Okay, let’s be honest.  Raising small children can be tough.  And traveling with said children, particularly when planes and long distances are involved, is downright ridiculous.  One might even say crazy.  But you know what?  It’s all worth it when your destination is…

SAN DIEGO!

My hometown.  My happy place.

Determined to soak up a little lovely weather and beautiful scenery before the end of summer, we packed our bags in August for two weeks in sunny SD (which, admittedly, was a wee bit difficult when certain Little Stow-aways kept stalling my efforts).

No surprise, the trip out west was long, stressful, and exhausting.  But we made it!  And then we crammed our days with as much outdoor fun as possible with our Little Miss and Mister.

We went to the beach (a lot!).  Let’s just say I’m not the only one in the family who loves the Pacific.

 

We checked out the local wildlife.  Betcha didn’t know San Diego has a cove dedicated solely to sea lions!

We also said “hello” to all of the animals at the zoo (in our own special ways).

I’m not a big fan of bugs, but the ones at the zoo were particularly interesting…and cute!

We visited with lots of great friends, including Peggy (my second Mom), Kelly (childhood pal and publisher extraordinaire),

AND the Little Missy’s amazing Godparents, Martha and Jeff!  They traveled from Tucson to spend a few days with us, and we loved getting to see them!

We also visited with my oldest and dearest friend, Kristy, and her sweet boys.  Kristy and I joke that we have been pals “since the womb” because our moms first met at lamaze class.  She’s one of the best mommies I know!

We got our sillies out on the rides at Balboa and Belmont Parks.

And we made sure to play everyone’s favorite game of “how many child-sized rides can we squeeze prego Mama into?!”

“Steer Mama!”
“Yes Ma’am.”

Thanks to the fabulous hosting of Nena and Pops Plaxico, it was a fun two weeks.  We love you both so much!  And we love San Diego!

Now to figure out how to dump the plane and teleport the family for our next big adventure…