San Diego or Bust

Dave's been dying to go back to his old stompin' grounds in San Diego and take our kids to the beach for the first time.  the flights looked good this weekend, so we thought we'd venture out for a day trip.  We left the minute the kids were up, caught the 9 am flight with no problems.  After flying for 30 mins, the captain let us know that San Diego had fog and we would need to circle for a while.  After 30 more minutes he let us know we would be flying BACK to Phoenix!!  Can you believe that?  So at 10:15 we landed back in Phx, everyone deplaned and tried to make new arrangements to get to San Diego (which means stand-by flyers will NOT be getting on flights because they are filled up with paying customers).  We quickly ran through the airport and sneaked onto a flight going to Long Beach and FINALLY we made it to California.  Long Beach Airport is about the size of a double wide trailer.  But it was super fast to get off the plane and to our rental car . . . I'd estimate 5 mins total.   The sad part was that our skim board flew to San Diego without us.  (We picked it up on the way home)  Its not often you fly to California twice in one day  . . . with a layover, but we managed it.
We rented a car and hit the beach.  It was a hit.  We fully enjoyed the sunshine, the ocean, the sand and the smells and sounds of the beach and pier.  It was beautiful.  Hallie took one giant mouthful of sand and then kept it out of her mouth the rest of the time . . . she's pretty smart. Jackson ran away from the waves, played in the sand and really seemed to enjoy himself.  It was fun to watch him!

After 3 hours on the beach we drove down to San Diego (that is the title of the post you know).  The fog was REALLY bad and we were actually glad we went to the beach in Long Beach.  San Diego beaches would have been colder and ugly.  We saw La Jolla and the beautiful Temple.

We ate at Dave's favorite restaurant, Islands.  Jackson FELL ASLEEP at the restaurant!!

My Uncle was kind enough to let us crash his in-the-process-of remodeling beach house in La Jolla.  Jackson never even woke up!  In the morning, he said, "Mom!  the restaurant turned me into the beach house!"   Hallie had a rough night.  She was burning up with a fever and I kept praying that she wouldn't die because she ate sand on the beach.  We cuddled and I held her safe (and felt her burning body) from 3 am until 6:30.  We left for the airport,  stopping at Dave' favorite spot at Crystal Pier before taking off.  We got on the flight with no problem.  Hallie fell asleep in my arms and I fully loved every second I got to cuddle and snuggle with her.   Am I a bad mother if I enjoy my sick kids because they will cuddle with me?  This is Hallie's first fever in 9 months of life, so she doesn't get sick often, thank goodness.  We were home in time to clean up and go to church.  Perfect Saturday, even if it didn't go as planned (Does flying stand-by EVER go as planned?!?  So far it hasn't!)

P.S. When our server at Islands found out we were from AZ, she said, "I hope you have a great vacation!"  We wondered if a Saturday outing to a different state counted as 'Vacation'.  We decided it did.  We don't have weekends, we have vacations . . . weekly.