It's a Beautiful Life: July 2009

Our family had the wonderful opportunity to spend a week in La Jolla, CA. It was a much needed vacation and absolutely amazing! We stayed in a condo just a block from the beach. We went to the beach everyday except the day we went to Sea World. We played Rock Band, slept in, ate fish tacos at Wahoos, and just had a blast. I don't think I can remember ever lounging by the beach everyday, reading next to the waves, playing with my kids in the ocean and riding boogie boards with 20 year- olds. There are tons of pictures. I will keep my comments short and let the photos speak for themselves.

1st Day - Windandsea Beach, La Jolla, CA

This first beach is definitely a surfer beach and everyone there was 25 or younger and I was the only one in a one piece! The waves were amazing and the tow was quite strong. After riding in a wave with the boogie board, the top of my suit came down and revealed some embarrassing body parts! Matt ran over to me to cover me up. He was more embarrassed than I was. I was so oblivious from being knocked around and glad to be on my feet, I had no idea - Oh my . . . . , nice first day! Obviously, no photos.

Aidan kept asking the whole drive down if we would bury him in the sand when we got there so of course we did first thing.

Ella just enjoying filling her bottle with sand. Who needs sand toys?

Matt on the boogie board. See - bikinis - everywhere. I felt like a grandma! Why is everybody staring at me?

Matt and Nicholas catching wave together.

Ella & Aidan - happy as clams!

2nd Day - La Jolla Shores Beach

It was perfect! It had something for everyone. This beach is much more forgiving of beginner surfers and the waves were perfect for the kids. These beaches have checkered flags so surfers vs boogie boarders and swimmers can be separated for safety reasons.

Nicholas cannot get enough of the surfboard. I swear he's half fish. He wouldn't even come in for food!

Matt on the surfboard. I'm not sure if he ever stood up, but he looks good!

Matt and the kids build this beautiful sand fortress. You had to see it - no tools. They did this while I napped on the beach. I'm in heaven!

I promise there are a few photos of me somewhere.

Aidan's first time on the boogie board. This was about it for him.

And, this is why . . . my poor baby!

Then there's Ella riding in on a wave ALONE! What?? She's also part fish, by the way.

3rd Day - Coronado Island

This place is just beautiful. I could live here.

This is a photo (not mine) of Hotel del Coronado. It is the largest all wood building in the U. S. built in 1888. It's the hotel where Somewhere in Time was filmed and is truly breathtaking in person.

Oh, here I am! Across the street from the hotel.

This tree is so brilliant. It has bright pinkish red flowers all over it. It is called Bougainvilleas, native to Brazil and so gorgeous. I felt like I was in Hawaii here, so tropical.

Our view from the beach our 3rd day - Coronado Beach. Yep, feels like Oahu's Waikiki beach.

The seaweed there is really long and actually quite pretty. Again, who needs toys when you have seaweed to pull around?

4th Day - SEA WORLD!!!

I love Sea World; something about seeing God's creatures from the sea close up. It's inspiring.

There are too many photos to share. I will have to create a separate post. Here are a couple photos, though.

I couldn't wait to see the manatees - my personal favorite. It's something about them. They just seem like gentle giants. They are sometimes referred to as sea cows and weigh about 1,000 pounds and are herbivores. I had to get a manatee mug for my hot cocoa (actually I drink Pero)this winter - yea, my very OWN hot cocoa mug!

Okay, so these seals bark REALLY loud! Some of them would stand up and lean against the wall/window barking for fish that people paid to feed them! It was quite humorous to see these non-legged creatures standing!

5th Day - San Diego Temple and La Jolla Cove

I was so excited to go inside this temple. I have seen it from the outside but it is even more spectacular inside. There is an atrium inside where you can actually see Moroni from. Matt and I started our day with a run along the beach then showered and went to the temple. We then came and grabbed the kids and headed to La Jolla Cove for some snorkeling!

Nicholas catching in some of the brightest orange fish I've ever seen. Apparently, there were some octopus and lobsters but we didn't see any. I was a little leery because the water wasn't too clear and I was having trouble with my snorkel gear. It turns out it had a hole! Nicholas held my hand the whole time!

Oh my goodness! Ella and Aidan had so much fun collecting all these hermit crabs everywhere as well as actual crabs. It was so sweet!

6th Day - Back to La Jolla Shores - our favorite.

Aidan has become "one" with the ocean by now.

I love how dirty Aidan got on this day. If you're not dirty, you're not having fun is what I like to say.

Aidan is always trying to catch some sort of animal. I thought this was sweet even if it is a scavenger sea gull.

Ella making a star fish. She enjoys getting dirty, too. She's my daughter all right!

Like many of you, our family loves the 4th of July! We love getting dressed up in our red, white, and blue and taking the time to remember how truly fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful country. The weekend was long and exhausting as it started Friday night with our wonderful neighbors in a neighborhood BBQ and fireworks party. Lots of good food, friends, water balloon games and fireworks was a great way to kick off the weekend.

Yes, Aidan is still biting. But he looks so cute with that sparkler.

Ella and her girlfriends, Dani and Mallory stuck togther all night

4th of July morning, Matt got up at 6:00 and saved our spots for the parade then took the kids to the balloon fest. I missed it this year because I had to work :(. (once I figure out how to flip this on here I will. My photo editing program would not save the rotation. Just turn your head to the left. That's better . . .)

Off to the parade! My kids were so excited to try a snowcone. It turns out netiher of them care for one again!

Ella in La La land with all the horses!

Ella took a three hour nap while we let Aidan sleep for four before we're off again to Stadium of Fire; obviously a late night!

The jets were amazing to see once they flew by, Aidan finally stopped asking about them since the moment we got into the car to leave for the event.

Ahhh! The fireworks from this point of view were truly remarkable.

Jonas Brothers! That's all I know. I don't even know their names. I can't decide which was louder the music or the tweens and young teens screaming from the tops of their lungs. It's a good thing I brought ear plugs.