We enjoyed a relaxing Holiday Break doing family things around San Diego.
A quick afternoon trip on the 27th to Legoland proved that Holiday Break is NOT the time to visit this theme park. Luckily we were able to convince the girls that we should come back another day when the crowds were less and the lines shorter. We were able to enjoy a few quick rides, though!
We decided to get out of town for a few days and drive North. We took the kids to see Hearst Castle and enjoyed their night tour. It was fun seeing the castle decorated for the Holidays, but since it was a night tour, we didn't get many pics!
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| Bus ride to the top of the mountain to see the castle |
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| Outdoor swimming pool - the pools were the girls' favorite part! |
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| A bit chilly for a pool day! |
One of their favorite things about vacation is getting to sleep in the same bed. Even though it was super late and they were exhausted, it took quite awhile to reach this state of bliss!
The next day we did some beach exploring. They looked for tiny rocks and shells while we enjoyed the beautiful coastal scenery.
We then drove a bit farther north to view the Elephant Seal Rookery. We were just a few weeks early to see the babies, but we did see 2 that were only a few days old. The girls got a kick out of watching them and Olivia proclaimed she didn't like them as they were "too stinky!"
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| Brian found it quite challenging to get us to all look at the camera and smile. This is the best we could do! |
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| Finally a smile from the big girl! |
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| Mommy and baby! |
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| Why, hello little fellow! |
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| Hundreds of seals come ashore to have their babies and take a 3 month rest |
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| Madeline finds her restaurant in nearby Cambria. |
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Lots of wineries in the area - Mommy and Daddy wanted to stop, but this is about all that we got to see of the wineries with these two sillies in tow!
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| Beautiful day for a drive and these beautiful views! |
We found a small playground on the drive back and the girls ran off some steam!
We made it back to San Diego on Dec 30 and had time to plan a quick New York New Year's Eve party for some friends. Fun was had by all! The girls were super excited, as their room was transformed into a movie theater for the evening!
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| Happy New Year! |
We went for a bit of an adventure and the girls tried ice skating for the first time.
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| Hat and sunglasses - this is how we do ice skating in San Diego |
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| A bit apprehensive at first, but by the end she enjoyed skating around the rink with Mom and Dad. |
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| A huge thumbs up from Madeline who absolutely loved ice skating and now wants to do it all the time and find a hockey team to join! |
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| Madeline's reading has really improved and she read a number of books to Olivia over the break. I love how patiently Olivia listens to her! |
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| Sneaky hurt his back leg, so the girls gave him some extra TLC and read him a book! |
Mon Jan 4 was back to work and back to school. It was hard to go back, but we had such a fun break and are thankful for all the time we were able to spend together as a family!
