Wegowand!!!

So blessed to be able to take a trip and spend 10 days together as a family. Even more blessed to be able to have Doug and Stacey join us in San Diego, making the trip much easier with the children and a lot more fun!

I did my research ahead of time and managed to buy 5 day passes to Legoland for the price of 1 day, park hopper passes, so we were able to plan for the waterpark and the aquarium too.  We booked a suite with two adjoining rooms with a kitchen and two bathrooms so we could make lunches and dinners and cut down on the cost of eating out.  When we arrived on Sunday Stacey and I went out to the store and bought groceries for the week.



Each day we took stuff to make lunch out on the grass in the nice weather (wooohoo).  The kids did AWESOME on a seven day vacation.  Always willing to take a break for lunch, walk from ride to ride, sometimes run, well mostly run, and exuded excitement each and every day we headed back to the park.

It was such an awesome park for our kids at this age...they LOVE knights, pirates, and bionicle legos.  It was truly an amazing fit for where they are at this age.  They were excited about almost everything.  The waterpark was the part of the trip that didn't go over as I thought it would.  I expected to spend a whole day at the waterpark with the kids, but they weren't that into it!  We got settled, got there early so we could get shaded seats, and they got in the water for about 45 minutes and seemed to be done. So funny.

The pirate section and the knight section were a complete hit, as you can imagine.  They spent  a long time, and went back several times, to the knight playground castle.  It was so huge, many levels and large slides. They loved it. It was like running the gauntlet.

After spending a few days at Legoland, on Wednesday we left a little early and stopped at La Jolla Beach to see the seals and the water.  They loved looking at the seals.  They were up close and personal, even at the later hour that we arrived there.

On Thursday after the park we went to the beach.  We managed to drive back to the hotel from Legoland, the kids fell asleep, Justin and I and Doug and Stacey took turns running into the room to change into swimsuits and gather things for the beach and we all got back into the van and the kids were ALL still sleeping.  Crazy!!  They were so tired just from having so much fun.

We headed to the beach with all the "beachy" items ready to take on the waves.  The kids were VERY excited about the boogie boards, which Justin's dad has had since he was the boys age.  Two generations of use that day at the beach!   They took a couple of waves on the boards, did good for their first time, then made the sand their home.  They were enjoying sitting in the sun, digging in the sand, and just relaxing.

Westin loved the sand!  He just sat and crawled around in the sand loving every minute.  Eventually they were ready to leave and the leaving process is not fun.  Trying to wash off all the sand, in all the parts...not cool.  So, we decided it would be easiest to jump into the pool instead of taking a bath.

They were cool with that and we were cool with that...so with jumping into the pool and making dinner at the hotel, we were settled in.

On Friday we decided not to go back to Legoland but to try and find something around San Diego to do. So we headed to the park near Mission Bay and spent the morning eating KFC and watching them play on the playground.

Then we packed up and headed for SD harbor and we visited The Midway. The kids actually, surprisingly, enjoyed seeing the inside of the ship and all the Naval planes.  It was impressive for sure.  As we were up on the flight deck we saw a pirate ship go by.  Oh my gosh, it was amazing. I called the number and although the pirate dinner ship was toooo much money, we just happened to be in town for the Festival of Sail.  There were dozens of ships for the kids to tour and see.  Submarine's, large sail ships, the Ship from Master and Commander.  It really was a joy. There was even a pirate, a lady pirate, walking about they got to take a picture with.  It was a great end to a great week.

I treasure these memories with them, and the ones they get to make with grandparents.  The years go by so fast I don't want to look back and wish we'd done more as a family.  We can't do it ALL but we have it ALL with each other and spending time together is the greatest blessing God could give us.

I always pray the images of my children will burn into my mind, so deep I could never forget. But, the reality is, it just doesn't work that way.  So, I've put high value on making photo books and slideshows so I will never forget their precious faces, smiles, joy, and even, sometimes, the hard moments.

They are all beautiful.