We are back from San Diego!

Here is a little diary of our trip. For pictures of our trip, please go to:

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Boy, what a trip we had! We really made the most of our four days to San Diego. We left at 7 am on Thursday to catch a plane and got back to Dallas Sunday night at 10:30 pm. We didn't mean to get back so late, but due to storms every flight was delayed an hour.

Going into this trip, I had no idea how Kaitlyn would react to being on a plane for two and half hours. It is hard just to keep her in one area at home as she is into everything. We found out early on that we would either have to keep her in her stroller or fold it up as she wanted to push it everywhere and her steering capabilities were not well-defined yet as she was running into everything. Fortunately, there was a play area at DFW before the flight. The actual flight was good since we had three seats to move around in. One guy changed seats so we could have an extra one. Kaitlyn watched Baby Einstein and listened to the headphones for a good while. And then she got cranky and wanted to sleep. We were a little nervous because we didn't want to be "that couple" that couldn't calm their child down. She finally not only put herself to sleep, but my leg as well. Instead of trying to move around and bring back to life my numb limb, I fought through the pain and let Kaitlyn take in a few Z's.. She woke up about 30 minutes later as we were coming into San Diego.

We then got our car, checked into the hotel, and ventured on for a few groceries and dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican spot. Much to our dismay, there were no stores around all the hotels whatsoever. We drove for 15 minutes and couldn't find anything until stumbling upon the greasy, but good restaurant.

After our return, Kaitlyn took a nap before heading out for a quick visit to the beach. Mission Beach was a great location, equipped with a fun boardwalk and tons of people. The water was really cold, but the breeze and air felt great. The sun made it hot. Kaitlyn was okay with the sand, but she really loved the waves and water once she got used to it. She couldn't figure it out. She loved all her sand toys, but the shovel was her favorite. Just holding onto it was fun enough for her.



We lucked out. The hotel was cooking some hamburgers that night, so inspired by Brandon's resourcefulness (alternative word for CHEAP), we took advantage of the 1,2,3,4 burgers and 2 hot dogs, as well as a couple of free beers.

Friday, we went to the San Diego zoo, only a 5 minute drive from the hotel. They had bus tours, a sky tram and tons of fun animals. Kaitlyn loved the monkeys and elephants. We were one of the first to arrive at 9 am and left around 2:30. We wore her out! The Sea Lion show was fun, the petting zoo was okay, but they had some animals we don't normally see in Texas like Panda Bears (They had four of the 11 in the U.S.), polar bears, great exhibits to see the animals in, weird looking pigs and koalas.

We really liked the zoo and were fresh for the day. After Kaitlyn's nap, we went to the beach again just for a little bit. We got pizza on the beach and that was kind of a disaster as birds wanted our food. Kaitlyn was too distracted to eat.

Saturday, we went to Legoland. The highways have tons of lanes. It is crazy. It was a cool little park. I think we were a little worn out already and enjoyed watching Kaitlyn play in the toddler area, but after that it was hot and we were ready to go to the beach. It is a great park for 3 to 5 year olds, definitely! Kaitlyn had a great time there too.

Saturday night we went to Coronado island, had Mexican for dinner. Kaitlyn loved her quesdillas. The beach was great around 6:30 pm. Not as many people, but the water seemed to be colder. Kaitlyn loved running up and down the beach. She also found some kids she liked watching build a sand castle. They were from Venezuela and so sweet.

Sunday morning we went to the beach again and it was cool, but very nice. And then went to Kansas City Barbque after loading up the car to go to the airport. Kansas City Bargque is where Top Gun filmed the sleazy bar scenes in 1985. It was pretty cool, except the barbque was not good. And being that I am from Kansas City, I know good barbque. The owners are from there and that is where the bar gets its name.

The flight back wasn't as bad as it sounds. We were stuck in the airport for a couple of hours and had to keep Kaitlyn entertained. There were a couple of other toddlers who ran around with her. She was pretty loud and we had to walk around with her a lot. The plane started off bad because she was so tired, but she slept the last hour and a half killing Brandon and my's arms.

Little things to remember about the trip:
1. Kaitlyn said hi and bye to just about everyone we came into contact with in the airport, on the plane, at the beach, at the zoo.
2. Kaitlyn loved to push her stroller by herself.
3. She and mommy caught colds on the trip.
4. Kaitlyn wanted mommy on the plane and the first time in the water, but wanted daddy going deeper in the water and to play in the sand.
5. While she was supposed to be asleep in the room in the hotel, we found her standing in her crib looking out the window pointing to cars and saying "car".
6. Kaitlyn loved the stuffed lion from the zoo and wouldn't let go of it and kept roaring at the zoo.
7. She liked to make us clap our hands when others clapped.