Day Four: Mormon Battalion Museum

 Tuesday morning we walked down the beach to a playground overlooking the ocean.  Even with carrying a sleeping Lainey, we made it back home!  After lunch, we headed to Old Town San Diego to the Mormon Battalion Museum.  We walked in and right into my mom's close friend.  That was a crazy coincidence.  We enjoyed the tour.  On the way out, the tour guide stopped me and said, "You have a lot of kids really close together.  Are you doing okay?  You are brave to come on vacation at all!"  I always appreciate a little sympathy.  ;)  On the topic, here in Utah, when I'm out with my five kids, I get looks that say, "I've been there" or at least "I'm glad that's not my kid screaming".  Out in California, I got looks of awe and sometimes even annoyance, like, "All those kids belong to them!  Why would anyone do that?"  Yep, we're just a little crazy, I know it, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  Take that, California.   

The Museum has a guided tour and then an activity area.  The kids enjoyed panning for gold:

It was a fun, relaxing place to be.  And we gained a new appreciation for the Mormon Battalion.  Oh, and we discovered that Nick takes after his great-great-something Grandfather:

Don't you think?

Day Three: More Beach

 On Monday, Nick and I started the day with a run along the beach (the best kind):

 Yep, we are all sweaty and gross.  But seriously, I got to run with my husband!  When does that ever happen?  Thanks to my sis who hung out with the littles and made this possible.

We did some grocery shopping and then spent the gorgeous, perfect day in the sand and sea:

Daisy chilling in the shade tent:

 Yep, she's cute.  :)

Day Two: The BEACH!

 Sunday morning we leisurely enjoyed a hotel breakfast and packed up and headed on down the road.  We listened to General Conference as we went (on Saturday too).  It was a nice way to drive.  We stopped in Victorville at a park for a picnic lunch.  We made two other emergency potty breaks on the side of the road (what was in that hotel breakfast?), endured Daisy's screaming (poor dear thought she was dying from starvation) and made it to Del Mar just in time for the sunset over the ocean:

 The kids wasted no time, and jumped right into the water, clothes and all:

 I was very impressed with our girls.  Last year when we went to the ocean, they were very cautious, barely sticking their toes in.  However, this time around, they showed no fear, they were out there jumping the waves and boogie boarding and just loving it.  It helped that they had a 'big' cousin there that also loved the water.  Everett, on the other hand, is still a big chicken. ;)

We settled into our condo, which was pretty much just across the street from the sand.

Day One: Las Vegas

 Saturday, October 5 we headed out, my sister and her two kids caravaning along with us.  We stopped in Beaver for squeaky cheese, Cedar City for lunch, and St. George for gas, making our final destination for the day a hotel in Vegas.  The kids traveled well.  I was nervous about Daisy.  She doesn't like her carseat very much at all.  But, surprisingly, she made it just fine, as did the rest of us.  Hooray!  

We made sure we had plenty of time for the kids to enjoy the pool: 

 Look, Daisy and I were there too:

 Everett thought this hotel was the coolest ever because it was right across the street from the airport and we could watch all the planes landing.  Every time he would hear one (about every 6 minutes) he would jump out of the pool and run to the fence.  He was so serious about this business, it was pretty funny to watch.

We finished our day off with takeout Chinese food in our hotel room.

The Party

 The last week and a half has been just plain awesome.  We've celebrated two birthdays and enjoyed a week long family vacation.
It all started with a party on Friday, Oct. 4.

Nick had a big milestone birthday and he really wanted to celebrate with a bang.  We invited families and friends old and new to have dinner at our house.  Because we knew we'd be gone for Lu's birthday as well, we opened presents that evening:

Dad opened presents too.  We got a kick out of Ellie's wrapping job:

 We had a good time, and hope that our guests did too.  We had yummy food, cotton candy, face painting, balloons, trivia game, and a slideshow.  Not to mention great company. 

Thanks to all who came and celebrated Nick's "big one".  :)

Sunday Mornings

 The one nice thing about having church at 1pm is having a leisurely Sunday morning.

Nick's gonna be so happy I posted this one, but I just love so many things about it.  You can't sit down in this house without two or three kids climbing on you.  And, I love Nick's balding head.  ;)  Daisy has a (half) bald head too, if that makes him feel any better.

 Over the weekend we harvested all of our squash.  The kids were delighted to find all of these:

Yeah for Fall!

Going On

 Here's a little update on our family.

Warm popsicle days are drawing to an end, I'm afraid.  This is the "I just woke up from a nap" face from Lu.

 Maren makes me laugh.  She used lip gloss as makeup to look like this:

She did a fairly good job on that one eye.

The girls painted gourds with their Grandpa and really wanted a second go.  Isn't this one cool looking?

 And what's a post without photos of this munchkin?

 She rewards most people who stop to talk to her with a huge 'ol grin.

 I get lots of comments about her big blue eyes, and her long eyelashes.  You can see them in this photo:

 My girls wanted me to take a photo of their Barbies because "they look so cute!"  Personally, I think those two ragamuffins are cuter.