Christmas Eve and Christmas

We were flying back home late Christmas Eve, but we had to check out of the hotel at noon. We decided to spend the day on Coronado Island and at Seaport Village. It was rainy in the morning but cleared up in the afternoon. Brigham loved all the birds around Seaport Village and watching the ships and boats on the ocean. Sadie was getting pretty antsy for Christmas and just wanted to go home. 

Riding the beautiful carousel at Seaport Village

During the day I had been checking Facebook and kept seeing updates about a big winter storm in Utah. I started panicking that our flight would get cancelled and we would be stuck in Las Vegas for Christmas. We headed to the airport and kept our fingers crossed. Our flights were delayed but everything worked out. We flew from San Diego to Vegas and then Vegas home. When we got on the flight home, we were so relieved and grateful we were going home. We had told the kids that maybe we would end up seeing Santa flying in the sky and it was fun to watch them look for him. Sadie swears she heard his jingle bells.

We ended up not getting home until midnight, but due to some serious pre-vacation preparation we were able to get the kids in bed in their Christmas jammies, laundry started, bags unpacked and Santa came by one am. 

The kids slept in until ten and we woke to them jumping on our beds. Santa had brought them a few things and it was so fun watching their faces light up as they opened their gifts.

Bean Bags!

Super hero capes, they turned out so cute!

Sadie is a bit obsessed with Merida from BRAVE.

I got an awesome new SLR camera and a necklace from Charlie. I LOVE both of them. The camera is amazing and the necklace is perfect.

This Christmas was one full of good memories and lots of laughs. It was centered around our family and being together and it was beautiful. I love this time of year and am a bit sad it is all over. However, I am grateful for the gifts that I have each and every day in my life. 

We hope this holiday season was a special one for all of you too!

We are looking forward to a new year with new beginnings.

Legoland and Sea World

We spent Saturday at Legoland. The weather was perfect and it wasn't too crowded. The Christmas decorations were awesome and they had the biggest Christmas Tree made from legos. 

Sadie was tall enough to go on all the rides and Brigham was able to go on most of them. The new Star Wars area was pretty exciting for Charlie and the kids. They also have a new aquarium that we zipped through quickly before they closed.

We headed to Sea World on Sunday. We grabbed a map and planned out our day so we could go to all the shows and also let Brigham meet Elmo at the newer Sesame Street area. Some of the shows were new and Christmas themed so it was lots of fun. A couple shows we got brave and sat in the soak zones and ended up very wet but it was worth the laughs.

Feeding the sting rays.

Giving Grover the "knucks."

Feeding the Sea Lions

So much fun!!!

San Diego Christmas

During the summer while doing some home renovations and going through all the kids rooms, we realized just how much crap our kids had. Most of the stuff was from past Christmases and had been played with very little. We spent days going through everything, purging, donating and reorganizing their rooms. I told Charlie that I didn't want to do the traditional Christmas and waste money on crap the kids would play with for a couple days and forget about. Then I saw this on Pinterest.

We decided to make these our new family motto and started planning a Christmas vacation. We decided San Diego was the place for us. We wanted to go to Legoland and Sea World. The hardest part was getting  EVERYTHING done for Christmas before we left and keeping it a secret from the kiddos. We were leaving on Thursday the 20th and coming home Christmas Eve. 

On Thursday, we were all packed and ready to pick up Sadie from school and surprise her. It is usually just Brig and I who pick her up from school so she was so excited when she saw all of us in the car. Then she jumped in and spotted the suitcases and asked, "whats going on?" We just giggled and blurted out that we were heading to the airport for a surprise vacation. Her face was priceless.

We flew into Santa Ana that night, grabbed our rental car and drove down the coast to San Diego. We stayed in an awesome hotel in Old Town. 

On Friday, we headed to Balboa Park. We had never been there before and it was beautiful. The weather was gorgeous and we spent the day walking through the gardens and visiting the museums. 

 We went to the Air and Space museum. It was awesome!

Flight suit jumpers

Sadie flying like the Wright Brothers.

Sadie in the wind tunnel.

That night we went to our favorite place in Old Town for dinner. The Acapulco. It is so yummy and has an amazing view of San Diego. The kids favorite part was the fried ice cream for dessert.

Posts about the rest of the trip to come soon!