I have to say that San Diego has quickly grown on me. We aren’t much into big cities these days, but this place really seems to find a pretty good balance. We’re staying in the Mission Beach area, a nice stretch of beach with miles of pedestrian fun along the sand (though a little too much of a college frat party feel). Downtown is only ten minutes away, and is brimming with things to do. Weather—perfect. Water—a little too cold. Food—Mexican. And middle of nowhere Baja, Mexico, is just a long day drive away. I’m a fan.
Children’s Museum in the morning.
Mission Beach in the afternoon.
Crab legs in the evening. Nice day.
Ali just happened to stumble across the Fall Back Festival while looking for things to do in San Diego. Right downtown in the historic Gaslamp Quarter, one hundred percent geared to kids, and the whole thing was free, right down to the hot dogs and candy.
We decided on straight faces for the period piece photo.
I entered the bubble gum bubble blowing contest and took a not very well deserved second place ribbon—which made my children (mainly Ouest, who is really into trophies for some reason) exceedingly proud.
After that came the pie eating contest for kids. Ouest’s waving hands got her called up on stage to participate, but Lowe failed to make the cut. Which was probably for the best in the end as the competition turned out to be an actual competition with kids much older than ours.
Ouest dove in and spent three minutes slurping up whipped cream and chewing up pie crust. A good portion of everything went right down her shirt, but she did great. Unfortunately, she placed fourth and didn’t win a prize. She was pretty bummed. Ali says she was close to tears, but I didn’t see that. I did see that she got quiet and didn’t quite understand why she didn’t win. I thought it was probably a good lesson for her—we don’t always win after all. And we all let her know just how proud we were of her just for having the guts to go up on stage in front of that crowd, alongside all those older kids, and give it her best shot. A day later the thought of it still makes me smile with pride.
Of course the best thing about a four-year-old’s disappointment is that it is so short-lived.
What time travel looks like.
I love how much they love her.
26 Comments on “San Diego”
Looks like it was a great family day!!!
Did Grandma bring new boots?!
Ali’s mom brought new boots a few weeks ago.
What a great time for Grammy! Love the period photo’s…nothing like having a gun to your mother-in-laws’s head. haha 🙂
Love the period photos. Have you seen a movie called A Million Ways To Die In The West? It’s a comedy set in the late 1800’s. It’s not for kids but it has references to no smiles in photos.
You guys always seem to time your trips right with the local activities. Any advice on how to search out the local scene?
Believe me, we’ve missed a ton of things by just a couple of days. If you move around enough you seem to stumble onto stuff.
We too love San Diego. It would be a wonderful place to live if it weren’t so darn expensive.
Mark and Cindy
Oh cool, you guys should check out San Felipe. I spend a lot of time there studying people for my job. Buy you will probably like the Pacific side better because it is more touristy. Because fat middle aged people wearing Teva sandals pay for the infrastructure that you and I get to enjoy on the off season. Do you still think I am a fraud?
Was that one paragraph, or three? I have no idea what any of that meant. You are aware that we’ve been to Baja before, including San Felipe.
Good to see you bums are having so much fun before winter sets in(mind you Californian winters are mild like ours) princess Oust looks like she is having a ball having her face painted and decorates. Lowe looks like he is having fun and you guys look relaxed.
Cheers.
Trent.
Have to tried any of the RV parks in San Diego? We may be coming out there next year.
We’ve been staying at Campland. Good location, cramped park, high prices. Nothing to get excited about for sure.
It looks like a fun time with Grammy! Like the cowboy checking out his cell phone…too funny.
Really looking forward to hearing about your Mexican adventure, this is our next lap with the MoHo.
Won’t be long now.
I give a Blue Ribbon to Grammy for plopping herself onto the sand in white pants. My Nana wouldn’t have thought of doing that…even for her grandkids. Grammy has class!
Love the photo with the 4 men and the cell phone. Would love to see this in black and white. Liked it so much I came back today to view it again. Thanks for the many years of reading and photo viewing pleasure! Happy Trails!
Glad you enjoyed it. I tried it in B&W, but you could no longer see the phone, which is really the whole point of the picture.
Man! Why have I never had one of those western photos?! Never in my life! I’ve got to take care of that!
Us either. This was a first.
Loved this post, Pat.
Crabzilla! lol. Fun Times. Especially like the pic where Grammy is reading to them. Safe Travels.
Pat, your love for your family shines through in your photos. Especially in these. Thank you for sharing them with us.
Hello,
Saw your turquoise bus @ Campland. Your family was never at home. Wanted to say hello. My husband is a car guy and was intrigued by the vintage moho. We are staying here 3 months, until Feb. My husband and I love to ride our bikes all around the beach and bay area. I am originally from San Diego and we come here every year to visit family. Sorry to have missed you, but just wanted to wish you all the best travels. So interesting and such great photography.
Blessings,
Laurel & Mike Finnerty
I love the last shot with the kids and Grammy and also the period photo. 🙂 How cool that Ouest did a pie eating contest too!
(I’m catching up on the blog.)