Fun in the sun

We just got back from 8 fun-filled days in San Diego with the fam. We rented a beach condo for a week with my in-laws (who are great travel companions, by the way -- they made this trip so nice!) and we played every day. We went to Sea World & LegoLand and had beach days in between. We're all a little sunburned (except for Haley who tans like nobody's business) but it was a blast. Here's a recap in pictures:On the way down, we stayed in Las Vegas with Mike's cousin, Debbie, and her family. Steve (another cousin) and his family came over, too, which was great since we don't see any of their families very often. Here we are at Rainforest Cafe at the MGM Grand. The walk through the smoky casino was enough to make the kids decide they don't like Las Vegas very much.Mike's brother, Chris, drove down with his family from the bay area and spent the weekend with us. We had a girls' night doing hair and painting nails. Gotta love girly cousins. :)

On Sunday we went to church with Mike's cousin, Rob, and his family who live 30 minutes up the coast from where we were staying. They had us all over for dinner afterward (thank you Lana!) and we had another fun time catching up with cousins we don't see often enough. While we were in the area, we also stopped by to see my mom's sister, Bobbi, and her husband. I haven't seen them for 20 years so it was fun to introduce them to Mike and the kids.After we got back, we walked down the beach and to the end of the long pier in Oceanside. The kids loved seeing all of the fish that people were catching and we even saw dolphins swimming close by. There's a restaurant at the end of the pier, too, which we ate at later in the week.We spent two days at Sea World and loved every minute. It has always been a favorite of our kids in the past and this year was no exception.Can you see Shamu off in the background? No? How about now?This was at Breakfast with Shamu, which was definitely a highlight for everyone. Nothing like getting up close and personal with a killer whale while having french toast and eggs.Paige loved touching starfish, Christian & Haley loved the Wild Arctic exhibit (here they are in an "ice cave") and Elle loved "Amu." Sea World is always a hit.I knew LegoLand would be Christian's favorite part of the trip but I didn't expect how much we'd all enjoy it. The whole park is geared for younger kids (perfect for us) and had amazing Lego creations everywhere -- from Darth Vader and Indiana Jones to not-so-small-scale reproductions of various US cities and world monuments. We could have spent all day in the water area alone. This life-size Lego family (complete with Lego baby and stuffed animal) was in the parking lot. Pretty cool, huh?We even found a princess for the girls. "She's a seriously real princess, mom!" That's right, Paige.Check out the Sydney Opera House in the background. And finally, the beach. Christian and Haley spent countless hours boogie boarding while Paige and Elle played in the sand and dodged the waves.Grandpa spent lots of time at the beach with the kids. He took the girls "seashell hunting" almost every morning before breakfast.

Great vacation, great memories. And now loads of laundry to catch up on.....