{ vacation: san diego }

It's been a little bit!

That's mostly because this past week, my family, Marcus and I were all getting ready to go on a great trip we'd been planning for awhile! Mom's been wanting to go back to San Diego forever--last time we went was probably about seven or eight years ago. While that in and of itself was a fun experience, it had been a long time and my poor mom was pretty tired out from her job. She'd been saving up vacation time all year!

The four days we were there went by too quickly, unfortunately.

While we were there, we:

• Enjoyed some good food, including breakfast time at the hotel's Waffle Spot and their dinner joint, Amigo Spot. (They're big on spots there, I guess). My youngest brother, Tommy, had especially missed these restaurants. I suspect it was a nostalgia thing. 
• Visited the Gaslamp District and shopped around some shops I'd dreamed of seeing, mainly including the Bettie Page store. Pictures to follow.
• Of course, went to the beach! We visited Mission Beach for the day at the beginning of our trip, and we technically went to La Jolla, even though it was just the parking lot. I guess Saturday evenings in the summertime aren't the best choice when visiting a beach, because we had to turn around and go home! :( 
• Spent a day at Balboa Park--this day was sort of mixed, because the original plan had been to go to either Sea World or the San Diego Zoo. Neither of those things happened, mostly due to lack of planning, so the day ended up being sort of up in the air. We went to go explore Balboa Park, and we also went to this science museum that was supposed to be the coolest thing but was actually kind of not. (I think it was really geared toward kids around six or seven years old). Unfortunately, it cost so much to get in that we couldn't have gone to the zoo or Sea World anyway! Oh, well--Jack ended up getting to visit a natural history museum that made his day, and mom and I went walking around the area.
• Following that, we ran into two separate groups at the Pavilion having weddings, along with a family reunion and a quinceanera. We enjoyed looking at everyone's outfits and discussing what we did and didn't like about wedding themes. 
• Played some games in our hotel room and enjoyed the swimming pool and Jacuzzi.
• Went walking with my mom every morning--we'd stop at the coffee machine in the lobby and take a walk around the Hotel Circle! It was some great bonding time! 
• Spent a lot of time watching early morning Disney Channel (I think we all really like Sophia the First now?) and Hell's Kitchen. There was a marathon one night, what else were we going to do?!
• And I got a job! There are more details to follow, but while on vacation, I got a phone call with a job offer! I'll save that for later so that I don't get too carried away in one single post.

And now, here are a couple of pictures! I probably have more around here somewhere, and I forgot to take pictures of some things I wish I had--like walks or certain foods--but these are my favorite parts of the trip!

This thing was in front of the Amigo Spot, but it always froze when we tried to take a picture!

My mom was super psyched.

They enjoyed burying Marcus in his huge hole, but he didn't have too great a time getting out of it!

This beach was REALLY crowded!

Here was the progress of this aforementioned hole! I bought him a shovel at one of the stands near the beach and he was a huge fan!

My brother was nice enough to get me a little stuffed mammoth from his special museum! He felt bad because I hadn't gotten to pick anything that day--very sweet of him! (Also, he bought me that latte. Ladies, he's a very generous boy!)

All week, I wanted some waffles, but felt they were too unhealthy...the solution? Mini waffles with some of Marcus's strawberry topping! They were so cakey! 

This volcano cake was beyond delicious. It was really tiny, and the four of us demolished it while Mom enjoyed some vanilla ice cream.

Here are just a couple of outfits I tried on at the Bettie Page store! I've wanted that green skirt in the middle forever--someday, I'll get it!

This was fun to try to get out of...

We had a really great time! Like I said, I might have more pictures later, for anyone who's interested! (I doubt too many people look on this blog regularly, but I still love to post about things like this!)

Now, I just wish we could all go back!