San Diego Vacation Day 1 and 2

It's probably going to take me a few days (or weeks) to get all our vacation pictures blogged. Hopefully I can consistently get to it this week.

Tuesday was pretty much a full day of travel. We allowed LOTS of extra time because we knew it would take a while given all our luggage and kids in tow. We arrived at the airport and curb checked our one checked bag and three car seats. That left us with three carry ons and a stroller in tow. Kyle left to drop the van at offside parking while we roamed around the ticket area. 

Once we reunited with Kyle it was kinda of a cluster. In the time that he was gone the security line got really long. We checked with a staff person and she said I could go to the precheck line but Kyle and Isaac had to go through regulary security. We went to the precheck line and she said we all had to go through regular secruity. So after a few line hopping and finally taking a look at our tickets we noticed my ticket did say precheck but Kyle's didn't. Since it would be easier to do precheck with the girls I left their line and went back to precheck. The line moved fast but once I got up to the TSA agent she wouldn't let me through without a ticket for baby #2. My ticket said infant in arms and Kyle's ticket said infant in arms... but since Kyle was in a different line and I had both babies she wouldn't let me through. But she did say once I go get his boarding pass she'd let me cut back inline to go through. I went back to the lady at the regular line and presented her with my problem in an attempt to somehow get Kyle's ticket. She suggested to just go to the desk and have a second ticket printed since there was no one at the check in desk. Problem solved! Got a second ticket for baby #2 and was able to cut back into line. Didn't have to take my shoes off but I did have to get the girls out of the stroller, fold the stroller up and put it through the xray machine and get myself and the girls all through the metal detector separately. Luckily there was a nice man behind me and nice TSA agent to help wrangle bodies. 

Once through I stopped to get a coffee and fruit for the girls while we waiting on Kyle and Isaac to make it through the security line. Then we headed toward our gate. Picked up a snack for Isaac and I think we went to the bathroom I can't remember. Anyway once we made it to our gate EVERYONE was already loaded! So we hurried up and packed away the stroller, got the items we wanted readily available and hopped onboard! Whew!

And yes it was a full flight (both trips were) so no luck in getting to set one of the girls off our laps. 

We did switch back and forth though

They all did great! Isaac of course was not a problem at all

Once we landed we got all our luggage from baggage claim. Which by the time we got there they were already moving it over to the unclaimed baggage area! Then we hopped on the shuttle to retrieve our rental van. That was a workout hauling all that luggage! Kyle even had bruise marks the following day from the bag straps. The kids were so happy to be off the plane and seeing the sights. The girls loved looking out the bus window as we went. 

When we got the van we installed the car seats then headed north to pick up some pack'n'plays from Del Mar. I have an amazing group of moms here in my area and one fellow mom of multiples had a father in the San Diego area. She had pack'n'plays stored at his house for when they travel. She loaned them to us for our visit, which was amazing because it was one less thing to pack!!! We arrived at the house but no one was home. It was little game of phone tag, so we went ahead and grabbed lunch. We picked up some amazing tacos! 

 

We got in contact while we were stopped to eat, so it worked out perfectly because we were still down the road. We went back to her father's house and picked up the pack'n'plays! Now back south to Imperial Beach (it was about an 1.5 drive from Del Mar, not too bad with no traffic). We stopped to pick up groceries and sand toys once we were off the freeway near Imperial Beach. 

Once we got through the check in ordeal at the condo and unloaded the van, Uncle Josh came to visit. We headed down to the beach just in time to catch the sunset. 

Once the sun was down we went back to the condo to clean up then walked down to the local bar restaurant that was in the condo complex for a late dinner. 

View from our condo on the first night.

The next morning we woke up and Kyle spotted a seal swimming close to the shore right outside our window!! We didn't realize how lucky that sighting was because we didn't see anything that close the rest of the trip.


And I got some photos of the beautiful scenery.




When you're limited on toys, oranges will do!

We had breakfast at the condo then walked down along the beach

We played at the local playground then headed toward the pier. 

It was 9:30 and Mary was already ready for a nap. 

We headed back to the condo and we did eventually get the girls to nap. Mary figured out how to climb out of the pack'n'play on day one....


After nap we went back to the beach for some sand play








Emma's got a bandaid on her battle scar from the trip on the pier earlier












We went back up to the condo to clean up and hop in the pool before Josh arrived with Grandma Judy from the airport.


As we were in the condo waiting for Josh, Kyle noticed these helicopters out the window carrying weird ropes. Once we investigated more with the binoculars we realized it was four humans hanging from the rope. I quickly grabbed my camera to get a photo, before running down to let Josh in at the locked condo gate. They were gone when I got back. Must have been doing some kind of training.


We came back up to the condo to get grandma unpacked then we loaded the girls on our backs and walked down to the beach to see the beautiful sunset on day two






We then walked over to the little Thai place that was across the street from our condo. Luckily there was lots of good eating in walking distance to us, which helped. The girls didn't really have a good place to eat in the condo so it was helpful to eat out and have them sitting in high chairs. 

Burrito Bowl Jar Salad

I wanted to share a recent recipe we made this past weekend. Mason jar salad's are all the hype right now, as they should be; they are amazing! With a little time and effort put forth on Sundays, Kyle and I have at least two lunches accounted for during the week. Saves so much time later on as we can just grab a jar from the fridge and go. And since we are following the 21 day fix clean eating plan, I like to mark the top of my jar lids with a little sticker to remind us the container count.

I originally found this recipe on Strictly Delicious, but I needed to make some modifications and additions to make it how I wanted and to figure out a correct fix container count.



The fix count ends up being 1 yellow, 1 red, 1 green, 1/2 blue, and 1 spoon.

I don't know about you but we haven't been to chipotle in quite a while after all the E.Coli scares and people getting sick. Which is sad because it was one of our favorite places to eat. This doesn't excatly taste like a Chipotle burrito bowl, but it's pretty darn good and healthy for you!

Makes 5 mason jar salads

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa (you'll have left overs, just set aside and eat another day, 1/2 cup will count as a yellow)
3 tablespoons lime juice
3/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided
1 large sweet potato (I used two small ones, but had left overs - these also count as a yellow)
1 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
5 Tbsp plain lowfat greek yogurt
3/4 cup shredded cheese (we used cheddar)
3 3/4 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1 cup chopped tomatoes
4 cups chopped lettuce (we used a spring mix blend with kale added)

Instructions
Make quinoa and sweet potatoes a head of time; these need to cool.

• In small pot on stove-top cook quinoa and 2 cups water, bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Once cooled add lime juice and about 1/4-1/2 cup cilantro. 
• Cut up sweet potatoes into small chunks (I love using my vidalia chopper for this!). Head the coconut oil in skillet, add potatoes once hot and brown on all sides. Once brown, reduce heat and cover. Let cook until sweet potatoes are soft, set aside to cool.  

Now comes the fun part! Assembling the jar salads!


Layer salads in this order; this is for one jar, repeat with remaining four jars. I liked to use matching jars I have that were originally jarred peaches from Costco.

• 1 Tablespoon of Greek yogurt (if you haven't made the switch from sour cream to Greek yogurt, DO IT! Tastes just the same and there are so many more uses for Greek yogurt. We haven't bought sour cream in months and don't plan to.)
• 2 Tablespoons of your cooked/cooled sweet potatoes
• 4 Tablespoons of the prepared quinoa
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons shredded cheese (or half a blue container per jar)
• 3/4 cup cooked, chopped chicken (or full red container per jar - I like to use pre-cooked chicken from Costco, see below)
• 2 Tablespoons chopped tomatoes
• 3/4-1 cup lettuce to top off the jar
• Sprinkle some of the remaining cilantro on top before screwing on the lid. 

Place in fridge, til ready to eat. If it's just you, you have lunch for the week!!! Kyle and I share these so it gets about half our lunches planned for the week. You could try and eat it out of the jar, but I prefer to dump it on a plate so I can mix it all together better.

The chicken I like to use is packaged grilled chicken, with little to no additives; also from Costco. I used to love the packaged rotisserie chicken there, but it is rather salty so I opted for this cleaner version:

Saturday MN Zoo visit

Last weekend we made a trip down to the zoo. Our membership expires soon so we are trying to squeeze in some last visits. We plan to take a break from the zoo and explore our other memberships. 

I packed my selfie stick so I could get some family photos. Well Isaac of course didn't want to participate. 

Thought it was cool I got a photo of this monkey just chillin near the window.... Until I realized he was sitting there with his red rocket out.... Ewww. 

Emma loves the selfie stick. 

It's crazy that we have been there so many times yet we are still seeing new animals. This one was new to us, he was sleeping and I can't remember what he was. There are so many animals tucked here and there on the tropics trail. 

The red panda was pretty comfy snoozing away. 

We had packed a lunch and left after we ate. Kyle and I had some really good mason jar salads and the kids had PB and graham crackers and fruit. Makes it easy to bring our own food when there is no good food there haha. 

What about the honey? 21 Day Fix Extreme

No matter how thorough you read the materials, there are still questions that come up. When I started the 21 day fix extreme I was learning it all a little backwards. Since I started with the extreme version there were some holes. I understood a lot more when I went back and read the basics first and then realized how the extreme version differs.

The biggest question that I had was about HONEY! Agave included in this honey talk. The (extreme) booklet states it is not allowed when sweetening coffee however it can be found in recipes and Autumn herself even talks about adding it to her oatmeal while doing the extreme fix herself. What's up with that?!?

In the regular fix you can find it mentioned on page 15 of your booklet when it states 1-2 tsps can be used to sweeten your tea or coffee. I saw a lot of talk on message boards and people were counting it as a grey spoon. Honestly I wasn't happy with that solution. I still wanted to know how to count it. The spoons are for oils and nut butters which both contain fat. Raw honey doesn't contain fat, but is mainly a carbohydrate and sugar; which are configured in the yellow container and purple. I only got two spoons a day so I didn't think it was fair to count a carb/sugar as a spoon when I should be getting the benefit from oil or nut butter.

Finally through searching and message boards I found that honey up to 4tsps can count as a freebie. Moderation is key to everything right. SO I'm NOT counting it as a grey spoon. Now I just gotta finish out my eight remaining days of Extreme and honey is making it's way back into my diet.