SoCal 2015

Holy Craziness!  This trip was nowhere on my radar.  Until all of the sudden, it was.  It was not a coincidence that everything fell in to place perfectly.

This vacation was supposed to happen.

 

Reagan went from having near-perfect days at school, to being a nightmare.  She was back to engaging in animal-like behavior.  And every morning I would break out in to a cold-sweat; when it was time for me to take Reagan to school.  She was using me as a human punching-bag; on a regular basis.

 

Vacations had always done a lot to soothe Reagan, in the past.  So, I ordered one up.

Sure, she was going to miss 3 days of school...  But I didn't care.

 

On a whim, I contacted our "Pharmacy Family", to see if they could join us?  And miracle, of miracles!  Both the Sims' and McDonald's agreed to join us!

 

Day 1:  We flew in to the San Diego airport.  And we met Sims' at In N' Out burger for dinner.  That night our two families stayed at the SpringHill Suites in Rancho Bernardo.  That hotel was affordable, but it was so run-down!

 

Day 2: SeaWorld.  Before we left, Nick ordered discount tickets for SeaWorld through Walgreen's.  But they never showed up!  We were scrambling to figure out what to do?  I went to the front desk at the Springhill, and was very pleasantly surprised to find that they sold discount tickets to SeaWorld, and they were good for unlimited visits for 7 days!

 

It was pretty obvious that SeaWorld was feeling the "pinch" after the whole Black Fish documentary.  During the dolphin show, there were about two minutes worth of dolphin tricks.  The rest of the show was made up by humans doing aerial acrobatics.

And I was actually OK with that.  I watched Black Fish.  I didn't think it had that much of an effect on me.  But when we were in the park, and we went past the Orca pool, it broke my heart.

 

That boo-hooing aside...  It was so nice to spend the day with the Sims'.



 Elsa wanted to ride the rides, all day long.

 Nick took the girls on the Atlantis roller-coaster.  Reagan loved it!  Elsa hated it.

Sea World was surprisingly crowded.  It didn't take long for Reagan to get overloaded.
I thought she would have loved being there.  But she didn't.  She was in full-on meltdown mode by the time we ate lunch.
I ended up taking her out of the park.  And I let Nick stay with Cohen and Elsa.
We took a leisurely walk out of the park. 
And Reagan enjoyed stopping to see the Orca's.

We waited in the car for a few hours, while the other's finished up at SeaWorld.
The kids zonked out in the car, on the way home.

Day 3: We packed up our beach gear (and checked out of the dumpy Springhill Suites in Rancho Bernardo) and headed to the beach.  This trip we tried out Ponto Beach, in Carlsbad.

The Sims' were already there, and the McDonald's finally met up with us.
Ponto Beach was really nice, for a California beach.

This day was pure heaven!  Playing in the surf.  Being with our friends.
No one got sunburned.

Oh, l'amour.  When my kids are happy.  I am happy.

After the beach, we checked in to the Springhill Suites in Oceanside, CA.  Oh my!  It was a great hotel.  I'd have to say that it is my new favorite (affordable) Marriott property.

Everyone got cleaned up.  And then Katie, Anna, and I took off and went shopping at the Outlets in Carlsbad.  The "Dad's" took the kids down to the pier.  All three of those guys are such amazing fathers.  I told Nick that on our next pharmacy family vacation, we'll return the favor, and let the boys go golfing.


Day 4: I woke up early and went for a run on the boardwalk.  I love running at Sea Level.  And the ocean-view is one of my favorites.
We got ready for the day AND...
Six Adults, and 9.5 children (Anna's pregnant with #4!) hit up the San Diego Zoo.

Seriously, $200 for a family of five to go to the zoo?!  It's a good thing we were on vacation.

We entered the zoo, took a quick picture and made a bee-line for the Panda exhibit.  We wanted to see them while they were active, and before the line got too long.

The Panda Exhibit is toward the rear of the zoo.  And the San Diego Zoo takes the phrase "uphill both ways" to a new level!
As soon as we were done with seeing the pandas, Elsa fell apart.  She was throwing an enormous tantrum because she was hungry, and would only settle for a Hot Dog.
Of course, there weren't any restaurants nearby that served Hot Dogs.  So, while everyone else dined at one of the nearby joints, Nick and I hauled all three of our kids back up the hill to a place that had Hot Dogs.
Just so you have an idea of what we were dealing with...  Here's a picture of Elsa in the throes of her epic temper tantrum:

The best part? Elsa ate (maybe) two bites of her hot dog, and declared that she was done.
Seriously?!  That girl.

Reagan started in with craziness, where Elsa left off.
It was another day of Reagan melt-downs.
We kept her in the park for as long as we could.  But Nick finally "called it", and hauled Reagan out to the car.
Nick was walking a few paces in front of me, carrying a screaming Reagan.  And I overheard two older women, as they passed Nick say, "That little girl was crying for her Mommy!  Do you think that man is kidnapping her?"
Wasn't the first time.  And I'm sure it won't be the last.

Reagan went out to the car, and took a 2.5 hour nap.

I took Elsa and Cohen and we stayed with our group.
We took the 40 minute bus tour, that doesn't really allow you to see many animals.  But whatever.  At least I was able to sit down.

We visited the Orangutan.  Elsa loved it!

We also rode the sky-ride.  Several times.  Much to my chagrin.  I hate that thing. What I do for my kids...
We ended the day on a happy note.

Back in the hotel room, all three of the kids were happy.  I think it was the only time that day, that (at least) one of them wasn't freaking out.

Didn't I tell you?  This hotel was amazing!  Our ocean-view room was so nice. 
I really liked the valet parking.  It made everything seem so much more luxurious.  The rooms were gorgeous.
My only complaint is that they bathroom door didn't have a lock.  No joke.  What is that all about?

Day 5:  We headed to the roof-top pool.  Oh yeah, there was a rooftop infinity pool!  Seriously, if you have a chance to stay there, do it.  The Springhill Suites in Oceanside.
We went swimming with the McDonald's for the better part of the morning.

This is a picture of the hot tub.  I forgot to get a picture of the pool, itself.  But you get the idea.

Our flight wasn't until 4:30PM.  So, we decided to the harborside village for lunch.  There's a fish n' chips place that is divine!

The kids had a grand time spotting seals, sunning themselves in the harbor.

After lunch Anna really wanted to go for milk shakes at Ruby's, the restaurant on the end of the pier.  We figured we had enough time.   I mean, milk shakes can't take that long, can they?
I guess when you have 10 people ordering milk shakes, they CAN take a long time.  And then, when the server arrives at your table and tips her tray, spilling some of the milk shakes, it can take even longer!

We high-tailed it back to our car.  And hit traffic on the way to the airport. Nick was practically hyperventilating!  He gets so stressed out when it comes to air-travel.  Which is surprising, considering that I am way more of the anal one, in our relationship.
We made it to the airport, and the skycap said we literally had 30 seconds to get our luggage checked in.
An airport worker met us at security, to hustle us to the plane.  I guess, the reason I was so relaxed about it, is because I honestly would have loved to spend one more day in California.  There are way worse places to be stranded, right?!

We made it on the plane, by the skin of our teeth.
I sat with Cohen and Elsa, and they spent most of the time entertaining themselves by using the phones to take silly pictures:

We made it home.
Reagan's behavior had not been ideal on the vacation.  But I don't regret going for one instant.
Especially considering how much things would change, a mere two days after we returned home.