Day 4: Legoland or You Just Paid 10x the Amount You Should Have for Looking at Adult-created Lego Stuff

Legoland. Caden loves Legos, so we thought this would be an awesome place to bring him. He was so excited and loved the park itself. Ethan, being the mature 40 year old man in a 9 year old body, thought it was lame. Yeah, some parts were lame like the 2 hour wait for the pedal coaster, but other parts were great like the Star Wars builds. Food is so expensive at these places, but we saw that other people brought in their own food. We didn't because it specifically states that you cannot bring outside food in unless you have specific dietary/nutritional/medical needs. Um, healthy food is a need, no? It's cool, we found a place that made stir fry with fresh veggies and lo mein, however, it was expensive! Next time, I'll just tell them I have a dietary need to NOT pay $50+ for food at a theme park.
Consensus? Go if you have a Lego-loving kid, BUT do the buy an adult ticket-get a free kid ticket coupon thing. You can find them in the back of the Lego magazines that come in the mail.

This kid can climb anything. $2 and he was up the tree almost before I was able to take my lens cap off.

This is merely a collage of a FEW of the Star Wars Lego setups. In no way, shape, or form would I force you to sit through all 900 pictures. B loved it!

Ok. I found these Lego setups funny and some kinda twisted.

Are these pimps?

The Afros kill me!

He's breakdancing...I think.

Lego Squatch

Not just any ordinary Mt. Rushmore (Count Rushmore!!). Noo, there's a tiny Lego guy using a q-tip to clean out Washington's ear. Classy and yet, my kind of humor.

WTH?! The Lego guy has had a massive accident and...yeah. WTH, you guys?!

Day 3: The Birch Aquarium and How I Almost Probably Most-Likely Could Have Died by Death

The Birch is different from other aquariums because it's used more for research purposes than entertainment value. It sits on a cliff in La Jolla and is part of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. It's gorgeous and has tons of kid friendly critical thinking activity. Very much a science-based place extending even past the science of marine biology. We saw 2 day old baby seahorses. They were the tiniest things I have ever seen! Outside they set up an area where children could test out different areas of physics (and watch the surfing class from the cliff). 

Surfing classes. It was fun to watch.

Now, this death thing...

So, B and I decided that we have been dying to kayak on the ocean forever. We found a great place that does hiking, biking, and kayaking. The kayak tours send you in groups with a guide and you get to explore the caves of La Jolla. Cool right? Yeahhhh, for a hot minute. We had a great guide and everything was cool until we actually had to, you know, kayak through these massive waves. Brian paired up with Caden and Ethan was with me. Yeah, the waves in SoCal were huge and if I had been paying any attention to 90210, I would have remembered that Dylan loved to surf these waters and almost got killed doing so (if you'll remember he stayed with the Walshes which Jim did NOT like- also, I might watch this show too much). Um, yeah. So we were doing well and the rule is, just keep cutting the waves like a knife. Easier said than done. Somehow E and I made a full u-turn due to the strength of the waves and ended up flipping over. A) it hurts. The sting of the waves pushing you down- hurts. I got a mouth full of saltwater. B) it hurts some more. I tried swimming back to the shore, but the undertow just kept grabbing me and pulling me under thus filling my nose with saltwater. The guides on the beach got to E, who was swimming along like it was nothing, and then I finally swam and made it back onto the shore. After that, I was okay with never doing that again. Srsly. Brian and C were great because they went out in fairly calm tide. I was ready to try it again and asked E if he was. He declined. I was more than okay with that answer. B said they didn't even get to make it into the caves because the waves were getting bigger and stronger and the tide was coming in. Also, the lifeguard on the beach was telling the other guides that they could no longer do snorkeling tours and needed to pack up the kayaks that day because of the rough waters. Maybe I will try it again later, but I'll practice in calmer waters. For now, I am done with that. 

Little Italy:  I can't even tell you how awesome this little section of San Diego truly is. A ton of eateries mostly (not all) specializing in Italian food. Authentic. We ate at Landini's. ZOMG. They have this primavera pasta that I still think about. The cook came out, young kid with a thick Italian accent, and told us that Caden must try his marinara sauce. He said Guy Fieri came in and ate meatball after meatball that he would dip in a huge bowl of the sauce. He was insistent. We tried it. We died and went to food heaven. Best. Sauce. EVER. Ever in the history of ever. It was greatness. 

Mr. Caden Blake took this picture of Brian, Ethan, and me.

Day 2: La Jolla or We Drove Around Until We Found Mountains, a Beach, and Some Pie

Day 2 was mostly, again, looking around and letting the boys take it all in. We drove to La Jolla which is much like Highland Park. There's a point you can go to a place called the "Children's Pool" and get very, very close to the sea lions and seals. I'm talking you could literally touch them they are so close. There are signs posted about not doing so, but I was so tempted to pet one.
The downside to SoCal is the parking. OMG. Nightmare. You either pay for a space (and not chump change either), find a space mile and a half or more away and walk it, or you drive around aimlessly until something opens up. Worst part ever.
After we got the boys warm (yeah, the Pacific water is cold), dry, and changed we took a drive through the mountains up to a little town, Julian. Apparently they are big apple growers and there are a TON of pastry places. Best. Pies. EVER. We stopped and had dessert at the Julian Pie Co. (Apple pie with homemade cinnamon vanilla ice cream was awesome!)Worth the drive; not just for the pies, but the drive through the mountains was gorgeous. It's hilarious because the only other mountains the boys have seen were in west Texas (Davis). These were much bigger and a lot steeper.

And did I mention how awesome Kindles are for traveling? We purchased two and they've been awesome. (The boys did bring along four new print books along with them, as well.) 

California or How We Probably Could Have Just Moved Here Because it Would Have Totally Been Cheaper

And here we are. Brian and I decided we were going to do something big this summer for the boys and for us to celebrate my graduation. I fell in love with San Diego 12 years ago when we spent a week here on our honeymoon and couldn't wait to share it with the boys. The weather is beautiful, the people (for the most part) are friendly and easy-going. There is no rush to do anything here. We also wanted to take the boys on a tour of SoCal because there are things we hadn't even seen.
Day one: Getting here was a beast and a half. First of all, we ended up changing planes in San Antonio due to mechanical issue with the first plane. Changing planes bothers me because that's how luggage gets lost and it's a pain in the backside. Plus, the 2nd plane we were put on, was super crowded unlike the first. Nevertheless, we got here and with the 72 degree air, I forgave Southwest.
 We decided to explore the area and ended up on Coronado Island. We drove around and let the boys take in the smell and sights of the Pacific. It's gorgeous here. The weather is 70 degrees on average and it's so consistent, every restaurant has patio dining. We walked down to Seaport Village for dinner that night and window shopped. I found the cutest bakery and we bought Nutella macarons, a cotton candy cupcake for Cade, and a milk and cookies cupcake for E. Brian geeked out over the Reagan aircraft carrier. We noticed that everyone here just coexists with one another. That, and they walk everywhere which I LOVE. We ended up coming back to the hotel and letting the boys swim off the excess energy they kept to themselves during travel time. By the by, if you're going to travel with children, as much of a beating it is to get up early, I highly recommend taking an early flight.

I'm making the boys keep travel journals. I bought them composition books, a glue stick, and a roll of scotch tape each. They take any pictures, mementos, maps, etc. from wherever they've been and put them in their books. They will write about it either as they go or as they remember the activity/destination. Yeah, yeah, I know. But when your mom is a teacher, that's the breaks, kids.

I'll do Day 2 tomorrow possibly. This time zone thing is gong to KILL me when we get back to Texas.