San Diego Trip

We had so much fun in San Diego.  We left Cedar just after 3 AM on Friday morning and drove straight to SD.  We then parked at Mission Bay for a while to wait for Joe's sister Marijean.  It was funny to discover that quite by accident Kelley and Tyler had coordinating sunglasses and PJ's (Tinkerbell and Cars).  After that is when the adventure began.  I swear we have never had such bad luck getting lost in our lives!  First off we couldn't find a fast food place for anything.  Seriously in a major metropolitan area you would think it would be fairly easy.  Well it took us 45 minutes to finally find a  Wendy's.  Then we discovered it was literally just down the street from Sea World. 

Sea World was great.  Kelley's favorite was the sea stars, sea lions and the cotton candy (it was one of the major reasons she was looking forward to this).  Tyler loved the whales, dolphins and indoor aquariums. 

Of course we missed the turn off to I15 back to our hotel, so major detour there.  Saturday we spent the morning at the beach.  The kids LOVED it.  We sat and ate lunch on the beach while the kids played.  As soon as we got up to go play with them Tyler flattened onto the ground, expecting to be buried.  You can tell we've been to the beach before.  They'll be bugging us all summer to go back to Quail Reservoir I'm sure :)

That afternoon Joe's cousin Jenny and her husband and kids were sealed in the SD Temple.  It was so nice and we were so happy to be there for them.  That temple is so beautiful inside if you ever get a chance to go!


We ended the day (of course) getting lost on the way to the restaurant.  We didn't get lost really...just followed the Google Map, instead of going to where we already knew it was.   Gee Whiz!  Last on the agenda was Thrifty's Ice Cream.  When Joe was a kid growing up in Long Beach his dad would always take the family out for FHE and then they would go for a walk.  Ah memories...

Sunday we took our time coming back.  We found a ward close to the hotel and attended Sacrament meeting there.  We then decided to try and find this great beach we had found in October.  Amazingly enough we drove right to it.  The kids were disappointed we didn't get the swimsuits on...but Kelley still declared it was the best Sunday ever.  The loved the seals on the beach and I got a sample of this really cool sand on Shell Beach.  It's kind of a tradition for us to grab sand from the beaches we visit and I kicked myself last year when I didn't get any. 

After this we drove up to Long Beach and visited Joe's sister's grave (died as a baby before he was born) and past the house and school he grew up in.  Another detour in Hemmit to visit Jenny and family and back home...finally at 2 AM.  Joe was very sweet to drive most of the way so I wouldn't be tired the next day.   Fun times for the DeGraafs.  Now...when can we get back to Disneyland????