Saturday, July 8, 2017

harrisons on holiday: californi-yay! part I

remember how we got legoland season passes from grandpa dave at christmas? since justin was gone from january-june, we knew he'd get a week of vacation after session ended and we wanted to go to legoland again. justin thought it would be fun to invite grandpa and kristi to come with us. that turned into a week's long vacation at a family friend's beach house they rent out on mission beach [san diego, ca]. we decided to go father's day weekend and invite kristi's parents to go with. lynsey & skyler couldn't make it because she's round and pregnant and with her new job in washington and an impending maternity leave, time off is precious.


day #0
the night before we left for our vacation, dave, kristi, justin, and i went out for some grown up time. to prepare for the storm, in a way. we all got pedicures [hallelujah!] and the girls got manicures. such a wonderful treat! they put this mystery chemical on justin's feet that basically made his calluses just melt off. afterwords we went to a delicious mexican restaurant and planned out our adventure.

day #1
kristi's birthday! we left bright and early. justin and i woke up at 4am and packed up the car. we got the kids in and of course, they didn't fall back asleep until hours later. porter didn't go back to sleep at all [and he's the one who needs the most sleep]. we stopped for donuts and to change our clothes in victorville [hello pokemon donuts! you know my son so well] then kept on trucking to san diego. we made it to the beach house well before noon. after unpacking, we walked to the boardwalk [not even 2 blocks away] and went to lunch. i've been to mission beach several times before [my sisters even tried to get me to get a tattoo there!]. it's not my favorite beach but it's definitely fun with the carnival games/rides. justin and i took the kids to the beach later in the afternoon and if you follow me on instagram, you know it was terrible.

when justin and i went to florida, we brought back landon a treasure box filled with some seashells [still the best vacation ever. because we were in florida, but mainly because we didn't have kids with us] and porter has been jealous of it ever since. so that's what porter mainly did while landon splashed in the ocean and built sandcastles. griffin was not a fan of the chilly pacific water [another reason why florida is the bomb.com] so he did a little bit of everything but mainly liked playing with balls and other people's toys. that night, dave made a trip to costco so we enjoyed the best pizza in the world that night and went to bed early.

y am sick of those perfectly posed pictures of families on beaches; looking gorgeous, tan, with happy smiling kids that look like they belong in GAP ads. maybe i'm doing parenting wrong but it was nothing like that for us. you pack so many things and plan to stay for a while and the kids just go crazy! granted, they got better after a little bit more exposure, but it's still pretty stressful. especially when you've got anxious parents and cranky kids.

day #2
the next morning was father's day and we dedicated it to taking it easy. it was also the sabbath day and while we couldn't make it to a church, we tried to play games as a family, read scriptures, and listen to church songs and hang out. after lunch and naps, we headed down to the beach with dave and kristi. that day was much better. the kids knew what to expect and so did justin and i. justin and dave played catch on the beach and it was a picture, perfect, hallmark moment. we buried dave in sand and just enjoyed ourselves. after a few hours there we came back to the house and dave grilled some food for us. after a bath, we headed down to belmont park [where all the carnival rides are] for dessert and rides. the weather was so perfect too. vegas had a huge heatwave, hitting 117 degrees [an all-time record high] while san diego was a cool 75. the kids didn't go to bed until close to 10pm but it was worth it.




day #3
monday we knew we wanted to go visit the san diego zoo. kristi has a friend who lives here and she suggested that would be a good day to visit. the zoo is not too far away from the beach house and we got there right at opening. you always hear how amazing and big the san diego zoo is and it did not disappoint. it was giant and very well maintained. justin and i are the world's best parents and we've taken our kids to several zoos in the past [sacramento, santa barbara, miami, phoenix, salt lake, and now san diego]. this was by far the nicest in the most ways. you easily could spend several days there but we crammed a lot in in one day. my fitbit clocked in almost 17k steps that day! there were lots of hills but thankfully a lot of pushers for the double stroller. my favorite animals were the koalas [seriously, they sleep 20 hours and then eat for 4. that is the life]. the giraffes were amazing as well. they had a pretty cool tour bus that gave you a good overview of the zoo and then a bus that would help cut down on the walking. the kids and grown ups were just DRAGGING by hour 7. the heat plus all the walking and sugar just wore us all down. once we were in the car, all three were out. that night we had some down time and brought some mexican in and have a nice chill night.

to be continued...
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2 comments:

KinderTeach said...

You got to find out the miracle feet stuff!! We all need a good peeling

Caitlin said...

You're a nice mom for taking your kids to so many zoos. I hate the zoo!

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