Day 5

Day 5 brought many adventures in one day.

Dad, Ben and I started off with the tour at Midway. It was a lot of walking on this boat museum, so mom planned on staying back with the kids at the hotel and meeting us after lunch for the rest of our planned adventures.

When we got to Midway I was very overwhelmed by the size of it. I wasn't so sure that I could handle the tour either. The tour took you around and through all the decks of the vast battleship. At first it wasn't too bad. We each got a headset that explained different aspects of the ship and the different things done on the ship by its crewmen. The first half consisted of going down and down through the belly of the ship to see how they lived and the different places that they performed their jobs. After about and hour and a half of steps and confined places I was getting sick to my stomach. I felt bad because Dad and Ben were having a blast walking through. I muscled through the best that I could and was very glad when the tour of the belly of the ship was done. We stopped for a bite to eat at their cafe. I was hoping that something to eat would settle my stomach. It did its job, but we didn't get much, it was really expensive. Ben and I split a grilled chicken sandwich. Luckily the sickness in my stomach didn't really want to eat much.

After lunch we headed to the top of the ship where they housed all the planes. That was pretty cool to me. I liked that better the the belly of the ship. They had over 30 different types of planes, each one with its own job to do. The view from up top was beautiful too. I was starting to feel much better. The queasiness was finally going away. I had room to move around and breath.

After having seen all that the tour had to offer, Mom had made it and we met them in the parking lot. We then walked over to our next adventure; a Harbor tour.

I loved the Harbor tour. While we were in high school, we went on one while on choir tour and I was very excited to go one another one. It was a little harder with kids because we were worried about them getting into trouble by bugging people or falling off the boat trying to see into the water. But with the 4 of us adults, we managed okay. Part way through the tour Owen we getting sick of the boat and wanted off. It was really that he just wanted to sleep. He cuddled on Nana's lap and took a very small cat nap.

Gabbi loved the boat. She wanted to walk around the whole thing and try to see as much as possible. She was very excited when we spotted some dolphins and a whole bunch of sea lions, sun bathing. Overall, we all had a fun time on the boat.

After the harbor tour we headed back to the car and headed to a small town that housed the Mormon Battalion museum. It was hard to find a place to park, but once we did we made our way out to the main street. We stopped at a Mexican place for dinner. Mom heard about it from a friend and said we had to try it. It wasn't bad. I have had better, but overall, it wasn't bad.

After dinner we walked around the town doing some window shopping as we made our way to the museum. We found a really cute Mexican dress for Gabbi. She was very excited about it. She is a girly girl when she wants to be.

After 30 minutes of trying to figure out the map to find the museum, we finally got there. Just in time too. They were about to start another tour. The tour was pretty cool. We followed the story of a few groups that made their way to California as a part of the Mormon Battalion. The kids weren't as enthralled in it as we were, but there was some fun activities for them after the tour was over. They got to pan for gold, make bricks, etc. Overall I think they had fun. On our way back to the car, we stopped for ice cream and then headed back to the car to head home.

On the way home, we passed the San Diego Temple. It was all lit up and the kids thought that it was just beautiful. Gabbi wanted to go to the castle, as she called it. When we got back to the hotel both kids were fast asleep. It was awesome.

Day 4

Day 4 brought a more relaxing day. We planned on resting from our big adventures by taking trips to the beach and playing in the pool at the hotel.

We had a slow relaxing morning, then we got ready to go to the beach. Packed up the beach toys, the kids, and headed for the car. When we got to the beach there was hardly anyone there. We found great place to park and walked right out onto the beach. Mom stayed in the car to read, she would have had a hard time walking on the uneven sand. But she still wanted to come down, which was nice because the kids had a blast telling her everything they did on the beach.

When we got out there, we picked a place for the kids to play with the beach toys. We laid out the blanket and their towels, but then headed for the water. I had no intention of getting in the water, but Ben and the kids had a different idea. They had so much fun walking out into the water and then running as the waves rolled in. I took a walk on the rock pier to get a better look at the water and the sea creatures that lived there. Saw some awesome starfish, a ton of crabs, and beautiful landscapes. The best part was watching Ben with the kids. At one point he actually got Gabbi to walk in to her waist. Shortly after the wave came in and she was in to her head. But she loved it. Owen on the other hand was a different story. He was trying to run away from a wave and fell. He had hardly any water around him, but the water was cold enough for him that he was done running in it.

He, Papa, and I played in the sand until Gabbi and Ben joined us. After about 2 hours, they sectioned off the beach. One side for the surfers and the other for swimmers. We moved down the beach because Gabbi and Ben wanted to play in the water again. Owen and I played in the sand and after a while decided that it was time to go. The beach was started to get full and it was time for lunch. We cleaned up the best we could and headed back to the hotel to really get cleaned up.

After lunch we lounged around the condo for a little bit and then the kids were bugging us to go down and play in the water again. So instead of the beach we headed down to the pool. The kids had their life jackets on and they just went for it. Gabbi had a blast jumping in and jumping out. She loves the water. Owen took a little time warming up to it. He and I hung around the kiddie pool. Once we was comfortable, he to was jumping in and out it.