Weekend in San Diego

Ryan had a conference to attend in San Diego over the first weekend in January, so after two days' rest at home, we packed up again and went with him!  
  

Corinne Showing off her Grabbing skills

   We stayed at a hotel near downtown, so Ryan was able to bike to the conference each morning, leaving the kids and I to explore on our own.  
  

Hanging out with Dad at the Hotel

   Friday morning, as my first big outing with four kids, I picked Sea World.  It was probably too ambitious.  There was quite a lot of chasing naughty Evan around, and losing the older ones, but it was fun anyway.  We saw Elise's beloved dolphin show, and Connor sat down near the front by himself in hopes of being splashed (turns out, dolphins aren't that splashy.)  A good chunk of our time was spent at the baby playground/bounce house/climbing nets.  I remember doing this with Evan when he was eighteen months, and he still loved it.  At the turtle exhibit, the kids mostly stared at a turtle video game.
  

Dolphin Show

  

Connor's Turtle got the High Score

Saturday we went to the Birch Aquarium, which was awesome.  The kids decided ahead of time which animals they wanted to learn about.  Connor picked jellyfish and squid, Elise picked octopus and seahorses.  Fun, and less stressful than the day before (also 1/5 the cost.)
  

     

On Sunday, we went to church at the closest ward, which happened to be one that covered the naval base nearby.  A lot of people thought I was a new move-in with a husband on deployment - I guess single moms with lots of kids are a common sight there!  
    

This was on the way back from church, but the behavior was about the same.

   

   Later that day, we went with Ryan to see the USS Midway aircraft carrier.  It was fascinating, and something I knew practically nothing about.  Ryan and I have started watching that "Carrier" documentary on Netflix since our visit.  
    

Chatting with the Admiral

Navigator's Chair

   

    Monday was our drive home, but first we headed to the Himalaya Tourmaline Mine north of San Diego.  Connor wanted to learn about crystals for his passion project, so the kids got to dig through and screen mine tailings!  They found some pretty little gemstones, so they were super excited.  They worked for about an hour before their hands got too cold in the muddy water. 
      

  

   We got home tired and happy.
    

  

Real Christmas (In Utah)

Early Sunday morning, the day before Christmas Eve, we drove up to spend a week in Utah.  We timed it just right, since the very next day saw the start of a four-day blizzard that pretty much snowed us in!  
    

Elise and Grandpa worked hard on their snowmen.

  

Despite the weather, Kevin, Kyle, Kelli, Felix, and baby Lincoln were all able to come down to my mom's place, so we got to open presents and have Christmas dinner together!  
  

   

    

For the next few days, the kids played with their toys, we shoveled snow, read, hung out, and just relaxed.  It was exactly what I needed.  
      

Flying Connor's Helicopter in the Shed

I don't know if Elise designed this to look like a heart, but I wouldn't be surprised.

  

When the roads cleared, we managed to go up to Temple Square with Kelli and her kids to look at the lights (poor Kyle had to go to a Jazz game).  It was cold.  No - actually COLD!  Not something we're accustomed to anymore.  Despite the chilliness, Kevin and Katie were still willing to come out and join us as we looked at lights and candy windows.  It was pretty great.

    

  

  

We visited Kyle and Kelli's new house (Ryan hadn't seen it yet), and stayed up late playing card games.  Felix didn't make it very long.
   

  
We also went over to Grandma Cloe's for an afternoon.  Even little Evan knows that Grandma Cloe has toy cars and ice cream.  Binny had fun, too.
  

I love this picture.

   
I had brought this gingerbread house kit up with me, then forgot to build it.  We decided to do it last-minute the night before we left.  I figure it's better to make the mess at Grandma's house than ours, right?  Oh, and I was much better behaved this year.  I let the kids do basically all of it themselves.  Only Evan was brave enough to eat it the next day.  It's kind of more for looks than flavor.
  

(Next Morning)

We left on New Year's Eve morning, and drove straight through.  We got to Pasadena around eleven, so Ryan thought we should park, wake everybody up, and walk through the cold, dark night to the float display to ring in the new year.  Tragically, there was no parking, so we gave up on that idea.  It was fun to drive the route, though, and have silly string, marshmallows, and tortillas thrown at us.  When we got home I don't think we even turned on the TV at midnight.  We just went to bed.