It was September.

We were just settling into our new house, school was in full swing, fall activities were kicking off, the Hub’s workload was pumping…the family calendar was FULL.

What better time for a 3 week sojourn to San Diego?!?

Yep, that’s what we thought – GNARLY!

The timing of the trip was actually due to a very big, very fun, very SURPRISING event (as in Surprise Party) that we were planning to throw for Pops Plaxico’s 70th birthday.  A birthday which, as it so happens, occurs on September 29 every single year.  Imagine that!

But more on the party later.

So we put all of our “regular” life plans on hold, hopped a plane (with as much technology and fruit snacks as our bags could carry…just ask the poor TSA Agent-In-Training at the airport who swiped EACH FRUIT SNACK one by one by one…) and were SAN DIEGO BOUND!

Crazy eyes and all.

We arrived!

Gnarly to the MAX!

Well, maybe except for this part.

This was happening on the road outside of the Plaxico Homestead.  All.Trip.Long.

We’re talking 3 weeks of “BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-DRILLLLLL-BANG!!!!”  It was a lot.  And alarming.  And annoying.  And a-LOUD.  But the boys thought it was cool.

Before all of the rest of the Plaxicos and Garechts arrived for the big birthday shindig, our family (plus the unsuspecting Pops) had 1 1/2 weeks to kick back and enjoy all of our favorite SD haunts.  And enjoy we did!

We kicked off our vacation spending time with our sweet buds, the Mugford Family!

We may live 3,000 miles away from each other now, but our Little Jokers jumped back together as if they had never been apart.

Just at Cheech and Chong.

We even got to visit the Miramar Airshow together!

Then our family spent the rest of our time…

At Mission Bay and our Favorite Parks 

At the Beach and La Jolla Cove

This particular beach visit was somewhat frigid, so the Littles lasted for a bit…

And then came in for a cuddle.

Aren’t those freckles just scrumptious?  Well, until the owner of said freckles starts emitting his “boy smells.”  Then you want to flee from him AS FAST AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.  But until then, he’s pretty darn sweet.

At Sea World (First Time for the Littles!)

This day was hot.

Like melt-in-your-pants hot.

But that didn’t stop us.  Polar exhibit to the rescue!

We even captured a moment of what the Mikers looks like in the morning before his coffee…

Not me.  No siree.  I’m Miss Susie Sunshine all the live long day.

Tra la la la la.

Well, that is until you stick me with a verbally contentious three-year-old on a spinning ride that makes me want to toss my cookies all over said whippersnapper and said ride.  Then, not so much.

It’s all for the kids, baby.  It’s all for the kids.

Sidenote… The Little Sir was absent from the latter half of the Sea World fun, and much of the beach fun thereafter.  This was because during our stay the Little Sir (and his Regretful Collaborator, Pops) managed to do this:

I give you The Gardening Disaster of 2017

Or, Flower Pot-calypse

Or, Little Sir Got Run Over by a Sidewalk

All amounting to 1 Urgent Care visit, 2 ER stays, 4 rounds of x-rays, 2 broken bones, 2 casts, 2 bloody teeth, and 1 fat lip.  Oh, and a lovely medical bill dolloped on the top.  It was fun.  Except the opposite.

Having another week in San Diego (the land of water and sand, which are 2 “No-Nos!” for casts) ahead of us, we whined a bit (or a lot), bought the best cast cover we could find, and then persevered.

Yay.

This was the scene of the crime…pre-injury.  When all of our thoughts were of sunshine and rainbows.  (And construction vehicles.)

Tra la la la la.  BEEP!  DRILL!!  RUMBLE!!!

But I digress.  Back to the enjoyment part.

We also had a great visit to Cabrillo National Monument

As a History Nerd and a Homeschool Mama, this outing was a particular highlight for moi.  (Just ask the Littles to sing the jingle I made up for them to remember fun facts about Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the first European explorer to land in California…Pure child-embarrassment-inducing GOLD!)

Gnarly.

(Broken-arm-excluded.)

Next up, the Surprise Birthday Party for Pops and Aunt Ashley!