Another Great Family Trip

Since becoming a parent I have come to understand the distinction between a vacation and a family trip. While both are rewarding and fun... you always feel like you need a vacation after a family trip. Nothing beats listening to kid songs over and over to avoid a major melt down. Truly, Raffi served as our mediator while driving for hours through the Nevada desert. This was the first (and last) time I let Jack pack his own suitcase. Interesting what goes through a 8 year old boy's head when packing the necessities. In the end, I remind myself we won't get to do this forever and this trip will be just another great memory.

First stop San Diego... We stayed at the Hall's house while they were spending time in London. Although it was a bit chilly during our stay we made sure we made it to the beach, Macy's merry-go-round, and Balboa Park. As always we had a fantastic time in San Diego and we will definitely be returning soon.

For the past month Macy had been reminiscing about her last trip to the Carousel at Mission Beach. This was our first stop and she was definitely not disappointed. Jack on the other hand...

He is now to too cool for this, but took one for the team.

We also played tourist and visited San Diego's Old Town. This is another one of those educational and free experiences that both parents and kids enjoy. I thought it was really interesting to learn about San Diego's history, while Jack and Macy enjoyed climbing on everything. It was a win-win situation.

We toured the pueblo museum. This is a replica of their oven. Again, I thought it was interesting and Macy liked that she could climb on it.

The plants are amazing.... Jack really liked this "HUGE piece of asparagus". We dared him to take a bite but he is wising up to us.

The kids loved the covered wagon in the courtyard

And yes, despite it being cold out we headed out to Silver Strand Beach, south of Coronado for some fun in the sand. Nothing screams "Out-of-Towner" than this!!!

Nothing beats burying your child in the sand. Our first thought was to make him look like a mermaid but we took pity and turned him into a fish.

This shot captures the lovely temperature

Me and my baby!

Macy loved the beach too!!!

Bob tried on some new hairdo's... Seaweed Dreads

How about a seaweed mullet???

On day three of San Diego we explored Balboa Park. We went to the science museum, air and space museum, and the railroad museum. This best part is all this sight seeing earned us all a nap when we got back to the house.

Macy getting ready for take off!

Macy and I in the lookout tower

Jack in the NASA exhibit.

Perhaps my favorite outing (which I did not take any pictures of) was the Boat light Parade in the Harbor and touring the neighborhoods and seeing all the Christmas decorations. Jack was shocked that people put up more than one strand of lights on their house. I hope he doesn't expect the same from us next year. While it is not the white holiday season we are used to... San Diego was very festive.

On Christmas Eve, we headed up to see Larry, Marnye, and Ian in Glendale. We had a super visit with Bob's sister and we enjoyed seeing their new home. Jack got to hang out with his teenage cousin and Macy got to visit the Burbank Equestrian Center with Aunt Marnye.

Macy gets acquainted with Carlo

Macy feeds Glados some carrots and cookies. She LOVED the horses.

After saying goodbye to the Langer family we headed North East to Pahrump, Nevada to visit my brother Kevin and his family. I am thankful we were able to see each other for the holidays. Our kids get along smashingly and it was nice to actually have time to visit with the adults. We had a great time and I regretted only staying one night.

Niklas, Jack, Anya, Macy and Ava pause for a picture before opening their presents.

From Pahrump we pressed on through the desert... through valley, past the brothels, and over the ghost towns to grandfather's house. We met up with my Dad for a short Christmas visit.... sorry no pictures : ) and made it safely home. Phew!! I am ready for a VACATION!!!!!