Point Loma and Kids' Camp

After Legoland we moved to Point Loma and spent Friday exploring the area.  Our new house doesn't have quite as nice of a view, but it does have a great yard and a washer/dryer.  Friday morning we ventured out to see what Point Loma had to offer.  We stumbled upon the Fort Rosecrans Naval base with an absolutely breathtaking military cemetery overlooking the Pacific.  At the end of Point Loma there are beautiful cliffs in the park at the Cabrillo National Monument.  We thought that this would be a quick stop and maybe we wouldn't get out of the car, but we were wrong.  We had a great history lesson in the museum discussing about early explorers, the routes they took and what their ships were like... education wasn't completely lost on this trip;)

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach at Coronado.  Audrey really got into throwing the ball around (when Ben would let her) and Noah and James (and Gabe) are really into boogie boarding on this trip... how disappointed they will be next summer to come back to the southern Maine waves;)

Friday evening was the beginning of the real reason we were in California... for Gabe and I to attend the national American Academy of Pediatrics conference.  We thought that this may be a let down for the kids after all of the beaches and parks, but the first night did not disappoint!  The kids camp was like a free for all kid play place.  Professional face painting, caricaturists, video games (only active ones... this is the AAP;)), carnival games, dress up video flip books, and a dance floor with a DJ... I don't think I have to say where Noah chose to spend most of his time.  Not only did Noah dance, but he won an air guitar/dance contest... this is by far the highlight of his trip and he came home with a stuffed zebra as a prize... he has named him Zeeza.  We have some video, I think, and I will have to track down a picture, but it was pretty impressive.  So far so good with an impressive start to the conference for the kids... I am sure staying up late and waking up early due to the time change won't eventually cause some problems...

Legoland California

Legoland was the part of the trip the kids were looking forward to the most and it did not disappoint.  The top picture is of Noah with his arm around James at the start of the roller coaster because he was scared, then he really enjoyed it... Ben, however, is done with roller coasters for a while I think;)  We were able to see inside the movie set from "The Lego Movie" AND meet both Emmitt and Wyldstyle.    We got to see where the lego "master builders" create new sets as well as the structures for the parks. James has decided that this is what he wants to do with his life.  The kids laugh so hard when they see the picture of the builder photobombing them. The boys were all proud to get their licenses and Audrey was thrilled to build and pose with all of the figurines. The boys have finally stopped asking when we are going to Legoland again... for now;)

San Diego Trip- Part 2

Tuesday we ventured back to San Diego to check out the zoo.  We really lucked out with this trip because almost every park is having a "kids get in free" deal in October! Everyone was probably a bit too tired to be extra excited about the zoo, but they all pulled through and really enjoyed the animals. The zoo was way bigger that we were expecting and it made me feel like I was in an Ikea... It was super confusing to find anything and there appeared to be short cuts on the map, but we were unable to find them in real life;)  The highlights were certainly the pandas, the insect house, the gondola tram, the hippo and many, many other animals.  James is really into getting his picture taken during this trip because part of his missed work from school is to make a travel journal for show and tell with he gets back. 

A side note about the hats... We forgot to pack hats for everyone... the dollar store here had these blaze orange ones... as it turns out this is one of the most fantastic things we have bought them... in a crowed park it is so easy to keep track of where they are!

We are really enjoying Oceanside... it is just beautiful. There is nothing like taking a morning run on the beach, watching all of the surfers up as early as you and letting the kids chase down the seagulls from the pier.  The view from our condo rooftop patio is just breathtaking and everyone has taken their turn having some quiet time out there... even Audrey:)  The harvest moon is also happening while we are here and we got a gorgeous view of it on our way home from dinner on the pier to watch the sunset.

Just north of Oceanside is Camp Pendelton which, I think, is why there is so much military presence here.  There has been what looks like a destroyer just off shore for a few days (we totally thought is was a cargo ship at first...).  We have also seen so many different types of military helicopters day and night... really cool ones that we had only ever seen in museums or in pictures (please excuse my ignorance here on the various types of military helicopters).

We did have a "proud parent moment" when out to dinner this night. At the end of dinner Ben said, "he is a really nice guy" referring to our server.  The guy looked like he was having kind of a rough night so we encouraged Ben to tell him just that.  They server was so happy that he gave all of the kids an ice cream. We fear a bit that Ben will forever think that complimenting people will lead to rewards of food, but it was a really nice gesture and the kids all saw how happy the compliment made him:)