san diego sunday

One time, we took a week vacation to sunny California and went to Disneyland for 5 days and the beach for one day. Afterwards we asked the boys their favorite part and they said, "THE BEACH!!!" So we've been planning an all beach vacay for some time in our minds. Adam's summer was jam packed with work and church stuff, so we decided to go in November. This time we were going to go see the Redwoods, but thought it might be too cold in November, so we chose San Diego! I've never been and we LOVED it. So much to do- we couldn't fit it all in. 

Sunday morning the boys were up by 5:45 AM because of the time change from Utah and daylight savings. It was really 7:45 in Utah. We watched the surfers in their wetsuits and people out exercising on the path right in front of our condo. By 7:45 the boys were out swimming in the COLD waves, and didn't seem to mind too much. We found our beach house by googling "San Diego beach house" and we are so glad it turned out so great! Talk about super cool. Watching the ocean from our living room/kitchen area? And listening to the waves, even after it got dark. Leaving our shoes in the condo since the beach was right there... it was perfect for us. 

 Franky learned to pull himself up on this trip. 

Waiting to hit the beach. I made them wear their jackets, which came off in 5 seconds- ha!

 The boys were in water heaven!

 Sea Kelp that you could squish and it would pop.

Our condo was the red brick one.  

 You can see Adam and Franky standing on the top balcony. That was off our room, and the window below it was our kitchen. The bottom and other side was another condo, but we were the only ones in the building. 

 Adam, going for a barefoot run.

Beach art.

 Tiny seashells.

 We had a shower just outside to wash the sand off. The boys would stay in it to get warm too.

 The sun came out and we walked along the beach to find lunch. 

 Ollie is turning into a big boy. Here he was asking me which way his hat looked better. 

 4-year-old Linc was hot in the sun in our seats so he moved across the patio and ate happily by himself.

 Walked by these handicapped beach wheelchairs and 

thought of our friends, the Hobsons- kind of cool. 

Mister Linc

 I let the big boys go out by themselves for a bit while we watched from the condo.

This was in the afternoon at low tide so the water went way down. It was beautiful!

Elliott found two purple sand dollars and one was fuzzy!

Franky in his jacket-swimsuit combo. A little chilly out there. We could tell who the tourists were- people playing on the beach in swimsuits. The locals were all bundled up in mid 60 degree weather. 

Tanner and Megs came for a visit since they live two hours away.

Franky and Stella got to meet for the first time! Cousins one week apart.

The sky is always beautiful on the beach!

We went to Phil's BBQ with Tanner and Megs- it was delicious! 

Then we went over the Coronado Bridge to see Coronado Island. 

On the Coronado Bridge, and you can see it in front of us.

Downtown San Diego.

We tried out MooTime Creamery- I had the pumpkin pie ice cream- delicious! 

Megs and Tan always know the best places.

We took a walking tour around the Coronado Hotel- one of the largest wooden buildings. It was built in 1887. Really cool.

Some guy had built these elaborate sand structures on the hotel beach!

(I hate my phone flash- something is wrong with it, but you can kind of see the castle.)

Twinsies times two! Tanner, Stella, Franky and Adam.

Coronado Hotel

We had a fun first day in California!