Tuesday, February 23, 2016

San Diego Vacation Day 6 & 7 Chinese New Year Festival, La Jolla, Beach Play

Sunday was Valentines Day. I had brought the kids some fun little tins with chocolates in them and Grandma gave them each a little valentine. We didn't really have anything else special planned. Kyle went for a run that morning and got a photo of the cool statue a block north of our condo.
IMG_1109

We spend the morning downtown attending the Chinese New Year festival that was a few blocks from my brother's apartment in the GasLamp Quarter.
IMG_0836

It was another warm day. We were really lucking out on the weather! The week or so before we came it had been so rainy and dreary. We were so thankful for the hot sun and warmth on our Minnesota skin! Emma is a natural California girl :-P
IMG_0838

IMG_0840

They had kid crafts set up at the festival so that was fun for Isaac and Christina to do
IMG_0842

IMG_0843

IMG_0846

Selfie stick in action!
IMG_0849

Isaac was very fond of Christina and they were BFFs!
IMG_0851

We took a little walk through the Marriott Marquis hotel pool area to cut through to get to Joe's Crab shack on the San Diego bay for lunch. Pulled out the selfie stick again :-)
IMG_0855

IMG_0857

IMG_0858

It's been a long time since we've had crab legs. Not really the friendliest food when you already spend most meals feeding other humans.... no time to crack and feed yourself. Oh and if they were to get a taste of it they we'd end up cracking our portion for them... so we haven't even attempted it with the kids. But we used to have a tradition of Valentine's Day crab legs. Our first Valentine's together 10 years ago (WOW I just realized it was ten years ago!) we bought crab legs and cooked them at Kyle's college apartment, with a crappy glass of wine with a monkey on it which I think we still have the bottle because I can't throw things out like that.
IMG_0859

We got these goofy bibs and the kids dove into their mac 'n cheese and you can see from Mary's face.
IMG_0860

After lunch we walked back over to Josh's apartment. In hopes the girls would nap in the stroller... they were very relaxed and not complaining so at least that was good, but no nap. Here is Josh's view
IMG_0861

IMG_0863

Since they wouldn't nap we decided to take that drive up to La Jolla Cove to see the seals. It's about a half hour drive from downtown. We didn't hit any traffic until we exited into La Jolla and boy was there a traffic jam. Luckily the babies were snoozing away so we were in no rush. We finally made it down to the cove and there was no parking. We circled around the area and found a 3 minute loading spot near the edge... Kyle hopped out to see if he could see the seals. When there was confirmation he ran back to grab Isaac and they went for a little peek.
IMG_1111

So they at least saw what we came for and we continued to drive around a little bit. After the day before's drive to Newport Beach and back we had spent quite a lot of time in the car. We debated about just heading back to the condo but Isaac really wanted to stay so we found a parking spot and reunited with Josh.
IMG_0865

We picked up some much needed Starbucks and walked down to the cove area. We were up on the hill, Prospect Street it's called but we found a cut through of about 4 flights of stairs down to the park. We made our way over to the seals. It was so crazy how they just laid there sleeping with all these people watching them. And boy were they stinky!!
IMG_0869

IMG_0873

IMG_0874

The waves were gorgeous.
IMG_0878

 IMG_0880

The kids got to run around and play in the grass, which was so good for them! They needed to burn some energy and move their legs!
IMG_0882

We taught them ring around the rosie, they played tag, and we waved at airplanes. Mary now says "buh bye! buh bye!" anytime she see's a plane in the sky.
IMG_0883

Emma giving Grandma hugs
IMG_0886

Time to head back to the van and make our way south to the condo.
IMG_0887

Arriving in Imperial Beach on Palm St. Isaac is reading now and would yell "Palm! Palm Street! Like Palm Tree! Palm Tree Street, that is where we are!" <3 p="">IMG_0889

We took a quick jog to the south end of the street we were staying on: Seacoast Drive. It dead ends into Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge an Estuarine Research Reserve.

This was at the pier, when we were there before all the festival booths were blocking the pier sign. So I got a better shot as we drove by.
IMG_0892

Once we got home we fed the kids some left overs and Josh came back over with some tacos. Him and his fiance and Kyle and I were able to go have a picnic on the beach after I got the girls to bed. Isaac and Christina stayed up playing with grandma. It was a nice way to end Valentine's Day having wine, cheese & olives, and tacos under the moonlight.

Monday we planned to keep it low key. Josh was off work due to President's Day. We headed down to the beach to see low tide and apparently were the only ones there. It did start to have more people after we left and later throughout the day. When you're kids are ingrained on central time it's an early morning on the west coast!
IMG_1115

IMG_0899

Lots of sand play and shell finding. We were finding lots of clam shells, scallops, quahogs, semeles, venuses and a few sand dollars. I was really wanting to find spiral or conchs. We asked Josh if there was another good place to find shells and he actually said he was surprised how many shells we had been finding here on Imperial Beach. Mom found a live clam. We kept him for a bit to show everyone then threw him back in.IMG_4298


IMG_4300

Emma loved to pick up the tiniest perfectest shells. It was so cute how proud she was.
IMG_4304

IMG_4306

Then Kyle found this cool shell with a live animal in it. We had looked it up in mom's shell book later that night but couldn't land on what it was. I just did some googling and I think maybe it's some type of tectus niloticus.
IMG_4307

IMG_4309

IMG_4310

IMG_4312

IMG_4313

IMG_4314

Mary loved the sand!
IMG_4315

IMG_4316

IMG_4318

IMG_4320

IMG_4321

IMG_4323

Josh enjoyed playing frisbee
IMG_4324

So the sand toys were all 99 cent store finds. I couldn't find a bucket at first so I found some shovels that were actually in the pet section and were dog food scoops (they worked the best, ended up getting a second one when I went back for the glasses) I found this funnel in the automotive section. I finally came across the bucket and little yellow shovel that first visit. Of course the bucket and shovel broke during the first use, but held us over well.
IMG_4327

IMG_4330

IMG_4332

Eating snack with a side of sand.
IMG_4334

IMG_4335

IMG_4337

IMG_4336

The girls were getting sleepy so we ordered Thai take out and brought it back to the condo. Put the girls down for a nap, which they ended up sleeping a couple hours if I remember right. Kyle, Isaac, and I chilled at the condo while Josh and Mom went up the silver strand to Fiddler's Cove where Josh rents a sailboat. Josh took my mom out on the boat for a quick sail. Oh they also drove a little south on a different road and explored the national reserve area before the Mexico border.

Once the girls woke up and they returned we loaded up and drove north a bit back to coronado beach. That beach was so soft it was fun to wiggle our toes in. We didn't wear swimsuits because we just planned on it being a quick visit before dinner time. I had fun writing in the sand
IMG_0907

IMG_0906

IMG_0909

IMG_0910

IMG_4338

IMG_4341

IMG_4344

IMG_4346

IMG_4348

Mary had a little taste of the sand for herself
IMG_4353

The walk back to the van was a little farther than our home beach, but the girls enjoyed the trek. Emma had her hands full but refused assistance.
IMG_0913

We had dinner down the road on Orange Street in Coronado at a yummy Mexican place. Then headed back to the condo.

The day ended with baths. Emma had fallen the first night in the tub and bit her tongue. So since then she fought bath time every night. She was a quick, in-wash-and-out, then would watch Isaac and Mary play from afar.
IMG_0918

No comments:

All images are copyright of Daisy Simpson. It is unlawful and illegal to copy, scan, alter or edit the images in any way. This depreciates the photos value as well as my reputation, I take great care in capturing and editing each image and they are each important to me. Thank you for respecting my passion and my copyright.