The Christmas after my mom passed away, 2011, my dad announced that we were going to go on a trip to San Diego for our Christmas presents that year and the next. At the time, a vacation 15 months away seemed so far, but soon the time was at hand. And we were excited!
There were 22 of us in our group: My dad, Kent; my sister, Aimee and her family, Matt, Tyler, Aubree, Marcus & Caleb; my brother, Mike and his family, Karyn, Jessica, Michael, John & Grace; my brother, Isaac and his family, Candalyn & Adair; and my family, me, Tom, Lily, Jeff, Cedric & Sophie.
We loaded out at 9:00am for the drive. The kids were good, other than the "are we there yet?" coming often from a certain child.
Sophie had her own DVD player which was often showing "Yo Gabba Gabba" and "Blue's Clues", her two favorite shows. With that, snacks and Ipods, she was good too.
We stopped in Beaver for lunch, where Jeff lost his first tooth!
We made it to Las Vegas, where we stayed in a hotel for the night. It was in the mid-80's when we got there and it felt so hot! So the first thing we did was go swimming in the pool.
These three loved it!
And Sophie loved it too... until she actually touched the water.
That night we ate at a buffet.
That night, Lily got to sleep over with her cousin, Grace in her parents room.
While in our room it was Sophie, Cedric, Jeff, Tom and I.
The next morning we got up and headed out. We stopped at Barstow Station for lunch. Sophie kept going up to a stranger close by and giving her hugs. This is so not like Sophie, but it totally made the lady's day!
Then arrived in Oceanside, where our home-away-from-home was located. We stayed in some really cute condos, each family had their own unit. And we were right on the beach!
Here is the back of our unit.
And the front went out to a gorgeous complex.
This was the view from our backyard.
And this was our front yard. A little golf course. The kids had fun playing golf and ping pong a lot on the trip.
Inside, the three oldest shared a room. The boys in one bed, and Lily in the other. They thought it was neat to have a TV in their room too.
Sophie slept in an antique playpen in the master bedroom with Tom and I.
The condo had a nice family room, dining and kitchen area too.
That night, we walked over to a seafood restaurant. We ate out on the deck. Although it was a bit cold, the food was good. I, of course, didn't get any seafood, but Sophie had her first taste of fish and liked it.
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