Family Vacation To San Diego

We recently got to go on a little family vacation to Escondido/San Diego! The first day was a beach day. But do you know how much work it is to take a baby and toddler on a vacation where you will be outside most of the time? I mean, the sunscreen applications alone...whew!! Family memories though, right?

The beach was a lot of fun! Emily loved running to the waves and then running away from them as they came toward her, which gave me a heart attack each time. Fellow beach goers were watching and laughing as she squealed in delight and I was pestering Michael to stay closer to her and James was happy as can be as long as he was held and not put on the sand!

I taught Emily how to build a sand castle, which, let's face it, was just wet sand in disheveled upside down bucket form one right after the other but hey, she loved it!

After we left the beach we checked into our resort and had dinner at the restaurant on site. We ended up eating there a few times because it was delicious and convenient! The next day we ventured around the area, checked out the mall, went to lunch, and then came back to the resort for some fun in the sun. There was a splash pad and several pools to choose from so we hung out there for a while.

This is the only picture I took while we were at the resort. #fail

But trust me, it was gorgeous and we loved it. Our room had a full kitchen, living room, bedroom, and giant bathroom with a nice shower. Thank you, Expedia! Haha.

The next day (Saturday), we got all ready, slathered up on sunscreen again (I think we used almost an entire tube of sunscreen on this trip between the four of us), packed up, and checked out of the hotel. We went to breakfast, got a couple of things at Target, and then met up with Michaels brother Tyler, his wife (my SIL) Sarah, and our nephew Everett. We went to the Wild Animal Park (Safari Park)! It was awesome. We saw all sorts of animals. Emily especially loved the giraffes and elephants. I'm kind of "anti zoo establishments" unless they are rescued and there for their well being so this was a good place to go for us.

Also, we've become "those people" with the crazy hats out in public...but NONE of us got sunburned all weekend so I don't care!! It made for some good laughs the whole time. I felt self conscious wearing my hat and every time I looked at Michael I couldn't help but giggle. We're old. We do what we want, including wear these hats to avoid sunburn.

Family vacation- SUCCESS!

Neely & Shelley Take San Diego!

 I've been friends with Neely for like 3-4 years now and we finally got the chance to meet! She is vacationing this week in San Diego with her boyfriend so we just had to drive down to hang out with them for a while! It's not too far from us. About an hour and a half. Luckily I thought to tire Emily out at the park before we drove down so she slept in the car :).

I was jumping with excitement as we got closer and closer. Finally we got to their hotel (which was amazing) and there we were!!

Neely and Emily adored each other....

But I think we all knew that Emily's real favorite of the group was the hotel goldfish! 

Count on me to ask the two guys who just met each other to pose for a picture together. Hahaha! A bit awkward but funny. The life of bloggers' men.

Neely and I didn't have a problem taking pictures together. This was a long time coming and we needed to document it!!

After hanging out in their hotel room for a bit, we walked a few blocks to go to lunch at Cafe Chloe. We got to go in the back of the restaurant, secluded from all but one other table. It was the VIP room as I called it. As Neely called it, The Tantrum Room. A.K.A the only two groups sitting in there had babies. We had a good laugh about that!

The room we were in held a bunch of booze. Ironic!

The lovebirds.

Neely, A, Emily, and Michael

Emily did pretty well in the restaurant. She didn't get too squirmy until the very end. Whew!

Oh and check out the delicious food we got.....

After lunch we walked around the area for a while and then said our goodbye's. I am soooo glad we got to spend some time with them! We don't get to travel much so it was perfect that they came to San Diego.

Love you, Neely!! 

Thank you for letting us crash the party of two for a bit :).

Happy Birthday week!!

*Some of these pictures were taken by Neely or her bf. Or my hubs.*