San Diego

Since Eli's mid-winter break was last week, and Josh's sister Megan and her husband Matt invited us to spend some time with them in their family condo in San Diego, we eagerly packed up and headed somewhere where we could get some vitamin D.  The weather was fantastic, even more so knowing that it was stormy and rainy in Aberdeen the whole time we were gone.  I know California is in the middle of a terrible drought, but I sure was grateful for it while I was there.  Now that we're back, I'd gladly send some rain down their way if I could. :-)

We had so much fun that Eli is now equating California with the Garden of Eden.  Last year we had a great time at Disneyland in March and then again in San Francisco in August.  This trip just solidified Eli's love of California because we have gotten such great weather and have had such a good time while we're there.  We mentioned that it might be fun to go to Hawaii some time, and Eli said, "No, I want to go to California again."  Hilarious!

Eli wanted to go to Legoland on this trip.  We took him out of school a couple of days before his break started because it was cheaper to fly on that day.  I'm glad we did because we were able to go to Legoland on a day with minimal crowds.  There was only one ride we had to stand in line for, but the rest were smooth sailing with short to no wait times.  It was a great amusement park for Eli because he doesn't like roller coasters and "scary" rides.  Older kids and adults going alone would probably not enjoy it very much, but it's great for younger kids, especially if they like legos as Eli does.  In fact, he has now decided he wants his birthday party in a month to be lego-themed.

Driving School was Eli's favorite ride.  He did this one first, and then he did it again, and he would have kept doing it if we hadn't told him he would never get to any other rides.  He even got his own "driver's license" at the end of it.

It's amazing what they can build out of legos.  They built various mini-versions of cities all over the United States.  Pictured here is San Francisco. 

We were in San Diego on Valentine's Day, so Matt and Megan generously watched Eli for us while we went to the San Diego temple that morning.  The temple was packed!  I guess a lot of people felt the temple was the best place to spend Valentine's Day.

We visited Historic Old Town San Diego, including the Mormon Battalion.  Eli enjoyed "panning for gold," listening to the "talking pictures" and other activities while he was there.  I enjoyed strolling around and seeing the historic sites (it was a beautiful day).  I've been to San Diego a few times, but it was the first time I went to Old Town.  

Eli got to try "washing his own clothes."  Behind is where he "panned for gold."

Later we went to Coronado with Matt and Megan and their twins.  We had planned to do a bike ride on one of those Surrey bikes, but much to Matt's chagrin, the twins weren't allowed to ride because of their age (younger than a year old).  Instead, we took a nice, leisurely stroll along the pier.

On Sunday after church we visited Josh's Grandma Rosie's old house and some family graves in a cemetery nearby.  Josh was actually born in San Diego but moved up to San Francisco by the time he was six months old.  However, he still has a lot of family history there.

We spent President's Day in Point Loma.  We toured the old lighthouse and Cabrillo National Monument.  Then we took a look at the tide pools nearby.  We also spent some time at Imperial beach outside the condo earlier that morning.  

I told Eli to put on his swim suit before going down to the beach, but he said the water was too cold and he would just play in the sand.  Obviously that didn't happen. :-)

Our last full day in California was spent at San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  We loved it!  I was surprised by how many birds they have there.  Eli loved the parrots and the lorikeets.  He was totally fascinated by the fact that parrots can mimic and got a great kick out of the bird show.  He also had a blast feeding the lorikeets.  They happened to be very hungry at the time we went, so he got quite a show as the birds tried to peck at my ear and my hair and tried biting Josh's finger.  I thought one had mistaken my hair for a nest and was going to make a permanent home on my head!  Of course, we also enjoyed the tram ride where we got to go around and look at all the African animals.  Eli's favorite animal is the giraffe.