Vacation Part2, Part3, Part4, Part5 &Part6

I don't really know why I put "Part 1" on my last post. I think I was just trying to be cool like Jenny, who always leaves everyone hangin' with her 6 part posts. It didn't really work for me though. But I decided to go ahead and do a part 2 just to tell you about the great parts of our vacation. We had a condo in Oceanside for a week. It was right on the beach. I had visions of just spending my days sleeping in, then slowly getting up, putting on a suit, packing a cooler full of diet coke and snacks, and sitting on the beach watching Dwight taking the kids out into the treacherous waters. It didn't quite work that way, but we still had fun. Anyone who knows Dwight, knows he can't sleep in past 6:00am. He also can't handle sitting around. He doesn't like to eat junk food everyday. And he burns easily. So we made a few compromises. He would get up between 5 and 6 every morning. But instead of waking us all up, he got a gym pass to the YMCA down there, and went every morning while we slept in. Then we bought a pass that got us into a whole slew of things in the area; the museums, the zoo, the wild animal park, Legoland, and Knott's Berry Farm. There were a lot more, but those were the things we chose to do. So every morning after he got home from the gym, he would wake us up. Then while we got ready he would pack up a healthy and sensible lunch into the cooler, and map out where we were going to go that day. He said he was going to "walk the crap" out of our kids. He really walked the crap out of me. What was nice about our passes was that we could go to Legoland (for example) in the morning, leave after just a couple hours, and then do the same thing the next day. We could get in as many times as we wanted within 5 days. So that is kind of what we would do. We would be the first ones in, hang out until it got crowded, then leave and go do something else.


My favorite place to go down there was Barber park in San Diego with all the museums. The kids liked it quite a bit too. Here is one of the few pictures I got of all four of them together. (If you recall from my last post "Part 1", Howie wasn't fully cooperating throughout the week)

The kids liked Legoland alot. Ella especially. Everything was just perfect size for her. The boys acted like they may have been a little too old for them but I think secretly they thought it was perfect for them. We went here a couple of times. The second day, we got there before it opened. They wanted to be the first ones to ride a roller coaster that had an hour wait the day before. We were lined up along a chain counting down for it to open. When it did Dwight, Bailey, Calvin, and Ella took off running. I walked more casually with Howie to a ride near the roller coaster that Howie was tall enough for. While we were standing in our line, I heard the roller coaster finally start up. Then I heard a very loud and very recognizable "WHOOHOO". I look up to see Dwight, Bailey, Calvin, and Ella all on the first car of the first roller coaster ride. Maybe you have to know Dwight, but it really was the funniest thing I have ever seen. He kept screaming down to us about them being the first ones on, while the car is clanking up the first hill.
That day, we left Legoland after only 2 hours, and decided to hit the beach. Dwight bought a couple of cheap boogie boards from the grocery store (high quality). And we spent the rest of the day swimming at the beach. It was our funnest day of the whole trip.

Remember how I said Dwight burns easily? Despite put on 50 SPF sunblock religiously every 30 minutes or so, he still got a ridiculously bad burn. We all got burned, but Dwight especially. Within 24 hours, the rest of us would go from red to golden brown. Dwight is still red, then maybe within another day or two, he night turn pink. So the next day we decided to either stay covered up or stay indoors. We chose to stay covered up, and Dwight wore a long sleeve shirt and pants to Knott's Berry Farm. (This is where the boys decided officially that Lego land was too sissiesh for them) And I didn't take my camera, so you will just have to take my word on it that we went there. We did get souvenir cups and t-shirts if you do need some sort of proof though. Our last day, Dwight was still suffering from his burn, so we chose to stay in doors and headed back over to the museums. There are too many to mention, and a person could spend an entire week just looking at all the museums and still not see everything. But the kids thought they were all cool, and I was glad that they were fine with a museum and not wanting another theme park.
Outside of a museum, Howie wanted to wade in a fountain. I told him he couldn't because he would get his shorts wet. This was him showing me how he would avoid that.

On our way home we stopped of at Sam and Michelle's (who if you remember are excellent hosts). They had an amazing meal waiting for us. Stayed up late talking. We woke up to an amazing breakfast waiting for us. Then a tired Sam went off to work, and Michelle and Meagan headed down to the bay with us. We walked around, let the kids get wet and sandy, went over to a restaurant for some of the best clam chowder in the the best sourdough bread bowl. Said our goodbyes, and backed out to leave......when I scraped my car along the side of someones new Honda minivan. I had to go in, find the owner, who was completely shocked I would have done that, and then gave her my info. I haven't heard from her, so I am hoping she was able to just buff it out, but I am not holding my breath. Anyway, we finally made it home at about 3:00 the next morning, and are totally bummed to be home. We are looking forward to our next vacation in October to see family at a mini-reunion. (I am still waiting to hear from some of you, you have to give some sort of response, it is rude to just ignore an invite)