We planned this trip last week. Literally 4 days before we left. I knew I wanted to go somewhere cool, but with a new baby, I was a little nervous about taking her somewhere for multiple days. It actually turned out to be a lot easier than I had anticipated. She's such a sweet and easygoing baby. We lucked out with her.
Day 1: We drove to San Diego, and it took us less than 6 hours.We put out stuff down in our hotel room at Paradise Point, which is on a small island, and immediately took ourselves to the bay beach. The kids were super excited to see all the seashells. They found so many cool ones that within minutes they couldn't hold anymore.We should have brought buckets, but we didn't... Alexis was surprised/excited/loving the feeling of the sand between her toes. She may have tried to eat it as well, multiple times, but mommy catches everything.
We then went to Juniper and Ivy, a restaurant owned by Richard Blais, who won Top Chef: All-Stars. His food was super innovative and very unique. Here is what we ate:
Buttermilk Biscuit
Deviled eggs: white meringue/yolk mousse/black truffle/chives
La Jolla Uni: caramelized onion jam/brioche/iberico lardo/scrambled eggs
Sweet potatoes: mole negro/oaxaca cheese/granola
Grilled chanterelles: teriyaki sauce/cashews/sesame seed/negi
Quid ink linguine: mussels/shrimp/squid/calabrian chile-tomato cream
Banana-cream: caramelized pineapple/vanilla wafer/banana curd
Yodel: Devil's cake/white chocolate/hazelnut brittle/hot chocolate
Everything was unlike anything I've ever eaten before, but it was all sooooo delicious. I only wish I could have seen Richard Blais that night. He was in the kitchen, and I tried to peek, but I didn't see him. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
Afterwards, we went to check out the boats on Harbor Drive. The kids loved that... Real pirate boats and solider boats.
William and I copied the famous Unconditional Surrender Statue, and while Logan took the picture, Kendall and Taylor were going "Ewww."
When we got back to the hotel, it was past 9, and when you're on vacation, bedtime doesn't apply, so we went to the swimming pool and hot tub. Well, the kids went back and forth between the two. William mostly stayed in the hot tub, and I was still wearing my dress, so I watched with Alexis. We did put our feet into the 'heated' pool, though.
Day 2: We took a boat out to check out the island and the bay. It was a really windy, mostly because of the speed of the boat, but the kids had a blast driving the boat and chasing the birds and ducks landing on the water. Meanwhile, Alexis feel asleep on me, so she and I chilled, which was so relaxing.
For lunch we went to a random restaurant in La Jolla. We couldn't have picked a restaurant with a better view. We even thought we saw dolphins, which actually turned out to be sea lions. The amazing view led us on a walk to a cove, where there was a cave filled with crabs and where we got up close to those sea lions. Not having planned this little trip to the ocean, we went there, dressed in our normal clothes, but that didn't stop the kids from jumping in the waves and getting completely soaked. They were all freezing afterwards, but they had fun experiencing the beach for the very first time in their life. As for Alexis, she still enjoyed the sand between her toes, but she kept an eye on those waves, and whenever they came near, she'd lift up her feet as to avoid getting them cold and wet. Smart girl.
On the way back we stopped for gelato and Belgian chocolate. And we were so full that we actually skipped dinner that night and went straight to the pool and hot tub again.
Day 3: Legoland was only 30 minutes from the hotel, so we had to make the trip and check it out. On the way there, the San Diego Temple popped out of nowhere on the highway, very much in the same way the Washington DC Temple does.
Legoland was a success. William and I mostly took turns taking Logan, Taylor, and Kendall on rides, which was totally fine. William mostly did the roller-coasters with the 30-45 minutes lines. And I did the spinning rides that make William sick and only had 5-10 minutes lines. Win-win. Alexis did get to go on a few rides, and she did so well on them. Seriously, we can take her anywhere and it's almost like she's not even there. She is just that easygoing. We also found out that Alexis' hair gets curly with the humidity.
Those lego cities, though... amazing! San Francisco, New York City, Las Vegas. And then the lego monuments... the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, the White House. I am amazed at how talented people are. Everything was so realistic. The kids, of course, had a blast and didn't want to leave, even though we were there from opening to closing.
That night we went to a restaurant that was on the resort and had some pretty good food. Mostly, though, we enjoyed the view of the beach at night. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I love the beach. And then we went back to the pool and hot tub. Again.
Day 4: Check out day. We got breakfast at The Mission in Mission Beach, supposedly the best breakfast restaurant in San Diego. I can't disagree. The food I had was soooooo good. I'm drooling just thinking about it. Afterwards we took a walk on the beach. We also got on the pier and saw dolphins. Yes, real dolphins, not sea lions. They were playing with each other and jumping out. It was realllly cool. I got some videos with squeals from the kids because they were so surprised and excited at the sight of dolphins. We wanted to stay longer and lounge on the beach, but we still 6 hours on the road, we knew we had to say Goodbye to San Diego, so with heavy feet, we got into the van and started driving back. But we'll be back, San Diego, ready to make more lifelong memories.
