The Long-Awaited Vacation

Our family leaves Albuquerque several times a year, but it is always for a purpose. Sure, we have fun while we're gone, but we always have a person to visit or family to spend time with. So, this year, we decided to do the family visiting while on a vacation we would choose just for fun! My brother and his family and my parents joined us in San Diego for a quick "long-weekend" vacation. We had an absolute blast, although we packed WAY too much fun into a short time.
On Saturday, my parents and I drove out to Phoenix to meet up with Jeff and Tina. Dave flew into Phoenix later that evening. (He got off the driving hook because he stayed to work on our remodel). Sunday we loaded up all 10 of us and set off for San Diego. 7 hours, one McDonald's visit, and about 3 emergency potty stops later, we arrived at our hotel near the beach. We wasted no time getting dressed and walking down to Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. The water was warm, the waves were great, and the beach was crowded! Michaela and Ryan, being completely free of any fear of the water, immediately raced into the waves and began swimming and body-boarding. Garrett raced to the edge of the water and stood there for several minutes, inching farther out slowly. At first, he was adamant that he did NOT want to body-board, but Dave finally convinced him to try. After that, we had to wrestle him away from the waves. He was hooked!
Paige, on the other hand, took one look at the waves and decided that she would rather just dig in the sand. We left her on the towels, expecting her to eventually follow us into the water. She did wander down to the very edge and stuck her toes in, but she ran away every time a big waved crashed. I picked her up so she wouldn't be afraid, and she endured the water for about a minute or two before beginning to chant "No more waves!! No more waves!!" There's no surfing in her immediate future.
After doing the obligatory burying of the kids in the sand, we returned to the hotel to wash the sand out of everything we owned. (I'm not sure I could ever get used to that!)
On Monday, we hit Legoland, which was by far the thing Garrett was most excited about. He LOVES Legos, and he envisioned an entire park brimming with Legos for him. We had fun on the kiddie rollercoasters and at the water spray area. Garrett even rode a robotic arm ride with Aunt Tina that turned him upside down!
Tuesday brought us to Sea World. We were wowed by the Shamu show, although we were fairly disappointed that we didn't get soaked, despite sitting on the fourth row of the "soak zone." The kids fed the dolphins, the manta rays, and the sea lions, and picked up starfish in the tide pool. We crowned the day with a rollercoaster ride that had us all screaming and soaking wet.
We had a fantastic time hanging out with our family and spending tons of money on theme-park food and stuffed toys for the kids. It's times like this that make being a parent lots of fun (although the meltdown following 3 days of no naps was almost not worth it!). I got goosebumps watching the Shamu show with Garrett and seeing the awe in his eyes when he watched the whales. And there's nothing like Paige's giggles at the seals and sea lions doing "hip-hop" dancing at the next show. God has created such amazing variety and beauty. We truly serve an awesome God! What a time to remember! I could leave you with all 135 pictures that I took, but I will show mercy and only post a few highlight pictures!