San Diego

The weekend before Thanksgiving we took a family vacation to San Diego. The main purpose of the trip was to take Emma and Derrick to Legoland. We had coupon for them to get in free that expired at the end of the year. I was starting to worry because the weather called for rain everyday we were there. But thank goodness, Friday was just cloudy. We had a few sprinkles while we were at Legoland, but nothing too bad. The kids had a fun time at the park, but I don't think I would ever pay full price to take them back. We were done in about 5 hours, and for an amusement park, that's pretty fast. There was hardly anyone there, so we pretty much just walked right on to any ride we wanted. Seeing all the cities built out of legos was impressive and the kids liked the 4D Bob the Builder show. They also really liked the huge wooden play structure in the middle of the park. There were slides and ropes and tunnels. They played in there for quite awhile. Derrick also loved making his own lego race car and racing on the track to see how fast it could go. It was a fun day and I'm glad we experienced it!
The 2nd day the rain really started to come down hard. We had plans to go to the USS Midway which is the aircraft carrier right in downtown San Diego. They were having a family day and a Toys for Tots drive. So, we took our toys and got in for free. Derrick loved seeing the jets! Emma was just tall enough to go in the flight simulator with Jon. I could hear her screaming the whole time, but she said she had fun! The kids loved getting free goody bags from all the different vendors and of course, they loved the bounce house!
After the USS Midway we went back to the hotel to change because the kids pants were wet up to their knees. Then we went to the Model Train Museum in Balboa Park. This was heaven for Derrick. He loved watching all the trains go around the huge tracks. Emma even enjoyed herself, despite her complaining that we were only do boy things! :) We thought about going to another museum, but decided to go to Coronado and get some ice cream and see the hotel. And the kids were really exited to go over the big bridge! After Coronado we shopped at Seaport Village until the rain came again, and we called it a day.
On Sunday we drove to the beach in La Jolla that has all the seals on it. But it was so cold and rainy we stayed for about 5 minutes and decided just to head home.
Jon's part on the trip was to pick the places to eat. Being a Food Network junkie he had all sorts of ideas of where he wanted to go. Most of them were pretty good. I think he was most happy with his swordfish sandwich, which I wouldn't even touch! :)
The one downside to our trip was our hotel. I booked it on priceline and got a great deal for the Holiday Inn right downtown across from the cruise port. But being right downtown we were right next to the train tracks. All we heard all night was the loud and obnoxious train whistle. It blew it's whistle at every intersection and shook our entire hotel! The 2nd night we bought some earplugs and it helped, but you could still hear it. The kids actually slept right through it, thank goodness because cranky parents AND cranky kids are no way to spend a vacation! :)
We had a fun trip even though the rain and the train tried to ruin it. I am hoping we will be going back in April with the Clark Family. That will be a really great trip and we are looking forward to it!