Day 9

Wednesday, May 14:  Today was our last day on the West Coast…and at 95 degrees and sunny it was a good way to end the vacation!  As always, we're sad to see it come to an end, but it's been really fun, and we've been lucky enough to be able to do it.

Here's some last day fun in the sun:

The USS Midway, which is longest-serving Navy aircraft carrier from the 20th century is docked in San Diego harbor. Syracuse played San Diego State on this thing back in 2012.  And in case you're interested, 'Cuse won 62-49.  CJ Fair and Michael Carter-Williams both scored 17 points in the game.

  Dinner in Seaport Village:

Good night San Diego…

Day 8

Tuesday, May 13:  Seaworld San Diego.  10 minutes away and no lines for rides!

 
James exploring the friendly horseshoe crabs and bamboo sharks.

We sat in the soak zone for the Shamu show - and it lived up to the hype!  The kids look miserable here, but loved getting splashed by the whales:

Day 7

Monday, May 12:  We were feeling a bit ambitious this morning and decided to get some exercise by renting bikes for the day and touring Mission Bay and Mission boardwalk with the kids in tow.  The Mission Bay bike path covers 13 miles and loops around the entire bay, traveling through 10 public parks (with playgrounds) and 2 wildlife preserves.

Not too many pictures today. The kids are tired of getting their picture taken (and we're getting tired of trying to convince them to smile):

Day 6

Sunday, May 11:  Happy Mother's Day from Coronado Island!!

We spent today on a small island just across the bay from downtown San Diego.  The Coronado beaches are gorgeous with a deep gold glittering sand and dozens of sand-dollars.  The island has somewhat of a Martha's Vineyard-type feel.  The beachfront near the famous "Hotel del Coronado" is very picturesque and was ranked the America's #1 beach in 2012.  The hotel opened in the 1800s and has featured guests like Thomas Edison, Babe Ruth, Katharine Hepburn and President George W. Bush and President Obama.

Here's someone using a jet pack outside our condo.  It looked pretty fun and reminded us of the awesome 1990s movie "The Rocketeer".

Day 5

Saturday, May 10: Today we explored LaJolla Cove, which is just north of San Diego and has some spectacular views.  The beach is surrounded by cliffs and the high tide brings fish, crabs and other marine wildlife into the coral.  

Here's the kids having some fun:

Leah with a nice smile:

And James in timeout (hey, at least there's a view):

Over 200 harbor seals live in LaJolla cove and these seals spend their entire life in the same general vicinity. They "haul up" on the beach and rocks to soak up the sun and sleep during the afternoon. This area is also very full of fish and the marine life helps stabilize the seals.

We had some fun exploring the caves for fish, crabs and other ocean creatures. This place was impressive -- there were hundreds of crabs hanging out in the tide pools and plenty of fish that were stuck until the next high tide.

Luke napping on the beach:



We took a post-dinner walk along Mission Beach boardwalk to Belmont Park and came across a place called the "Wave House", which is an artificial wave machine that simulates surfing.  You can have dinner and drinks, then stick around to ride the waves.  Here's the website, it's pretty awesome:
http://www.belmontpark.com/restaurants/wavehouse/

Day 4

Friday, May 9:  Fun in the sun.