conference and David's team is in Irvine so we decided to split the
time, take the whole crew, and get some work and fun done. It was a
great trip but not as relaxing as a typical vacation. We arrived
Thursday evening after a day in the air. It turns out that putting
Mr. 2 in a carseat makes for a much easier trip, with much less trying
to escape. He still took most of one adult's attention but the other
boys read, listened to their iPods (Mr. 9 and Mr. 11's birthday
presents), did puzzles (Mr. 4), played games, and generally
entertained themselves so it was pretty smooth travels. We arrived
Thursday, picked up our rental car (a mini-van of course - what else
could the 6 of us travel around in), and settled into the condo we had
rented. It had much more space than a hotel and was near the
conference center so Becca could walk back and forth. We had some
Mexican food from a little place around the corner which was rather
mediocre and headed to bed a little early (it was 3 hours later our
time so even 7:30pm in California was 10:30pm to us).
Friday morning Becca headed to her conference and David tried to
figure out what to do with 4 kids in the biggest rain storm in years
in San Diego. So much for the beach. They ran some errands and spent
the day at the Air and Space Museum. It was great... except for a
tired, cranky Mr. 2 who had gotten up at 4am (7am his time but much
too early). The boys ended up heading back to the condo and
entertaining themselves with tablet time and their new books (the
errands had included spending all our Barnes and Noble credit on a
pile of new books). Becca finally returned from the conference late,
well after all the boys had been ushered to bed by a tired Dad.
On Saturday, Becca again headed out early to learn about allergy and
immunology and the boys saw the Midway, an aircraft carrier built in
the 1940s. They had a wonderful time and spent at least an hour
pretending they were on a mission while David sat on the sidelines
with a napping Mr. 2. The boys then picked up Becca and headed up to
Escondido to see great grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins.
Unfortunately Becca had to be back at the convention center for a
reception so we headed back downtown. The boys dropped Becca off,
picked up dinner, and headed back to the condo. Our crew was still
getting up between 4:30 and 5am so it was time for bed.
Sunday the boys tried to get out but every time they set out, the
rains would drive them back in. Finally around lunchtime they headed
back up to Escondido. After some time to visit, he boys stayed in
Escondido and David headed back downtown to go to a dinner for Becca's
department. Somewhat like a date and somewhat a work event (given
that there were no kids BUT we sat across from the department chair
and chatted with present and former MGH faculty). We picked up the
kids quite late and drove back to the condo and got everyone to bed
knowing an early morning would greet us.
Monday was another conference day so Becca headed out early and the
boys spent the day at the San Diego Zoo. The sun finally came out and
it was a beautiful day (everyone even got a little sunburnt). Mr. 2
LOVED the monkeys ("montees") and all the animals ("anim-os").
Tuesday was the last day of the conferences but also the day of
Becca's presentation so she spent the morning discussing drug allergy
and the boys packed up, did laundry, and visited the playground by
Petco stadium (which they had been trying to visit the whole time).
Becca met up with them for lunch in the park and we moved up to San
Diego to stay the rest of the time with Great Nana and Super Papa.
Wednesday Becca and Mr. 2 drove David to the shuttle pick-up and he
headed up to Irvine for some work time (which he was super excited
about after 5 days with 4 kids in a small condo with torrential
rains). Becca spent the day at Bates Nut Farm with Great Nana and
Aunt Joy and cousin G. Everyone loved feeding the goats and we had a
picnic lunch in the sun.
Thursday David again headed to Irvine and Becca and Aunt Joy took the
boys plus cousin G to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It was a
beautiful day and we had a great time - except for a complete meltdown
by Mr. 4 at lunch and a non-napping Mr. 2 falling apart on the tram.
When Mr. 2 had finally taken a short nap, things had started to turn
around. Aunt Joy had to go and pick up the other cousins but we
decided to stick around the Wild Animal Park for a few more minutes.
We saw a few more animals and ended up at the cheetah show We
squeezed into a spot and watched the cheetah run at full speed and
then had some ice cream before heading back to Great Nana and Super
Papa's house.
Friday David took the day off work and the 6 of us spent the day
wandering La Jolla. We had been listening to The Westing Game
throughout the trip and it was fun to listen as a family as we drove
down to the beach, stopping to buy new sandals and zip-off pants for
everyone at REI. We thought it was too cold for swimsuits so headed
out to the tidepools in sandals, pants, and rain jackets. Within 10
minutes Mr. 9 had gone in up to his waist and so he changed into his
swimsuit and Mr. 4 insisted on following his lead. We picked up lunch
at a little sandwich shop and sat on the beach eating our lunch. We
saw the seals and walked on the beach. It was a beautiful day and the
only real day of vacation. We headed back up to Escondido and left
the kids in the capable hands of A and C and David and Becca went to
dinner with Becca's grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Great company
and delicious food made for the perfect end to our trip.
Saturday morning we headed back to the airport, returned our trusty
mini-van, and it was time to fly back across the country. It was a
long day and we were happy to be back in our house at the end of it.
Unfortunately Sunday morning was booked with choir practice, Epi-pen
training by Becca for the nursery, and teaching Sunday School so we
were up earlier than we would have liked for a 3 hour time change but
it was good to be home.
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