A few months back, Jason applied for a grant at his work to attend the National Environmental Health Association's Annual Education Conference, and he was given the privilege to attend. His work covered all the expenses and his travel, and he would be gone for almost a week to participate.
I figured it would be an opportune time to take a trip with the kids and my Mom to some of our favorite California spots, so we planned out a little trip and made it happen during the same time frame Jason was out of town for his conference. The plan was to spend a couple days in San Diego, and then travel North and spend some time up in Orange County and Anaheim, where Jason actually was for his conference, and then head home. We had the San Diego Zoo in our itinerary, as well as the most exciting plan... Disneyland, too! We weren't sure how much free time Jason would have, so we went in with the mindset that he'd be tied up pretty much the whole time (which, in reality, he was). So, although we were bummed we couldn't see Daddy more while we were in the same town, we still managed to have a pretty great time and made some fun memories with Grandma.
We started our trip with the drive down to San Diego, where the kids did extremely well playing with toys and entertaining themselves until Barstow. We pit stopped at McDonalds for lunch, where Nolan just had to have his picture taken with creepy Ronald.
We packed back in to the car, where the kids watched movies the rest of the way. Nolan was able to take a quick nap, while Acelyn stayed up and binged watched Moana since she had already cat napped before lunch. We arrived at our hotel, and had to load up all of our crap (why does traveling with kids feel like you have to pack your entire house!?) with the luggage carts, and Nolan and Acelyn got a free ride back to the lobby before we headed out to dinner.
We had to visit Filippi's Pizza Grotto in Little Italy for dinner, since we eat here every time we come to San Diego. This tradition started with Jason's Grandparents before they had children, so both the restaurant and the Kelton family dining at the grotto has been around for quite some time! We definitely missed Daddy while we were there, but the kids loved the pizza and the decor inside. We saved the best for last, and tried an assortment of cookies for the first time ever... and why it took this long for us to try is beyond me, because they were seriously the best cookies I've ever had, in my entire life! If anyone knows where we can get legit Italian rainbow cookies in Vegas... PLEASE let me know! These were life changing and I've seriously considered having them shipped... multiple times... since leaving!
After dinner, we took a walk around Little Italy and made our way down to the water front, where we saw the Star of India ship and the Maritime Museum. Nolan thought it was pretty cool to see a real "pirate ship". Walking around, there were tons of blooming trees with purple leaves that were so pretty! We also stopped at Waterfront Park, where they had giant slides and lots of cool play structures the kids had never seen before, and I swooned over the purple trees again.
After letting some energy loose, it was getting dark and close to bedtime, so we walked back to the car and passed the coolest fire station with clear glass windows throughout. Of course Nolan was amazed and had to get a picture! We passed by Filippi's again, where I ran in and grabbed more cookies to go, because they were way too good to pass up!
Day One was a quick one, but we got back to the hotel and rested up for our next day, a big one, at the San Diego Zoo! Stay tuned for that update soon!
No comments