The Rogers Review

Thursday, August 7, 2014

San Diego {Day 3&4}

{Day 3: La Jolla Cove}
This is on the Coast Walk right in the heart of La Jolla. It is absolutely beautiful. The cliffs just add so much character to the beauty of it all.

We took a little stroll and I looked back and Caleb was falling asleep on Pawpaw's shoulders! He had some trouble adjusting to the 2 hour "earlier" time change. Sweet boy.

Watching the seals at the Children's Pool.

The Children's Pool where a bunch of seals (and tourists) gather.

I discovered that La Jolla has 7 caves along the coastline unlike any other area, and one of the caves is accessible by land. It's called Sunny Jim's Cave. We walked down the 145 steps to check it out. It was pretty neat!

Our best family photo of the trip! We ate dinner at Anthony's Fish Grotto in downtown San Diego for supper. It was a great meal!

{Day 4: San Diego Zoo}

First time to see Koalas. They had 7 boys and 7 girls! They were too cute!

Caleb found his "fwav-wite!"

I loved that the exhibits had the animals so close. This cheetah is paired with the dog in the back as a playmate/friend. Crazy and cool all at the same time.

Riding the Skyfari to the other side of the zoo. We rode this cool thing twice!

Mr. Polar Bear fast asleep.

This sweet boy is not going to miss his nap time!

Caleb really got into the petting zoo!

This was after the goat ate the piece of hay he was trying to feed it!

Dylan in a staring contest.

Giving me their best tiger faces!

This boy loves snakes. Eek! But oh did they have the mother of reptile exhibits. We saw snakes for days...

This guy would even follow his finger around the glass. Eek x2!

Love these boys. They wore their "favorite" animal shirts to the zoo! Caleb saw giraffes, but Dylan's bald eagle experience came at a different park.

I picked up pizza, salad, and shrimp dip at Sammy's Woodfire Grill for supper. Awesome little pizza place in La Jolla!

San Diego {Day 1&2}

This was our first time to the Golden State of California. We rented a house in La Jolla through VRBO on Chelsea St. which is literally across the street from the ocean. We could see the ocean from the 2nd and 3rd floors of our house. We had a good 'ole Arkansas laugh because we texted the owners when we got there that the A/C was broke. We learned that NO ONE that lives on the coast in San Diego has air! We opened all the windows and slept with the folding doors open each night. It was an adjustment, but at least I can say I could get VERY used to that way of life! I still would like some A/C for some back up though. Jonathan's parents went with us. We had not vacationed with them in several years. It was so great having them with us for the week!

{Day 1: Travel} July 24, 2014
Caleb's first flight!

As we took off this is the face I got.....priceless.

We had a longer layover in Dallas than expected. But the boys kept busy with some Candy Crush.

Dallas to San Diego was naptime. I won't lie, I prayed that this would happen. It did and he slept until the last 15 minutes of the flight. He woke up screaming, "I want off the plane!" He screamed until we landed and got off. I honestly thought his ears were hurting. That is what he told me "mid" screaming fit. He later told his Pawpaw he was "just throwing a fit". Oh that child. He's comical. We made it!

We stopped for dinner at the Burger Lounge before heading to our house. It was great and I realized right then and there that I was going to fall in love with SoCal weather.

{Day 2: Beach/Golf}

We went to Tourmaline Beach Friday morning. It's a surf park and was loaded with surfers in the water. We all enjoyed watching them. The actual beach was not crowded at all, so the boys played for a while in the waves and building sand castles. Caleb only wanted to build them so he could immediately crash them down.

He wasn't very sure about the waves. He needed someone right there with him.

Joy...

Fun with my eldest boy. His zest for life is astounding!

The boys played Torrey Pines that afternoon. They both said it was a fun course to play.

After naps for all, we picked the boys up from the golf course and went to dinner at Alfonso's of La Jolla. It was recommended by my cousin, Amy Carper, that grew up in La Jolla. It was the BEST Mexican food I have ever had. It was so very authentic. We all raved all week about that meal!

The boys finished the day with some chocolate cake!

Let me hold you longer.

For whatever reason, here lately I've been really taking note of the things my kiddos are doing. I know these moments are fleeting, and I don't want to forget the daily silly things they do, how they sound, or how full my life is with two little boys.

I read a great article about what it means to be a boy mom. It talked about how much those little boys adore and love you, but how they will also be tall, strong men one day. I will try to link it into the post later.

So here are a few things that are "us" right now that I want to remember:

Dylan,

You love super heroes. You love Avengers, Spider-Man, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and knights. You love to turn into these characters and I love your imagination. And your brother is right there on your coat tails.

You LOVE to swim. You are doing it all by yourself. You can dive down and get rings in the shallow end. You are perfecting your cannon ball and pencil jump off the diving board.

You enjoy Bible class. You ask so many questions about heaven, God, and Bible characters. You really love reading about Moses right now. You tell me that you love me all the way to God and back. I love your zest for the Truth.

You are a leader. You like to take charge. Karate is magnifying these traits. You are learning discipline and fine tuning your manners. You love karate and have asked us if you can take it until you are a black belt. I love that you discovered something YOU love!

You love to read. You love time with just "me". You love to cut, color, and glue. We have worked some this summer on your letter sounds. You know a few of them. You love to learn. You are excited to go to Pre-K 4 next week!

I love you. My oldest son. My almost 5 year old. My tender hearted, energy oozing, sweet boy!

Caleb,

You are the ham to our family sandwich. You are funny. You make us laugh each and every day!

You love to play make-believe with your brother. You "ride" trucks to vacation. You play "I'm the Daddy" games with Dylan. You both have started playing so well together and it's fun to watch. This was "don't fall off into the crocodiles" and "Daddy save me" this morning! And you usually create the scenes!

You are becoming more of a Daddy's boy. You still love me but you want to play games and be silly with Daddy!

Ever since we lived through yard construction at our house, I've rocked you for a nap. It was too loud for you to go to sleep on your own and now you really prefer it that way. I've really been enjoying it.