Arrival:
I recall we got to S.D. earlier than we thought. We usually stop off in Vegas for a leg stretch but we tend to travel at night so the kids sleep right through our long drive.
Mission Beach
Mormon Battalion Museum
While we were at a REAL (he kick that this hispanic has not been use ) Mexican food restaurant waiting to burn our mouths off Mike got a email telling him about LDS pioneers he is related too. At first this email was dismissed since we were on vacation. But while we waited for our order Mike read the email. It showed the lineage of a couple of pioneers who treked to Utah but as he clicked around the names he found some names that were settled in San Diego. That means Mormon Battalion!!! So after dinner we headed to the Mormon Battalion Museum in Old Towne. I wished we got their soon since it was almost closing time so we took the tour without gawking and awing over everything. Next time :)
Here's our enlisted volunteers
My tattoo hunk!
Mike taking a picture with his long awaited relative. No wonder he feels like S.D. is his home!
Panning for gold like in the gold rush. Since it was closing time our kids got to keep a few pieces of fools gold.
La Jolla Beach
Mike is such a beach bum. And over the years he's gotten better at surfing. All self-taught!
Cati wanting to learn to surf too. But she's got to learn on a knee board first.
Sunday Chill Day
Lunch at some restaurant.
Then S.D. swap meet.
We love not planning our days out. Itineraries are not for us. It stopped us from exploring with the locals. And if rushed,rushed,rushed we would have missed this amazing place.
Mason and a katana. He loved and still love this thing.
Imperial Beach
As you can tell we got there around sunset. That didn't stop our kids from playing. They had so much fun playing in the waves. But soon it got too chilled that we just continued our adventure by walking on the beach onto the boardwalk. We seen so many fisherman on there. Our kids seen one man catch a stingray that they just stopped, stared, and asked the man a ton of questions.
There was fish restaurant/shop at the end of the pier that we ordered some fish and chips. The kids aren't big fans of fish but I insisted since you can't be on the ocean and not eat fish. As we walked back to our car we found an organic-homemade-ice cream shop that we all wanted to try. So ice cream cones on hand we walked back to our car on the sandy beach under the moonlight. It was like a dream.
San Diego Temple
I don't recall when we went to visit the temple but I know we seen it. I remember we were wet so we only walked around for a few minutes before we got too cold.
Church
Going to church outside of Utah has really changed my perspective as being a Mormon. We walked in and there was so many people who if they walked into my home ward would have been looked at-shunned-ignored-pointed too-etc. Shameful to say the least.
I remember being in the chapel and seeing people with tank tops, men with earrings, short-short skirts, etc all there worshiping God. The way it's suppose to be!
So often people get caught up on how long my skirt is, how tight a shirt might be, that i have tattoos showing, mike had his ears pierced, etc that we get the look of "2nd class Saints". It was so refreshing to see how the Lord's hand really does reach for all his children no matter what. I remember leaving this ward not wanting to ever leave.
Funny photo on how we leaved! We are all about budget friendly trips so we changed in the car, gas stations, or store restrooms. We used coupons, gift cards, and apps to save money. We packed only 2 outfits and a swimsuit since that's all we needed and it cut down on how much laundry we had when we got back. (Also since we needed to wash clothes while on vacation it was only 2 load!)
Anyways I love this man! And I love the adventures we go on.
