San Diego- Day 1

School is out, summer is here, and that means time for San Diego! Being two, Ian has been the most excited about the whole thing. We'd head off to go get Max from the gym and I'd ask, "Guess where we have to go now?" and he'd yell, "Degoland!" (his version of "Legoland") I prepared by buying him some Crayola Color Wonder books for the trip, and actually held off on letting him see them until we needed them on the plane.

I also prepared him for the shock of not landing in Legoland or actually going there until the second day by reminding him we were going to San Diego ("Sandy Gaygo" to Ian). We had snacks, books, cars, markers, colored pencils, coloring books, origami, and hoodies ready for the plane ride. A friend also let us borrow her FAA approved safety harness for the flights, which eliminated the need to haul a car seat around the airports while still keeping Ian buckled up safely in his seat. My only complaint was that he couldn't sit up higher to see better out the window.

The seating arrangements were passed out before each flight to avoid any conflicts. This was the line-up for our first leg.


Things went very smoothly and we even managed to nap some. My original itinerary for the day went out the window once everyone got super cranky from lack of sleep. The adults had only "napped" the night before and had been awake since 2 a.m. San Diego time. We did take in the USS Midway aircraft carrier and the boys had tons of fun weaving in and out of the many compartments in the ship. We all loved the 25' tall sculpture nearby entitled "Unconditional Surrender". There were also over 2 dozen aircraft aboard for them to admire and explore.

We decided to head to Carlsbad early and found a Church for vigil Mass. It was Mexican in downtown Carlsbad for dinner and then back to the hotel to get a good night sleep before our big day. The Grand Pacific Palisades Resort was beatufil. So much, in fact, that there were two weddings happening there that evening. One was just outside our window.