California!

We had a great opportunity to go to San Diego, California this summer for a family reunion with my mom's family. Thank you Uncle Keith for the great time. We decided to do our own little vacation as well while we were there. It was so fun. We rented a 12 passenger van and rode with my parents, Leslie, Richard & Corinne. My kids were spoiled rotten with all the adults to take care of them. Neither Bob nor I have been to the ocean since we were little so it was a wonderful trip with some great memories.

THE BEACH
We loved the beach! It was so fun to play and swim in the ocean. Jaci and Tayson loved the sand and we came home with a bag full of sea-shells. We could have played at the ocean all day. It was chilly especially for July, but we had a great time. Tayson's favorite thing was chasing those pesky seagulls, we have some great video. Even with the crowds there is nothing like seeing the sunset over the ocean.





I didn't know that I love palm trees. They are so pretty. I really wanted to bring one home to plant in my yard. Too bad they don't handle snow or I would have a whole garden of them.


SAN DIEGO TEMPLE
I have always, always wanted to go to the San Diego Temple, however this is not exactly the family picture I was imagining. It was under major rennovations while we were there and was closed. I was really sad, but honestly how many people have a picture like this with scaffolding clear to the top? I guess we will just have to make a return trip. It is still a beautiful place, we love to see the temples.





SMITH FAMILY MINE
We couldn't come to California without going to a real gold mine. It was just a small family mine that they were starting to refurbish, it had some neat history and a fun train ride.





MORMON BATALLION
We went to the newly remodeled Mormon Batallion Museum. It was really neat to learn more about this little portion of our Mormon heritage. The museum was great and we just happened to be the 70,000th visitor since their remodeling and were posted on their webpage.



SEA WORLD
I remember going to Sea World when I was a little kid, I don't remember much, but I think it was just as fun as an adult as I remember it being when I was little. We just don't see too many dolphins or whales in Idaho. We spent the whole day on a dead run so we were sure not too miss anything. The shows were awesome as well as all the other displays. We even hit the roller coaster at the end of the night when there were no lines. We also talked Grandpa into one ride and he got soaked which made for a great laugh. The kids did really well and we were grateful to have so many adults to take care of them. Needless to say we all slept well that night.





We loved all the shows, all the fish,all the rides, the fireworks, and all the fun.

Now we just want to know when can we go back!