San Diego (Day 4) - Point Loma, Old Town and Date

This day was kind of a catch-all. We had a bunch of things penciled in and then did the things that we wanted to do for as long as we wanted to to them (which meant we didn't get to other things like Balboa Park). 

We started the day at Point Loma, which was kind of a late addition. We had heard that it had good tidepools, and even though we didn't come in the right season for tidepools we decided to go explore anyway. We took a little hike along the beach and explored the rocky shore. This ended up being a huge win, because we didn't realize that Point Loma was a National Park, but it is and our kids each got Jr. Ranger badges to hang on their banners at home so they can always remember this trip. Yes! 

Next, we headed to Old Town San Diego, which ended up being one of our favorite stops. We had only planned a couple of hours and we spent the rest of the day there. One of David's childhood vacation traditions was to stop and get ice cream somewhere, and we've tried to do that same thing. (I still remember the delicious pistachio ice cream we had walking down the boardwalk at Galveston Texas). We stopped at a fun ice cream shop in old town and everyone got to choose their own ice cream. 


We also found this darling little candle shop where the kids got to dip candles. At the beginning of the trip we gave eveyrone $20 to spend on souvenirs. I spent my $20 on tapered candles for each of the kids to dip, and they could choose to spend some of their money if they wanted to upgrade to a shaped candle. Lydia did - a dog of course, and so did Caleb - a boat (and I ended up letting Austin dip a dolphin candle that I told him I would "surprise" him with for his birthday). 

The real highlight of Old Town was the Mormon Battalion museum. We had heard about it, and people said that it was worth going to, but I feel like it was WAY undersold. We LOVED this place so much! (The kids loved it so much we brought my mom back to it on Sunday.) The tour starts in front of a set of picture frames of people from the Mormon Battalion, and then without warning, the pictures interrupt the tour guide and start talking. The kids were shocked and thought it was the best thing ever. It was so interactive and neat to hear about the stories of the Mormon Battalion and the kids loved panning for gold at the end. I loved how faith-filled the story of these early saints was and how their sacrifices made such a difference for all of the saints following after them! 




After Old Town, we went back to the Airbnb and Jenna had a pool party and dinner for the kids and David and I got to sneak out for a little date. We walked around a little shopping district called "Seaport Village" and ate tacos for dinner, yum.  Then we went on a night-time bus tour of San Diego (I only fell asleep once).  David really liked it because it was a really fun and relaxing way to see San Diego and learn a little more about the city.

A beautiful evening together! So grateful to Jenna for being willing to babysit for us so we could go explore together. 

San Diego (Day 3) - La Jolla Beach

Beach Day! This was without question the best day of the whole trip. In retrospect, I wish we had time for two beach days because everyone loved it so much. 

Austin, Caleb and Jason started off the day playing Uno. The kids actually were amazing at finding fun things to do at the house while we got ready and packed up every day. Lydia and Camille spent the morning reading outside together. 


We basically did not take that many pictures on beach day because we were just completely involved in spending the time with the kids and playing in the water ourselves. 

The Haderlies brought a couple of boogie boards and the kids loved them. They could hop on the boogie board and ride the waves in. They actually figured out how to do it really quickly and they loved it. Lydia and Austin basically did not leave the water from the moment we got there around 11 until we left around 4:30 except when we made them come out to each lunch. They played in the water and did the boogie board and loved it. Lydia said that her favorite thing from the beach was "everything." Caleb and Lucy loved the water was well and spent hours playing the water. They also loved playing and building in the sand. I spent a while burying Lucy, Sadie and Caleb in the sand. 

We had a great lunch as well and then everyone was back in the water. Shantel and I both loved going out and just playing with the kids and the water and also playing with each other. We both took a few turns on the boogie board as well (although we were not nearly as good at is as the kids were). 


We ended beach day going back to the house and the kids wanted to get right into the pool and we let them just get right in the pool and they were so happy.