We went on our very first family vacation (we’ve gone places with family, but not our own) to San Diego! I’m going to break up the posts by activity so stay tuned for LOTS of posts and pictures!
Adam was SO excited about the plane ride.
He spent most of the flight playing the iPad. Oh, how I love the iPad!!
Abigail did pretty well also and spent the flight climbing all over us, eating snacks, and also playing the iPad or Nat’s Xoom.
I don’t know if it shows up very well on here, but she has beautiful green eyes when she wears green!
Our first full day there was on a Sunday so we took a trip to see the San Diego Temple. I was almost 10 years old in 1993 and living in Rancho Santa Margarita (Orange County) when the temple was dedicated. My Dad sang in a stake choir in one of the dedication sessions so we were able to be in the Celestial Room for the dedication. I remember how beautiful that room was with the staircase where the choir sang.
It was a cloudy, cold morning!
Adam got to touch the temple which has been one of our stake goals in recent years.
I love how you come up a hill on the freeway and all of a sudden see the temple. It is VERY close to the freeway!
We walked around the grounds and the kids had fun running around and I had fun taking pictures of all the flowers of my “homeland”!
By the way, I lived in San Diego from about age 3-5 and Orange County from 5-10 so most of my young childhood was spent in California.
Poppies and Agapanthus
We had both of these in our backyard in California
There are more flower pics to come! :)
True to Coastal California, the sun came out in the afternoon and our next stop was the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. A couple weeks before we left, a man in our ward bore his testimony about this place that he visited while on a business trip in San Diego. I’m so grateful that he did because we wouldn’t have known about it and it was awesome!
They had a really neat interactive movie experience where we went to different rooms that were decorated like a campsite, army outfitter store, and old court house. The Sister Missionaries were great and Nat and I really enjoyed the history.
Adam was our Mormon Battalion member fitted for duty.
At the end, they had a kiosk where you could search for any ancestors who were members of the Battalion. My Mom reminded me before we left that my 5th Great Grandfather, Thomas Karren, served in the Mormon Battalion. He got sick and stayed the winter in Pueblo, CO, and then went to the Salt Lake Valley, rather than continuing on to San Diego where the Battalion helped build homes and establish the city. It was neat seeing his picture and biography there.
We had our picture taken as “Honorary Members of the Mormon Battalion”
Outside, they had a place to pan for gold (which many of the members did once they arrived in California).
Our big haul of gold!
Adam had a blast playing in the water
And Abby loved running around and building with bricks.
More flower pictures
Bougainvillea!
We also had this in our yard and I’ve always loved the hot pink color!
It was a great first day!
More posts to come….it might take me a few days to get everything posted. Last week was filled with laundry, cleaning, errands, and a sick baby girl and I’m still playing catch-up on real life!
