This summer we had no big road trip or extravagant getaway planned. (Whatever constitutes extravagant....haha)
Anyways, I was really wanting to go to San Diego this year, for at least a few days, because who doesn't LOVE San Diego?! (And we were very pleasantly surprised when we checked the weather forecast that we would be missing the 106-108 degree days at home)
I really wish we could get down to SD more often. Every time we drive down, the drive is never as bad as I seem to think it's going to be. I think it's actually quicker to get to San Diego than for us to get to Sacramento. (On the drive home, we made it in 3.5 hours with no traffic. Ok...it was the 4th of July, so everyone was probably drunk in their backyards..... but that's beside the point)
We were able to see Grandma Strickland the day we arrived and she showed us her garden. She told the kids they could pick some bell peppers and tomatoes to take with us....which the kids had no intention of eating. But she insisted they take a few.
Before we headed to the resort where we were staying e drove up to Cardiff to check out a donut shop that makes fresh donuts everyday afternoon at 4pm. They had plenty of donuts and cookies to choose from.
We stayed at the Welk Resort which was just a few minutes north of Escondido. It was a great choice and perfect for a place to relax. The rooms were fully furnished with a kitchen and washer and dryer. The "villas" we stayed in had a rec center with a splash pad, pool table, ping pong and fooz-ball. There was also a HUGE pool and water slide. The resort had a total of five different villas and each one has a rec centers, with different amenities. There was one other rec center we visited that had a water slide and the kids liked it better because there was a tunnel and it was faster. The kids had a great time!
I picked up matching bracelets for $5 at the Monday night Farmer's Market. Wiggy was sooooo excited!
Tuesday evening we headed into downtown SD for the Padres game. We were all very excited to check out Petco Park since we had never been. It was a lot of fun....and even better because the Padres won.
We ate our dinner in the park area, right outside of the field. I guess you can buy tickets for this park area for $5. The park was so nice!
A little treat...in the first inning. :) Fresh ice cream cookie sandwiches!
Wednesday afternoon my friend Sarah drove over from Temecula with her kids and stayed the afternoon. Good times as always when we get together!
After a long day of sunbathing and socializing, we headed into SD to see Aunt Thelma and Grandma...and kill some wasps. (Grandma wasn't happy about killing the wasp nests, but they were right outside her back door...inches from coming into the house). Even though I killed two (out of 10) wasp nests outside her house, she still wanted to take pictures with me. Haha.
My Aunt Thelma brought with her a few photos of me from her house. The kids got a kick out of them. Tubbs and I are definitely related.
We then headed to Old San Diego and found a nice Mexican restaurant...."Casa Guadalajara." We haven't eaten there before and we REALLY liked it. Luke ordered a steak burrito and I ordered something with a lot of cheese...and avocado. :)
We were supposed to head home Thursday, so we packed up and checked out of the resort. We headed south to find something to do for the day. in San Marcos we took the kids to Denny's for some $4 all-you-can-eat pancakes.
Below was my breakfast. (Yes I like to take a lot of food photos. I had to take a picture because there were so many plates...but it was the "Fit Fare" breakfast.)
We were driving back to the Padres Store in Petco Park so I could buy a sweatshirt I wanted. On our way there I received a phone call from a guy who works for the Padres. We signed the kids up for the Padres Jr. Club on Tuesday night, so he asked us to come down to the park to take a private tour and discuss different membership plans. We had nothing else to do and we were headed that way anyways, so we were very excited. He met us in the executive parking lot and gave us a parking pass. (We were off to a fun start!)
We ended up staying there for almost two hours and he took us all over the park...it was amazing. Tyler was the younger kid who worked for the Padres and took us around. He was very nice and great with the kids. We ended up buying a "deposit membership" for five seats...which meant we could pick out any seats at any five games this season. (The price for the deposit is automatically rolled into next year's membership so these five games are basically free. You get to try out different seats to give you a better idea where you want to purchase your seats for next season.) Tyler gave the kids a bunch of free stuff too. Score!
We decided to stay another night and watch the game against the Giants on the 4th of July. We got on Priceline.com and placed a bid and found a great hotel for cheap. I love Priceline....and I was so excited we weren't going home yet. Haha.
We stayed the Sheraton on the Harbor, ear downtown. It was fabulous.
Friday morning we picked up some breakfast and headed back to the hotel. We swam for a bit and then checked out around 1:30pm.
Time for another Padres game...we had GREAT seats.
The Padres beat the Giants and it was time to hit the road. The game started at 3:40 and we were headed to the car around 7pm. We weren't very happy about heading home...as you can see. We did get to watch fireworks all through Orange and LA county, which was pretty neat. The fact that our house was 90 degrees when we got home....not so neat.
I love you San Diego....see you next month for the Dodgers games....
That Stop Wasn't On My Itinerary....
So the Hogue's made it to Florida for our first official family vacation. It was Sawyer's first plane ride....and Simon's first plane ride that he can remember. We were excited....the boys were stoked. We had everything we needed! But it seems that Sawyer packed something with him that wasn't on our checklist: a big case of pneumonia. Yes, the little fella made it almost one whole day in Florida before he started heading downhill fast. Our 2nd day in Orlando we were in the Urgent Care south of Cocoa Beach. (By the way, to see a doctor more quickly, it helps if you vomit all over the waiting room in front of the receptionist. Little tip for ya) After chest x-rays they advised us to head to the ER in Melbourne, where they eventually admitted him to the hospital. So, we had 3 night deluxe accommadations at the Holmes Regional Medical Center. The little whipper snapper was a trooper though! The nurses loved him, thankfully, and made us all feel right at home. We were going to send postcards out with pictures of the hospital since we spent 40% of our trip there...but they didn't have any. Imagine that!Hmmm.....maybe its something they should consider.
No comments:
Post a Comment