What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had this year! Last Spring after John and I returned from Hawaii, we realized we had been bitten by the travel bug. We wanted (and still want) to travel more with just our little family. The problem is time and money. So we decided to use some days that everyone had off work and school already and spend a smaller amount of money on an easy trip to San Diego over Thanksgiving break.
We researched and booked our vacation rental back in April, which meant we had a long time to look forward to this trip. I really like anticipating relaxing vacations like this. The rental was great. Pretty cheap, good location, and enough room for us to spread out. The only downsides were that the neighborhood seemed a little sketchy, and it could definitely use a new paint job. We definitely loved it though. We found out that eating out, even with just our little family was more money than we wanted to spend, so we loved being able to cook simple little meals in this little kitchen.
Our first stop was La Jolla bay to see the wild sea lions and seals. It was Thanksgiving morning and we were surprised at home many people were there and how many languages we heard being spoke.
I am glad someone didn't call the cops on us!!
My kids couldn't resist playing in the water even though we told them we were going to play at the beach that afternoon. They were pretty good about listening, although I was reminded about how they really don't have a feel for letting strangers have personal space. They have a hard time managing their space with the crowds. Fortunately it was pretty short-lived.
I was trying to get a video of all the barking, but I don't think you can hear them. Mainly I enjoy this video because of my kids' background comments and seeing how the sea lions waddle around.
Beautiful Miriam made a buddy with this smaller one.
Pretty flexible.
We walked over to the cove where the seals were. There was a fun curvy sidewalk that I couldn't resist taking a photo of. Someone even offered to take a photo of our whole family. I only handed over my camera because I was pretty confident I could chase him down if needed. That's a little embarrassing to admit.
Here is the cove with the seals. Maybe it is because we loved the sea lion show at Sea World, but my take away is that sea lions are way cooler than seals. :)
We also learned the differences between sea lions and seals. Sea lions longer, larger flippers. They also have ear flaps and make much more noise. Seals don't have large enough flippers to push themselves around very well on land. But we were surprised how these awkward (on land) animals just zoom through the water. They go so fast!
This little guy didn't like us. It took off, speeding through the water right after he looked up at us.
Also, the seals kind of look like dead bodies on the beach. Less cool.
The next stop was the San Diego Temple. We had our fingers crossed that the grounds would be open, but no luck. Considering it was Thanksgiving day, I guess we shouldn't have been too surprised.
We did enjoy taking in the view from outside the fence. Miriam and her leaf is an example of one of the many times she wants to keep something, but I won't let her. We compromise by taking her picture with said treasure.
We spent the bulk of the day at Torrey Pines National Reserve. John and I went there before on our getaway to San Diego, and we promised ourselves that we would bring the kids because it was so fantastic. Unlike last time we visited the top of the cliffs to see the view and the visitor center.
After the visitor center we went on a little walk through the brush to see the view from the cliffs. I don't know why it always surprises me how vast the ocean is, but it really does awe me every time.
Then, it was time to head down to the beach. Unfortunately November in San Diego is a little too cold for the beach to be ideal, especially for these Phoenicians. But we didn't let that deter us from playing in the sand and even a little wading in the water. Although, I am sure we looked crazy, especially us adults, with our swimsuits and sweaters on top.
There were a surprising number of people on the beach despite what this picture looks like. Although we were the only ones stopping to play. Everyone else just strolled up and down the beach (with sweaters on).
Yeah, the sun umbrella really wasn't necessary (we wanted to be in the sun to get slightly warmer!), but I thought it made our spot look much cuter. :)
We had a ton of fun building sand castles. The sand was particularly wet because of the previous night's rainfall. Perfect for sandcastles.
Everyone did play in the water though. We didn't really swim, but we played a lot of jump-over-the-incoming-wave, and run-away-from-the-big-wave. It was a lot of fun, and I was surprised that I could handle the cold water. It really helps that there was a lot of running and jumping for those games.
Unfortunately, Holland fell in the ocean almost as soon as she stared wading in. She ended up all the way on her back, but miraculously she got completely wet except her face. The salty ocean water didn't make it to her mouth or eye, thank goodness! Even still, it scared her too much to want to play any more in (or near) the water. We had a good time with the sand though!
We did a lot of actual running on the beach that day. The kids loved sprinting barefoot in the sand. I think I got close to 20,000 steps that day.
I had too much fun with the camera that day. Thankfully I don't think we damaged it with sand or water. But c'mon, how cute is that little one?!
The biggest tragedy of the day was when Miriam got sand in her eyes. John was digging a pit and accidentally threw a ton of sand in Miriam's face. It was so bad. I honestly didn't think that one eye could hold that much sand. We poured a ton of water from one of our waterbottles over her eye to rinse, which I thought initially had gotten a lot of it. A few minutes later, she pulled down her lower lid and under it was just covered with sand. I cleaned my hands and tried to get it out with baby wipes. That actually worked pretty well (although I am sure you are not supposed to use baby wipes in eyes). I just couldn't get a couple of little specs. She was still pretty sad though, until we started running down the beach.
(Phone pic vs real camera pic--the one above was taken with earlier, right before Miriam got hit in the face with the sand. Below her eye is all red and swollen from the trauma.)
Because of course when one thing goes really wrong, like getting a ton of sand in you eye, then a lot of other things seem wrong too (like being cold). So we started running down the beach to warm up. It is kind of amazing to run barefoot on soft sand, but not too soft because that is actually really difficult.
Running/sprinting down the beach really cheered Miriam right up. We ran for a ways until we found a fun sandbank to play on/jump off of. Then of course the girls wanted to keep running and running.
This was later on when the sun was setting, but the we were still running back and forth to that sand bank. Then they noticed that part of that sand bank had bright yellow sand so they stared to make a track back to our beach spot--a yellow, sand road of sorts.
Really between sprinting with the girls, running with Holland piggy back, running away from the waves, just walking around all day, and skipping the traditional Thanksgiving feast that night, it was probably the healthiest Thanksgiving I have ever had.
When we got back from our first initial warm up sprint, Ellie and Daddy had come up with a entertaining beach game for the whole family. They dug a smaller pit next to his larger one with a tunnel connect them. Then there were lines in the sand with point values increasing as you got farther away from the pits. The goal was to roll the golf ball across the sand into the small pit where it would go through the tunnel to the large pit. It was great! The point values started as 10, 25, 50, and 100. But of course they quickly jumped to 1 thousand, 100 thousand, 1 million, 100 million, and finally 1 billion. Not to brag, but I got the 1 billion first try. :)
It was a wonderful, wonderful day. We loved watching the sunset over the ocean.
Once again I have to admire the amazing long sandy beach with the beautiful cliffs overhead. Also, the nice camera takes better photos than my phone. In this phone pic, Eliza is doing the pose of the day. They are so cute!
Even though the sun was setting the camera captures so much more light. Maybe too much light? I should have had these set a little darker, but I still love them. Daddy and his baby girls.
Daddy and his big (medium!) girl.
This photo took lots of attempts. They were so into it though, and they were finally able to both balance at the same time. It was a little tricky to not pull each other over trying to balance. Also, I love those sandy knees and legs.
Right as the sun was going down Miriam and I went down to the water to play chase with the waves one more time, and I happened to glance down and see a whole sand dollar. There hardly aren't even any shells to gather on this beach, but we found a sand dollar! I am particularly impressed because of the zillions of people walking along that beach that day and no one stepped on it. I guess I found it in the surf, and no one but us was actually in the water.
It was particularly fun for Miriam. She delights in stuff like this.
One thing I loved about playing on the beach that day was that we were the only one in bathing suits. This meant that there wasn't bikinis everywhere we looked. I believe the body is a wonderful gift, but I don't want to see that much skin on the people around me.
I love these next two shots of Miriam playing in the water.
Sweethearts (Eliza can take photos now!)
A couple more of 'the pose'
The colors of the sky were spectacular.
On our way home that night we loved seeing the temple all lit up. Then we stopped by the store to purchase ice cream, for some sparkling cider floats. Then we came home and prepared our Thanksgiving feast: tomato soup, grilled cheese, roasted veggies and cucumber and tomato salad. Unfortunately for me, that night I got hit with a serious case of a stomach bug that necessitated the prompt taking of imodium. Yeah, not cool.
Day 2 of our trip started with a visit to Old Town San Diego and the Mormon Battalion Museum.
What a fun, family friendly museum! They took you on the Mormon battalion and moved through the decorated rooms with interactive videos. And the cute sister missionaries were in costume as well. At the end they panned for gold and even got to keep a piece of fool's gold.
After the museum, we walked around Old Town San Diego where we were surprised to find even more historical museums and some fun architecture.
We ate our packed lunch in the car because we are way too cheap to eat out every meal and drove out to Cabrillo National Monument. I couldn't believe how many people were there on Black Friday. It took us a while, just waiting in line to get in.
What a great view of San Diego Bay.
It was sunny, but chilly so it felt weird to put on sunscreen. We probably should have put it on more though throughout this trip.
We visited this lighthouse and waited in the long line to go up the steep stairs to look at the top.
I wish there had been a sign that said, "You can't really see anything at the top." There is a grate even with the ceiling so you can't look out, just up to see a awkward angle of the glass for the light. The stairs were fun (and crowded).
It was still interesting to learn more about the lighthouses though. The development of the light house bulb with all the crystals was really interesting.
Next we went down the tide pools and spent some time exploring. Once again, I was surprised at how many people were there! We were fortunate to eventually get a parking spot before the police officer came by and told all those waiting in the road to keep driving.
It was also fun because even though John and I had been there before we happened to come at high tide. This time we specifically planned to come at low tide, and what a difference that makes! We saw the rocks we couldn't really stand on without getting wet from the surf. We climbed way down past that point and was able to explore all of these neat tide pools.
Next time I definitely want to come with big rubber boots or a swimsuit with sturdy sandals. Surprisingly though we didn't have any major fall-ins or soaking of shoes and pants.
Triple sea arch!
Our favorite were these sea anenomies that would curl up if we touched them. They were also a little sticky to the touch. I also really like all of the hermit crabs. They scurried around under different sized sea shells. Holland and I found a super cool twisty shell. Also, she is getting pretty good at the fake smile.
We also walked around these sea cave/tunnel things. It is amazing how much is under that high tide!
So many people!
But I am able to cut them out for photos most of the time. Another sunset over the ocean.
Beautiful lights, temple, and nativity. It was pretty chilly that night. We were all glad to have warmer coats, hats, and gloves. This was such a weird trip to pack for: beach and cold weather stuff.
On Saturday, we did something unusual and took kids to an amusement park--Sea World. I have to say, it was pretty amazing. We got there first thing and was able to walk onto any ride that we wanted to without a wait. We read that as a tip somewhere, and it worked out perfectly for us.
We were worried about how crowded it would be, but that really wasn't an issue, even once the entire day.
The girls' first ride was the Manta rollercoaster. Miriam was barely tall enough to ride it (just with her shoes on). Looking at it, it didn't look too intimidating--it never got very high or extremely fast. So we weren't really prepared for how extreme it felt those of us that don't ride rollercoasters very often, especially the kids.
Eliza rallied though and went again with me. Miriam didn't have fun exactly on it, but I was impressed that it didn't scare her off from riding other rides throughout the day.
Their favorite ride was the ShipWreck Rapids ride. It was a water ride on a cooler day, so we put on ponchos. The kids loved it, and since we were early enough to not have to wait in line we just went on again and again four or five times. It was awesome!
John and I took turns taking them on the rides and walking around looking at things with Holland. Eventually we did get to the smaller rides that Holland could do to. It felt kind of ironic that we had to wait so much longer for those rides than the main attraction type rides. Oh well, it was great!
Of course, the best part of the day was going to the animal shows. We went to the dolphin show first. It had a Christmas theme, which was fun. In this photo the dolphins were pushing these people through the water. I was really impressed with how fast they push them above and below the water.
They brought out this small whale. (Eliza probably remembers what type it is.) It was bigger than these photos made it look. It was also trained to do tricks.
This was the only part of the day that we got overly warm. See Holland's cute, red face. Just sitting in the sun made we glad I had a sun hat. We also had ponchos because we sat at the top of the splash zone. I did have to duck the camera under the poncho once during the performance, but once again, it didn't get ruined. I have a couple of videos at the end of the post to show some of the cool tricks the dolphins did. So fun!
The next show was everyone's favorite--the Sea Lion show. It was definitely geared as a comedy. It was hilarious for kids and adults. Even Holland still talks about it. "Member Biff?" It was the goofball of the show that sprayed the crowd with his squirt bottle, dumped water on his own head, and danced in ridiculous ways.
Eliza thought he was hilarious, as you can see from this photo I took of her laughing at his jokes.
I am so impressed with how they train these animals. There were three mini shows in the show--crime drama, survivor, and dancing with the stars. I thought they were all great.
Biff got startled when the sea lion splashed him and roared in his face.
I loved the dancing too. This ending scene was them dancing to Gangum Style. It was pretty funny/amazing.
It was cool too that because it was Christmas season they had an extra version of the sea lion show that we watched that night. That show was Christmas themed as well, and Biff was still a character. He was still a goofball and hilarious, although he was a different Biff than the first Biff.
We did a lot of really fun things though! There was a big climbing structure and playground in the middle of the park. That was really fun until Holland threw a fit and sprinted away from us. Turns out it is really hard to catch up to a toddler in a place like that. To be honest that was the only rough part of the day, so not so bad.
One really cool part was the touch tanks. We loved the cleaner fish that would come swarm your hand to eat of the dead skin off. It didn't hurt, but sure tickled! Also, it was a little disconcerting to see these tiny fish swarm you to eat off you. :)
The one thing I regret was going on the virtual reality ride. Like I said, John and I had to take turns going on rides with the kids, but he definitely went on more just because I get motion sick so much easier than he does. I didn't think that would be a problem for this ride, but it sure was! Not to mention, it was one of our longest line waits as well. Maybe 20 minutes? Once I got in there though it was a real struggle to not loose my lunch. :(
I really shouldn't complain though. I just should have taken some motion sickness medicine and been a little more cautious about what rides to go on.
Look at those smiling faces!
Definitely the most educational show was the orca whale show. Compared to the other shows this one was so much more about how Sea World loves and respects animals and "look at all the good we're doing for these animals." I would imagine this was because of all of the bad press they have gotten about the orcas.
Even still, it was definitely entertaining! It is just so impressive to see these massive animals be trained in these ways.
I thought was interesting/horrifying to hear about how they really are at the top of the food chain and have no natural predators. They even hunt the blue whale! This photo shows them true to size next to one. This is because the killer whales hunt in packs and just can take it down. Crazy! Makes you rethink the lovable "Free Willey" type movie hype.
They could really get some air with the jumps!
And those splashes! Fortunately even though we sat in the splash zone we never really got wet because the splashes weren't aimed right at us and we had our ponchos on. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal, except it was getting dark and cold, and I had my nice camera out to get cool shots like this.
It totally spit water at us. Gross!
The day was amazing. We were really debating about what day to go. We didn't know which day would be more crowded--Thanksgiving day or the Saturday after. We thought maybe Saturday would be, but the park was also open longer (9am to 9pm). Since it was open 4 or 5 hours longer we decided to chance the potentially more crowded day. Crowds were never a problem, especially since we did most of our rides first thing. And even for shows we got amazing seats every time. AND we really took advantage of those extra hours. We went the distance and stayed until 9pm. So we were there for the full 12 hours! Holland fell asleep on the drive home in probably less than 30 seconds, but she never did nap during the day. We loved seeing all of the Christmas lights and decor around the park.
What a wonderful trip!
