California Take 2- Evans

Well after we bade farewell to my family, they headed home and we drove 2 miles north to meet up with the Evans and start THEIR vacation! It was nice adding on a few extra days to our trip, but not so nice packing up all our stuff just to unpack it again. And this time, Trav was a veritable pack horse, lugging EVERYTHING up to our 6th floor room at the hotel. We stayed at the Wyndham right across from the pier in Oceanside. It was a two bedroom suite type place that we shared with Reddin and Karen's family. The M&M's and Neus' stayed across the hall from us. Trav's parents and Gretchen, Trevor and Aubrey were in another hotel. 

Right after we unloaded and put Olive down for a nap to be watched by Grandma, we walked down to Mary's for a late breakfast. Didn't disappoint!

There were lots of pros and cons when comparing the beach house to the Wyndham. One big con about the latter was the beach situation. We were on public beach, in a popular, crowded area. That Saturday seemed especially crazy! People everywhere! And certainly a wide mix of "types" of people. Maybe a bit more on the trashy side, if you will. Still, it was the beach, and I was grateful to be there! Olive was still sleeping when we got back from brunch, so Trav stayed with her and I went down with the boys. That was another con... not being able to put the baby down for a nap in the house and still be on the beach. I hauled two beach chairs, the huge duffel of toys, and our beach bag of towels down. Luckily, Collin was able to hold the boogie board. 

Aunt Aubrey sure was nice to play ball with Weston! Both their favorites I think! :)

Baby Elinor was only 7 weeks old. Megan was a trooper to come! Travis commented to me at one point how different my sisters in law are from my sisters. Me and my sisters revel in the sun! My sisters in law hide from it. ;)

We got Johnny Mananas for dinner that night, and then Reddin, Karen, Trav and I walked down the street to get some really yummy frozen yogurt. That was a pro to this location! We could easily walk to many restaurants. Then we played Lucky Unders with them and Trevor, Gretchen and Aubrey. 

The next morning we all met at the Oceanside 1st ward for sacrament meeting. I didn't get a picture, but sitting a few rows in front of us were the entire LeSeueur family! Again... you can't run from Mesa! ;)

Right after church we drove straight into San Diego. It's crazy to me how the I-5 is packed any day, any time. It started pouring rain and took us nearly an hour. All the kids fell fast asleep! Karen had told us about this place called the Donut Bar that is supposed to be crazy good and popular, so we were going to meet there for a healthy lunch. ;) Well, popular is right! It was sold out at 11am! The whole front of the shop was plastered in awards. I guess it's supposed to be the 6th best place in the country for donuts. Whoever decides that! We were bummed to miss out, but our next stop was the Crest Cafe. 6 months ago we were watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and saw this place featured. So, knowing we'd be in San Diego this weekend, I put an alert in my phone to remind us to eat there. Hehe. Well it worked! No way I'd have remembered otherwise.

I regret what I ordered. The Cubana. A bit too much meat for me. Should have gotten the Butter Burger like Trav. Collin and Weston shared the Creme Brulee French Toast. Theirs was yummy too!

Oops, got everyone with full mouths!

From there, we met up with everyone else at the temple and walk around the gardens. It was mating season for snails or something because they were out in abundance!

I noticed Matthew's scar for the first time! We have our own Harry Potter!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole week. Just a moment in time to remember how blessed I am with this sweet family of mine. Let me add to that ... this forever family!

 

This picture captures her luscious cheeks so well!

Next we visited the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center and had such a good time! I had heard how awesome it was, but had no idea how modern and interactive everything was.

We went on a tour that started Harry Potter style... with moving and talking pictures on the wall. I almost felt dumb with how amazed I was. It was like something you'd expect to see at Disneyland!

You move from room to room, watching a movie about the Mormon Battalion and learning facts from the missionaries. The boys stayed pretty entertained. At the end, I found my ancestor and brother's name sake on the roster! By the end, I also turned to Travis and said, "I lied. I do NOT wish I was a pioneer!" They had such difficult lives!

Outside they had a pump to try, a "brick kiln" to practice making bricks in, and a little river to pan for gold!

Monday morning we tried out the hotel's hot tub and pool. Olive took a really long morning nap so I got some quiet time watching TV while everyone else was at the beach. After she woke up, I snagged Johnny's for lunch for the last time (shed a tear) and headed to the beach. Wayne had come up to the hotel right after Olive woke up and offered to stay with her for a while, so we could be at the beach without her. Fabulous! She is not at a great age for the beach! Lots of whining and eating sand.

When Travis brought her down for the last hour of the day, we didn't have any swim diapers, so she went commando. Haha. Her bum cheeks were cracking me up!

That night, we split up the kids and put the babies to bed and the oldest granddaughters watched the rest them while us adults went out. I was a little apprehensive at first, but with locked doors and a movie and popcorn to occupy them, it shouldn't have been very hard to hold down the fort. Everyone else wanted Ruby's, but we were feeling like sushi, Specifically, Miso Harney, sushi up the street. Yes, I'm dead serious. We ordered the Flaming Lip and the Miso Harney roll. We called it in, so I had the pleasure of choking on that phrase to the waitress. ;) It was worth it. We picked it up and walked down to the pier to eat with some of his siblings. The wait at Ruby's was pretty long.

The next morning was pack up and go time! I had to run into The Closet one more time, then we stopped in to Phil's for lunch before really hitting the road. Collin was all over the chicken wing. The M&M's met us there.

We didn't want to drive all the way to Gallup in one day, so we spent the night in Mesa and got some errands done on Wednesday. That included school shopping for Collin! I was SO excited for this! Then we spent 10 min. in Target and my hopes were dashed. We walked through the shoe department and Collin exclaimed, "MOM! Go back so I can show you what shoes I want!" To which he held up these beauties. 

*Should slump*

I tried to explain, "Um, Collin, those are girls shoes."

"But I LIKE SOPHIA!", he wailed!!

*Face palm*

From there it was tantrums over all the most hideous clothes, hats, watches, what have you, in the boys department. Taking kids shopping is the PITS! :) For the record, I did let him get an Avenger back pack and a pretty terrible Batman shirt!

And then I had to take Weston afterward so he didn't feel so left out.

After shopping, Shelley came over to give me a much needed trim (1 1/2 years in the making!!) and we snuck one final swim in with our cousins! I will miss the glorious sun!

This is what Olive looked like when we finally pulled into the driveway. It will be nice to move her into a forward facing car seat soon!