San Diego!!!

As previously posted, one of the 'perks' (and there are VERY FEW!) of Marks job is that he sometimes, occasionally, unexpectedly pulls into a port and we can manage to meet him there. Last weekend was one of those times, and Paige and Ben and I flew down to San Diego on Friday afternoon and flew home again on Monday morning. A VERY quick trip, but oh so fun and very relaxing. A very much needed break for us all! The weather was a perfectly balmy 72 degrees the whole time we were there, which made for great weather to sight see and hang out by the pool without being too hot or too cold. It was nice for Mark to be able to get out of the tin can for a few days too! :)



Here are Paige and Ben on the plane, excited to be going! They didn't know we were going until the afternoon before!



This was not a 'posed picture'. I turned around to move my stuff and turned back and here were both kids reading the emergency card! Too funny...I HAD to take a picture!





We have landed in San Diego!




Our first night in San Diego we went to the Mexican restaurant at the hotel. The BEST food ever!!




Ben thinks it's a hoot to take his own picture! He didn't do a bad job at all!






Paige took this picture of Mark and I. It was nice to be together again for awhile! I miss him so much when he is gone...






After dinner the kids wanted to swim of course! Our pool at night....it was lovely....





Here is a shot of our pool during the day...a nice tropical oasis!




The first ride Paige and I, then Mark and Paige went on when we got to SeaWorld! The Atlantis! Ben went on it at the end of the day and his face was PRICELESS!!





This is where the boats sail by after free falling down the waterfall you saw above. You get SOAKED if you stand there....Ben LOVED it!




And of course got SOAKED!





Paige and Mark on the river portion of the Atlantis ride...Paige is our fearless child..she LOVED it!



These were the dolphins outside the Atlantis ride...it was really a neat ride!






Paige outside the Manatee Rescue pavillion...






Of course, no trip to SeaWorld would be complete without seeing the Shamu show!!






One of the whales in the show...






All that walking makes you hungry. We went back to the same place we ate lunch at five years ago! The Shipwreck Cafe...37 bucks bought lunch, including drinks AND huge slices of CAKE!!! Not bad for a tourist spot!!





Last ride of the day..Ben finally decided to go on Atlantis! I told you his face was PRICELESS!! I asked him what his thought was as he reached the top of the first drop. He said "All I thought was Dear God, let me live"....hehehe





We spent the whole day Sunday just laying by the pool....it was so relaxing! We bought this 'bomb' ball for the kids. You can set it to 'sink' or 'float' mode..then set the timer to various times. Then toss it! They have to find it and turn off the timer before it goes off! You can even hear it underwater! They had a (pardon the pun!) ball with it!






Our little mermaid...






Kids in the pool...






There was an ice-cream vending machine by the pool...Ben indulged SEVERAL times!






After sitting by the pool all day we got dressed and headed into 'town' for a wonderful Greek meal...here is Ben climbing a tree at the hotel by our car...





Paige posing by our rental car prior to going out for Greek food...




The sunsets in San Diego are amazing...this was on our way to the Greek restaurant....



We had a marvelous time in San Diego! It is actually quite a cheap place to take a family...hotels..car rental..airfare...food...all very very reasonable...and just 'tropical' enough that you feel like you have really gone away somewhere far....we'd like to try to do this once a year if possible...not next year of course as my planned trip is to take the kids to WI for the month of August...but maybe 2010? Unless Mark gets a job in another state and we find another holiday spot of course! hahaha...

Hugs to all,
Jaye