Sunday
We woke up to a beautiful sunny day and decided to spend the day at the pool! The pool at our complex was closed so we headed up to the Boulder Springs clubhouse and the huge pool and water slide up there! The girls were in their element, me too as I got to relax and read my book(Dreams of Joy!)! After a few hours of sun we were crispy. We headed back for lunch and then took a walk up to another clubhouse for ice cream sundaes. Sunday afternoon we chilled, had a BBQ dinner and then some family pool at the kids clubhouse after - what a great start to our holiday.
Monday
Another gorgeous day greeted us, we decided to head to the beach! So we drove to Oceanside and took a long walk on the long pier. It was beautiful, with tons of surfers and at the end of the pier we say a few pods of dolphins- awesome! We then drove south to Carlsbad and lunch time. We had a great lunch at Swamis and the headed down to the beach? It was so nice and warm we all chilled for a bit. Then we decided we needed some retail therapy. The Carlsbad outlet mall was close and off we went. Frank found some good deals but they were missing a lot of good stores. We shopped for a bit and then headed home. After a full day no-one felt like cooking so Pizza Hut it was. Another great fun packed day!
Tuesday
It was a little cloudy today and Frank and I had to attend a timeshare presentations- not sure how we were roped into that. It was too long and they were giving us the hard sell- so we left. The girls int he meantime had a great time at the kids club and had made tons of origami and had a good lunch too. We then drove to Mission Beach and Belmont Park, the girls each got a wristband and went on all the rides. Danica went on the roller coaster about 6 times- she liked it a lot. After a few hours we headed to the soft serve ice cream stand and each had a massive ice cream- yum. Then we took a walk down the beach- it is so nice and relaxing down here. After a few hours in Mission Beach we headed to Point Loma- Karen had told me about this and it was an amazing site to see. All the white crosses in memory of fallen soldiers- truly a site. We could also see all the way to Mexico too- what a great place to visit- too bad we were too late to go to the museum at the point. Then it was home for a pasta dinner.
Wednesday
The sun was out this morning so we decided to have a chill day- we headed up to the pool and spent a few hours there- I discovered the adults only hot tub at the pool and spent a bit in there. The girls had a great time in the massive pool. We had an easy lunch followed by a nap. Then we woke up and had to go to Von's for some food items. Frank dropped me at Ross to do some shopping and headed to the Whole Foods nearby. Coming home we got caught in the traffic and we worried we would due late for the 7pm Illusionist show we had fix too. We dashed in - had a dinner of leftovers and made it in time to the Welk Theatre for the Anthony Hernandez show. It was an impressive show- there were birds and bunnies and ladies cut in half, even an underwater Hodini escape. The girls were mesmerized and got toe meet Anthony after- not bad for a free show.
The fog was abound in the morning so we headed to the beach. Our first stop was the wine town of Temecula- a great little town, with lots of antique shopping and wine tasting. I had an olive oil tasting- which was a little weird as they don't use bread- but the oils were delis and I ended up buying a few bottles- will be a challenge to fly home I am sure. After a few hours here we continued on our adventures for the day and stopped at the Mission Lui Del Rey- one of the many missions in So Cal. It was lovely to see - the architecture was beautiful and the church so restful. They have the oldest pepper tree in North America planted here- pretty huge.
Next stop was the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad- wow! Frank and the girls had a blast here- surprisingly I was not bored- there were great displays and many instruments to play. i really liked the electric harp the most. The girls each got a mini harmonica necklace here too- cute. across the street for the museum were the ranunculus flower fields- they were lovely and colourful- a great site to see. A quick stop and at Starbucks and we were headed back to the resort. The girls got to go swimming too- fun packed day was had by all.
Friday
It was pretty cloudy today and so we headed to Balboa Park and the Nat-The National History Museum. There were huge dinosaurs in the lobby so we knew this would be good. The first floor had water etc in california, the next level
showed dinosaurs and how lad masses move- relevant to what Dani is learning in school now so that was great. The top level had skulls- so many different sizes and shapes- they also had a display of how they clean the flesh off the skulls- maggots!! The lower level was my fav- it was all about gems- there were some impressive diamonds and other stunning rocks down there.
We popped in the Spanish Arts Village after the NAT- we saw how they make fimo beads- we can do that!! Then lunch and off to Las Americas mall for shopping. This mall is 2 miles from the Mexico border- in fact there parking lot backs on to the border and you can see Mexico across the fence. We did some damage to our bank account here that was for sure- but the deals were great. Danica who is growing like a vine- go the most followed by Frank and his shopping habit. After a few hours- we were pooped and headed back north to the resort and dinner at Chilis. Frank was so hungry he finished off his meal- half my burger and the girls chicken chunks- must have been all that shopping. Then we had to go back and pack up to leave the next morning.
