San Diego!

We are planning on heading to San Diego every year, we love it there. So this year, I was watching Jon and Kate plus 8. They were in San Diego staying at a really cool resort that their 2 year olds loved; Paradise Point! I looked into the resort and knew we were to go there. We got a great deal through Travelocity for flight, resort and car. The best part was, we did not have to drag our car seats and a pack 'n' play through the airport. We only took our luggage and a stroller! The rental car company provided us with the car seats at no charge and the resort had a pack 'n' play for us!!

So we get to San Diego after a morning of missing our flight with US Airways, telling them to forget getting us on another flight that left at 4pm. We bought one way tickets with Southwest for an hour later than our original flight. It was all working out. A little stressful, but whatever we got over it pretty fast. We were off to the San Diego Zoo, which Elle had been wanting to go to for about a month now. Every day at least 4 times a day she would say to me "I go Zoo!" We had a great time there, we missed a lot of great exhibits, but will go back another time. Right when we were getting ready to leave we noticed a band and a bunch of kids hula hooping. Elle just woke up from a nap, she said she wanted to join them, but just watched. She would not even touch a hula hoop. Oh, well it was fun watching all the kids do there thing.

We headed to Paradise Point to check in and grab a bite to eat. Our room was on the corner of a four unit building, right on a little canal, with ducks. We went down to the Barefoot Bar and Grill for dinner right on the marina. While we waited for our table, Patrick and Elle went down to see the boats. Patrick told me she had to touch everyone of them. She was having so much fun, it was great! Dinner was okay, but we decided not to eat there again. We were tuckered out so off to bed we went.

Tuesday morning we went down to the lagoon, Elle and I climbed up the lookout tower which was really high. I was very surprised she climbed up all the way with me, not even a scared bone in her little body. We then went back to the marina to feed the gigantic fish. There are even sharks in the little pond by the restaurant. Elle started getting fussy, so it was nap time. After nap time we went down to the beach, or what they call Paradise Cove. It was fun, there were not many people there, so it was nice and quite. Patrick swam from the shore we were on to the opposite shore to catch crabs. Sure enough he came back with one, Elle was not shy at all and wanted to hold it. At this point we were getting hungry and so we cleaned up and went to Gringos. I had been to Gringos in the past with friends for their bloody Mary bar, which was EXCELLENT!! I had to take Patrick there, our food was just okay.

The night was still young and we wanted to do something else. We went down to Belmont Park at Mission beach. Its a little amusement park, with rides, games, shopping and food. Elle wanted to ride the carousel, so okay! Now she has ridden carousels in the past now four times and cried the entire time. However this time she was laughing and having a great time. It was very enjoyable! Elle saw these blow up monkeys and wanted one, so Patrick played a game while I rode a wild ride. I get off the ride and she has a new stuffed dog. It was Patrick's turn now to ride this ride, which was pretty scary. I love roller coasters, flipping upside down and stuff, but when you have not ridden rides in a long time; it was pretty frightening. There was another ride Elle could go on, which was a submarine that went up and down in a circle. She loved it, she rode it twice, once with me and the other time with Patrick. So fun! Right next to the submarine ride is a rubber ducky game, Elle wanted to play because of the blow up monkeys! So we let her play, she won and of course she picked the monkey!! She was the happiest kid on the planet, screaming, laughing and running with her monkey. So cute! Patrick and I rode one more ride and we headed back to the resort to end the evening.

Wednesday we played in the pool till nap time, then rented a pontoon boat; thanks to my mom! It was Patrick's birthday present to do something at the resort and this is what he picked! So we took the kids out and drove by Sea World, Campland, homes and resorts/hotels. It was a lot of fun, Ivan fell asleep. I was surprised, he did not mind the life jacket at all. Elle laid down too and took a rest, she did not like the wind blowing her hair in her face. After the boat ride we were in the mood for seafood. We went to Mission beach and found a great local restaurant called Saska's. Patrick had a Po Boy and I had fish and chips, both very good. After dinner it was time to try to have Elle rest up for movie night. At the pool every Wednesday and Saturday they have a kids movie. We got to watch Wall-E. Elle was so excited to watch it. We got to the pool, Elle fully clothed, hops into the pool. She was having fun, it was getting dark out and there were so many kids swimming. I had her swimsuit, but oh well. I let her be.

Thursday we checked out of our resort and headed to Coronado to hang out at the beach. It was not all that fun, the kids were tired, Patrick and I were hungry but we made the best of it. We stayed for a couple hours, playing in the sand. The water was 62 degrees, too cold to swim in. I took Ivan down and put his feet in and he did not seem to mind, he loved playing in the sand though! When beach time was over time we headed to the airport. We were all exhausted and ready to get home to our beds. We had a fabulous time and will definitely go back to Paradise Point! We really did not want to leave the resort, there is so much to do there!