San Diego 2026

 When Lori underwent foot surgery in May, she needed something to look forward to. Knowing her cast would be off in July, we planned an adventure to San Diego for August. We were blessed to have the Schow and Henderson families accompany us. As luck would have it, Dallin and Alyssa just bought a Kia Carnival, and since they had planned on driving anyway, what a way to get to know your new ride! About a week before we left, Kaylee had the thought that Avery should go with us, and I was all in! Avery and I are tight, so I was confident we could pull this trip off. And I'd traveled with her older sister as a lap infant, and that was fun.

Our flight out was delayed an hour. Something about a blinking light and paperwork held us up. This put us right into Avery's nap AND lunch time. She takes both very seriously. You know what? We made do, with some assistance from Kaylee and a bag of fruit snacks I had purchased at the airport. And in the end, as the plane landed, she took a nap. We waited on the plane as long as we could!

We picked up our rental - a 2027 Chrysler Pacifica. I hate to admit it, but minivans drive nicely and are very functional. Which is good, because we loaded it up with 7 people plus some luggage. I did send two large suitcases in the Carnival, so that was a win. It was a bit of work navigating around with a car seat and Avery! We made a pit stop at Chick-Fil-A, then drove south to San Diego. It was Grandma Sally's first time to one of this restaurant chain, and she ordered a SALAD. She was allowed to stay with us, despite this obvious party foul.

When I say we headed south, I mean it. From the backyard of the rental, you could see the border wall and Tijuana! The rental itself was awesome and unique. It was an older home, and it still had older decorations in it. My guess is somebody passed away, and whoever inherited this house immediately turned it into a rental. There was one bedroom on the ground floor, with the rest of us staying upstairs. The master suite, which we were in, was gigantic. All in all, the rental served us well, despite having the dimmest lighting system every conceived. We made good use of the pool, especially after it became Phil's passion project and was fine tuned.

Lori's foot was still very sore, so I had reserved an electric scooter for her at Sea World, our first adventure on the next day. Despite a rough start, they figured it out. We had one for Sally as well - recovering from knee surgery.

Sea World was awesome! And HOT!!! Let me give you some bullet points on this part of the trip.

• We bought the meal plan, and I got my money's worth! Like, I think I ate 4 meals. Not that I was hungry, but it felt like my fiscal duty.
• Speaking of meals, Sea World is highly inefficient. The lines move at a snail's pace.
• Avery can speak both sea lion and penguin.
• The wet zone is real. Just ask Bella.
• Bella is a great, confident dancer. Dallin has some moves as well. Even Avery shook her booty for a bit.
• I think Kaylee and Logan were there? They had to disappear often. He's just a baby! Either he was really good, or Kaylee hid it, but I tend to believe he was just an awesome baby.
• The drone show was a highlight for me.
• Avery had to walk to get onto the rides. She CRUSHED it! She can walk when SHE chooses to.
• We spent a long time in the kid jump areas, and Bella and Avery both loved them. They were both padded areas. One geared toward toddlers, the other towards Bella's age. Avery walked with confidence!

You know what a highlight for me was? Every morning, I was first up, followed by Logan and Phil. Always great to start the day with some Logan time.Well, and Phil. But mostly Logan.

Another highlight? Playing pirate and going on a treasure hunt, and finding treasures! Ok, the treasure might have been pieces of chandelier and a birthday crown....

Day #3 was a rest day for some of us. The Hendersons went to the beach, then we met up for Mexican food at Murrieta's and were serenaded with $20 worth of songs. Thanks Phil!

Day #4 was whale watching, where saw whales and dolphins! The dolphins came right up to the boat. So cool! We ate at Hodad's for lunch. Fun atmosphere, good burgers and a bathroom. I'm not going to lie, the bathroom was another highlight for me....It was a lot of fun just to ride on the boat and do something we hadn't done before.

We ate dinner at Balsamicos. Authentic Italian food. Probably my favorite meal.

Somewhere along the way, we played a card game. And I won! Phil came at me with a Freeze card, so I was happy to be triumphant.

I ended the trip with a nap. I was a bit exhausted, but life was a bit easier when Kaylee informed me that the car seat cover had backpack straps. Life changing moment right there.

I definitely want to do another San Diego trip, hopefully with more of the family. August was a bit too hot for Sea World, but it did work out for swimming, the beach and whale watching. So I guess I'd have to factor that in. Maybe in 5 years it'll be time to hit up LegoLand, Sea World and the San Diego Zoo again.