We decided to take advantage of Brandon's office being closed for two days and head to the ocean for a little family vacation! My aunt & uncle (Denise & Scott), who live in San Diego, were in Utah for Thanksgiving and graciously let us stay at their home.
For Thanksgiving morning and the big feast, we crashed the Steele's family celebration and joined their party (Aunt Janet & Uncle Brig)! The kids loved their turkey trot (in fact, Rachel just asked me tonight if she could wear her turkey trot shirt to school tomorrow) and got their own race bag with a shirt, snacks, water & earned a medal after the race! After watching Andrew play soccer, I was shocked that he was running as hard and as fast as he did for the turkey trot. Then all the kids got to go swimming in their backyard pool, which was still pretty cold, but they didn't mind!
After a delicious dinner and quick clean up, we headed to Oceanside to hit the beach at sunset. We were such happy campers and the kids played in the sand, explored, and even found crabs (somebody helped them find the teeniest baby one that Andrew is holding in the picture below).
While we were getting ready for bed back at "home", the kids were playing hide and seek and Andrew was running and sliding onto his knees on some very slippery wood floors and he crashed and got a gash near his eyebrow. Initially, I thought he ran into these two giant pilgrim statues, but Andrew corrected me the next day that he ran into the doorframe, next to the giant pilgrims. I like my version better - my story incorporates the first Thanksgiving! Oh well.
Brandon and I can get a little stressed out in these types of situations - figuring out where to take him, how much it will cost, dealing with finding an in-network provider, being out of state, etc. Brandon was not happy that they were being silly and playing such a hazardous game like hide and seek. :) Rachel was sobbing because she knew that Andrew had to go to the hospital to get a shot and stitches. Once we got everything figured out and calmed everyone down, Andrew and I were on our way to the ER at bedtime. He fell asleep in the waiting room, and I watched all the crazies come in (so glad he slept through all of it). He continued to sleep until he was woken up by a painful shot right in his wound to numb the area (sorry buddy!), and he was wrapped in a tight sheet swaddle to keep his hands down. He was freaking out pretty bad. He got 3 stitches and it went pretty quick. He was brave as I think he could have been. I think the worst part for him was having his arms tied down.
I got home around 10:30p, put Andrew in bed with Brandon, and then headed to Target for some Black Friday shopping. Stitches weren't going to ruin our Thanksgiving weekend fun!! Then I went to Home Depot at 5am and Brandon went later in the morning. Brandon got some tools and I got an artificial Christmas tree and some Target toys and clothes. I also picked up my poinsettias (12 plants for $1 each) that I do as neighbor gifts every year. Brandon was not happy when he realized that he would be the one packing them into the car for the ride home! He thought I was crazy! And I kind of am, and he still loves me!
We bandaged up Andrew's stitches, swung by VG's donuts and then headed to Moonlight beach. We spent the afternoon playing and body boarding and sand sledding, getting dirty and enjoying every minute. At dinner, I opted for getting some pizza for the kids at the concessions and it was a disaster! We should have ate at the tables, but I just brought 3 large slices down to our spot. We told Rachel not to spill it or she'd have to eat sandy pizza. Sure enough, she spilt it face down and Brandon did his best to get the most of the sand off, and then had her eat it. Yuck! What a good girl! While I was carefully feeding Andrew so that the same disaster would not occur, a fiesty seagull stole Kendall's entire slice off of my beach chair! We decided at that moment that we are not cut out for beach camping quite yet! But we still had the best time and our family loves the beach!
The next day we went to Sea World and had a super fun time! During the first Shamu show, I was welling up with tears - it was ridiculous and embarrassing, and I had no idea what it was about - perhaps it was the cheesy music/dialogue, maybe the memories from when I was a kid, or happy that we were all there, and/or sad that the animals were in captivity - totally not sure why! Our family was very impressed with all the animal shows and the rides. Rachel and dad hit all the big rides, while Andrew, Kendall and I did all the baby rides. Pretty soon, Kendall will want to go on the big rides and Andrew will beg me to stay on the baby rides with him - he hates roller coasters, and if you make him go on one, it is not pretty. Hopefully he will grow out of it soon because he is tall and should be using that to his advantage!
We ended with breakfast at the Original Pancake House, then back home to Mesa! We love being only 6 hours away from the ocean and need to go more often.
THANKSGIVING @ THE STEELE'S
THANKSGIVING @ OCEANSIDE
THANKSGIVING STITCHES
ENCINITAS - MOONLIGHT BEACH
SEA WORLD
