Thanks for being so patient...

A look from the pier.

I know, I know, I have a LOT of catching up to do...where DOES the time go? Well, it's about to take me back to my fabulous job of teaching kindergarten, so I figured I should really get caught up on my summer blogs before heading back full time ;)

First off (this blog) is our recent trip to the lovely San Diego, CA. This is an annual trip that my family takes with my sister, Michelle, her husband, Bob, their two awesome kiddos, Mason and Maeleigh, our mom, Pam, Bob's mom, Selena, and for a least a few days, Abby's Grandpa Kelly. This year we were also blessed to have 'extra' visitors- Moe and Sarah and our very missed friend, Ernesto (he is now a resident of San Diego full time).

Is this really how close guys get when they hang out?

The trip was amazing all over, even with the normal 'hold ups' a trip with lots of family and young can have;) One of the things that I do not have a picture of (and I am so sad about it) is the hotel room we stayed in the first night. Maybe you are fortunate enough to have read the story, The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, or maybe you haven't. In short, when I say that our first night was like that book, you'd understand. For those of you who have not read it, we were literally sleeping on top of one another, considering all of the luggage that had to be brought in from Bob's truck at night! I couldn't sleep, although it seemed to me as though everyone else was. There's just something ominous about hearing new breathing in a room with you at night when everything is supposed to be quiet. All I have to say is, thank goodness it was only one night!!!

Anyhow, the first official day of our trip happened to land on the 4th of July! What a fun day to be there!!! From the bay, we were able to watch what seemed to be 5 different fireworks shows- how amazing is that? Before hand, Moe and Sarah came to hang out with us and the kids had a lot of fun playing with Moe...we don't see enough of those two.

Abby teaching Moe how to color.

My awesome family on the 4th of July!

Of course we did our annual trip to Sea World, ALWAYS fun ;) The kids had a blast (and the adults too!). I love to see how excited they get over what seems like the silliest things: bumpy skin on a starfish, the pets show (even though they don't get that excited over their own pets), the icy cold arctic environment, MANATEES (pics didn't quite work out this year, after much screaming, we finally figured out that Abby was saying, "I do it myself!"- oh well, huh?), churros (that one is really for Aunt Chelley and Kyle), and the ducklings swimming around in our normal family photo op place.

The bumpy skin on starfishies ;)

They look very studeous, don't they?

Michelle, my mom, and me...I think we take this picture every year???

You can see the back of Mason's head between Bob's and Selena's

(he's getting so brave!).

There's uncle Bobby trying to keep everyone alive ;)

A little bit better...
What a beautiful family!

We spent a lot of time down on the beach. How could we not? The weather was absolutely perfect! I do notice that our load of beach stuff begins to slowly dwindle down as the week goes on because we cannot stand lugging it around day after day. How come we don't remember that every year at the beginning of the trip?

Our beach bum!

Look at these two cuties!!!

Here's Abby and Daddy saying, "Where'd our feet go?"

"Here they are!!!"

Grandpa Kelly, Abby, and Daddy

Abby REALLY wanted to go

boogie boarding...









I tried to convince her otherwise...

This is what we ended up with...

One of the best highlights of our trip was meeting up with my cousin Zach, our fellow Marine...not everyday you get to dine with a hero ;) We love him so much and we were so glad he got to take some time out of his busy schedule to hang with us. Thanks Zach!!!

Mason switched his outfit so he could match uncle Kyle ;)

Scary monsters- oooooh!

Me, our hero, Zach, and Chelle.

Me and my amazing hubby, Kyle ;)

Too cute for words!

Walking with confidence on the pier (not so much a couple of days earlier)!

Hope you enjoyed my recap and the pictures! Can't wait to go back...