D decided the eels were gross and I concur. D and K got to pet one of the big Clydesdale horses. Whenever we ask D what his favorite part was he always says, "My favorite part was everything!"

Tuesday we went to Balboa Park in San Diego. There is a Model Railroad Museum in the park. As D puts it, "I liked that museum. There were lots of cool trains to see." One room had a train that kids could 'drive'. That meant they pushed a button and the train went around the track once. Both kids really liked doing that. K would push the button then run over to the side of the track to watch her train go. In that same room was an 'engineer' who let D push the button on his special remote control and blow the train's whistle. WHAT A THRILL! We spent just over an hour looking at every. single. train. Then we headed out for a little walk around the park.

We opted to start back to the condo around lunch time but stopped at Carlsbad Outlet Mall so Grandma could outfit my munchins for another season. Thanks Grandma! When we left the outlet mall we saw a field where you could go pick strawberries. We stopped so D could fill his little bucket they provided with large, ripe and very delicious strawberries.

When we got back to the condo, we headed out to the beach (across the street!) for one more foray with the ocean. K decided she was scared of the noise and water but the sand was okay. D decided he was braver and braver until he had waves crashing up to his neck. Part of his bravery could be attributed to the fact that Daddy or Grandpa was holding onto him to make sure he didn't actually go under water. I watched comfortably from the beach. It was absolutely wonderful to just sit in the sand and watch the kids play without having to actually do anything!! Ah, vacation.

After the beach, we went for a swim in our condo pool. Both kids got in touch with their inner fish and decided they never wanted to leave. K started turning a purplish hue because she was cold but do you think she wanted to get out and warm up in a towel? Heavens NO! and she let us know everytime we asked. D was the last one out of the pool as he counted down the minutes himself instead of trusting when Roy said 20 minutes were up.

Wednesday marked the end of our stay and it was time to get back in the car for the long trek home. Our kids are awesome travelers. Seriously, you could not expect better travel companions from a 4 year old and 2 year old. There were almost no tears, whines or complaints. We drove all day and made it home about 4:15 Thursday morning.

As a matter of interest, we did not get rained on the entire trip until we crossed the Oregon border. We stopped in Medford for gas and it was raining. *Sigh*