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Sunday, July 31, 2011

Oceanside California Trip Travelog

We had such a great time in Oceanside California.  We went with the Overly Family.  Every family member was there except one which we missed you Devin (Greg's Oldest boy)
We took 211 pictures on the trip!  So I will just share some of the best to tell the story of our trip.
Saturday--Arrived to Oceanside about 5:00 pm after leaving Smithfield at 5:00 am--We had no troubles driving.  The kids were really good and we ate breakfast in the car and lunch at a Las Vegas gas station parking lot.   It was so hot in Vegas we found shade from a pole in the parking lot.  Next time we are hoping to find a good rest stop to eat at.  But you never know when you need to stop so that's where we were.
This is Mt. Soledad.  We had quite the driving adventure getting here but it was beautiful and nice view of the LDS San Diego Temple
Sunday--Went to church in Oceanside.  The ward was great and had lots of visitors.  The primary told us to come back anytime because all the kids were great.  We went on a Sunday drive to Mt. Soledad and then saw Seal at the Children's Pool in La Jolla.  We had fun climbing around on rocks on the beach and eating dinner in the park.
Beautiful View of a Seal at Children's Pool
Monday:  We spent the day on the beach.  I didn't take one picture of us on the beach because of the sand but we had so much fun.  We built an awesome sand castle with lots of cousins contributing.  We buried all the kids that wanted.  We boogie boarded and splashed around in the water.  I read in the shade.  Kids were so occupied just playing in the sand I was amazed how much fun they had.  Traeden got pretty shaken up after getting toppled by some huge waves, so he was pretty cautious about getting too far into the water.  I really wanted to get him excited about boogie boarding but no luck, maybe next time.
Tuesday:  Old Town, San Diego.  We had such a marvelous experience at the Mormon Battalion Museum.  My kids loved the tour, the movie, panning for gold, building block buildings, and riding the toy horses.
Traeden and Josh dressed to be a Battalion Member.  
Outside the Mormon Battalion with Cathy and Nathan
Tuesday night the boys went to the Padre's Baseball Game and the girls did foot massages and went out for dinner.
Wed.  Each family did their own thing.  We went to Balboa Park.  We spent most of the day in the Natural History Museum and had a great time there.  They had a great exhibit on Penguins and polar bears.  Then one on Dinosaurs that was great.  The movies we watched were fantastic.
Walk like a Penguin
That night we stayed for the Concert in the Park.  The Catallics were playing and it was great fun.  Abi and I danced and we all sang along to the oldies.  We then had dinner at Darband 5th Ave. Grill.  This was a Persian Restaurant close to Balboa Park.  It was such a cultural experience and the kids loved the food.


Thursday:  Day at the beach , Overly Family Olympics (Minute to Win It), Oceanside Sunset Market, and Bonfire on the beach.
Devin doing the orange swing-knock over bottle challenge!
Friday:  This was our travel day.  We got up and left about 8:00 am.  We had a long wait going through the customs checks.  I think they were looking for people selling drugs?  We stopped in Mesquite to mail the parking pass we forgot for the beach house.  We ate PB&J sandwiches in front of Smiths in Mesquite.  Very hot!!  Where is that nice rest stop we were going to stop at?  =)
Sitting on a bench in front of Smiths eating lunch
We had a great time and the best was the memories created for the kids being with cousins.  They had such a great time being with family and those memories are priceless.
For more pictures of our trip you can visit our picasa website.
Hope the link works!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Swim Lessons

Abi's teacher told us she had never seen such a young child so fearless of the water.  She is a fish.

Samantha is great on her back.  She is working on getting brave to put her face in.
Conrad Jumping backwards during free time at Swimming lessons.


Traeden is getting to be quite a good swimmer

It been a great summer so far and busy.  I can't believe I haven't even posted once about anything we have done.  What can I say, it's been busy.  I'll get some more later, got to go to choir practice.