San Diego

aka "Nay Nay's Beach House!" I finally got around to this post after putting it off all of fall. Glad I put the pictures and memories together at last.

My family finally decided to branch out after a lifetime of camping together every summer. This year we all chipped in for a rented condo by the beach in  San Diego. Jackson was convinced that the beach house belonged to Auntie Nay Nay, so now that's what we all call it. September was perfect in San Diego and it was 75 degrees, day or night.

On the drive down, we stopped and visited with my grandma. She got meet Cosette and spend a little time with Jackson.

Generations

We stayed with Dan's brother and his wife and 4 boys for a night. Here's Cosette and Samuel hanging out. He is 3 month older and double her weight!

 When we arrived at the beach house we were so excited that each family had their own room and bathroom and it was very spacious and comfortable (it's so hard to tell what you're getting online) and we settled in. Our room had an attached bathroom bigger than our master bedroom at home with a huge tub! The bay was a block away and the ocean side was a 5 minute walk!

Here's some fun on the ocean side.

 

 Found a monstrously sized golf set for beach play. It was fun to try to chip the ball to a target. A little too large for Jack.

 

 Lots of adventures during the week. Here are some Sea World highlights. Playing with the dolphins might have been the best part of the whole trip. We arrived at the park early and as soon as the doors opened we headed straight for the dolphins. A great decision since no one was there and we got to touch them all!

 

 Jack was obsessive about seeing the walrus, so we spent a lot of time in front of the walrus tank watching him eat. Also a picture of Auntie Natalie and Grandma trying to surprise Jackson in the polar bear den. He was unimpressed with the effort.

  Cosette loved this borrowed stroller since she could lean forwards out of it and see everything. It didn't really seem safe to me.

 

 Sharks!

 Turtles!

 This roller coaster called the Manta Ray was so fun. No line, so we went on repeatedly

 Shows were awesome. Especially Shamu.

 Next day was golf on Coronada Island and then visiting The Midway.

 So massive.

 We all got lots of time in the cockpit.

 So into flying the plane.

 Cosette's exhausted!

 Flight simulator.

 The guys claimed they didn't get motion sickness, even though their seats were twisting upside down. Seems impossible.

 Beautiful day on the flight deck

 Wow, what a move Grandma!

Next we were off to the San Diego zoo.

 These orangutans were amazing. So cool to get right up next to them. The female liked to put her hands up on the glass on top of our hands.

 

 

  Monkey heaven for Jackie

They say that's the actual height of a polar bear but it seems a little extreme towering over Dan. I'm skeptical

  Back at the beach house we're getting lotioned-up for more sun and sand

 She's so white, just like her Daddy! She's gonna burn so easily.

Catching waves

 Little Coco loves the sand. Couldn't keep her on the towel, so I just gave up and let her roll in it.

 What a happy girl!

 Playing in the waves with Papa

  She got her blues eyes from her Grandma. Not sure what she got from me.

 Lots of sand in the mouth. She's not quite crawling here at 9 months, but just on the verge of it.

 Over on the bay side there are no waves. Perfect for toddlers and sand castles. This area is less than a minute walk from our beach house.

 Sometimes he'll tolerate a little bit of snuggling

 Our muscle man really loved the trip and has talked about it non stop for months afterwards. So glad we did this vacation.

 In matching rental strollers playing with each others' feet.