San Diego

Ahhh, the ocean...

Diamond and I planned this entire trip centered on the idea of enjoying a beach vacation.  The first day we went to Coronado.  It was stunningly beautiful, totally relaxing and all around wonderful.  Unfortunately, the boys got these terrible rashes on their legs after spending the day in the water.  Although we still went back to the beach a couple more times, the salt water stung pretty bad.  Bummer!  Good thing there are plenty of things to do in San Diego!

The Caboose was all about digging giant holes in the sand whenever we were at the beach.  While the older kids were on the boogie boards, the Caboose and I were just digging away.  Once the hole was about the size of a bathtub, the boys decided that it would be fun to put me in and cover me with sand.  (I actually love the feeling of the warm, weighty sand.)

While we were in San Diego the boys wanted to see a Padres game. 

Apparently, PetCo Park is known for its sand play area - that and the kid sized baseball field.  The boys had a blast playing around at the ball park.  Meanwhile, I was left wondering how in the world a baseball game became part of my summer vacation!  Ahh, to be the mother of boys!  All good!

I had never been to Sea World before, and of course, neither had the boys.  So while we were in San Diego we spent a day there.  Who knew there would be random flamingos walking around!  (And ginormous turtles, and ...)

The Caboose was very excited about getting his picture taking with the characters. 

The kids were able to feed the seals some little fish.  Super stinky!  Also, super cool!

Feeding the seals.

 We spent Sunday morning at the Mormon Battalion in Old Town San Diego.  It was very interactive and incorporated cool technology to make a fun, interesting, learning experience. 

At the end of the tour, the kids could pan for gold, wash laundry in a basin or fire bricks in the courtyard.  The Caboose would've spent hours there.

There were lots of interactive parts of the aircraft carrier.  Here are the boys in the control tower. 

We also spent the better part of one day aboard the USS Midway.  Sooo interesting.  This aircraft carrier went into service just after WWII and serve all the way through Persian Gulf I.  The top level was full of planes and helicopters, and below deck you could tour what life was like on the ship.  We spent over four hours there, and BB#1 would've stayed longer (me too!)  But the younger boys were about done by then. 

Even Diamond got into the fun as he channeled his inner Top Gun fighter pilot.  Very cool.  (I just need to see him play beach volleyball, and I'd be all set!)

Big Boy #2 in the Captain's war room. 

 One of my favorite parts of our trip to San Diego was walking around La Jolla just as the sun was setting.

How do you get a more gorgeous setting than this???

My boys...

 

 

It was an all around fabulous trip.  Love California!!!

Utah

For the 4th of July we made our annual migration to Utah to see the Smith clan. 

The morning of the fourth everyone went to this super cool trampoline, trapeze, climbing wall place.

 

The Caboose wasn't scared at all, and wanted help to get on the highest of the trapeze bars. The foam pit below made falling all part of the fun.

 The evening of the fourth of July, the family meet up in Heber for fireworks. Before the show started, there were a bunch of old fashioned games set up at the Homestead. They had set out a circle of hay bales and before long we had a line of boys lined up, running across the tops of the bales while we timed them. So fun! Meanwhile my niece was tugging on my arm, wanting to get her face painted in a nearby booth - huh? Clearly God knew what he was doing when he made me the mother of all boys. Below you can see BB#2 as he played tug of war.   

 

Long ago, Diamond and I decided that we would not have our kids do sleepovers, with only one exception - cousins. Whenever we visit Utah the boy cousins are literally together 24 hours a day.   Usually, they camp out at Diamond's brother's home, but when we were upgraded to the suite at our hotel, the boys all moved in with us for the night. They have a great time playing games, swimming and loading up on the free breakfast. 

They say you marry the family, and I do suppose that's true.  But what a catch!  These lovely ladies are all part of the Smith clan - related to me only through marriage, but I would pick them for friends with or without Diamond as part of the deal.   Good, smart, funny women.
 

Out last night in town, Cheryl had the whole clan over for a BBQ and s'mores.  Yum!  They have a beautiful backyard and the kids loved making the most of their last night with the family.  Here we are hangin' in the hammock with my boys and my darling little niece. 


 

 The cousins with Uncle Tyler roasting marshmallows. 

It was a great, relaxing time with the Smith side.