Every time we take a road trip as a family, we wonder, "Why we don't do this more often?" The kids are great travelers, and we have so much fun together. This time, we packed up the van and headed to the coast. We were flattered that Dan and Louise LeSueur invited us to share their turn at their family beach house. They invited the John and Rebecca LeSueur family as well, so it was a real party!
Day 1 was spent driving and listening to the first two sessions of General Conference on the radio.
Day 2 was spent watching the last two sessions of Conference with everyone in the beach house. With 17 children ages 16 to 18 months old all in one place, it's natural that we all got a bit stir crazy. Still trying to keep the Sabbath, We drove up the hill to stroll around the San Diego Temple.
Kathryn, true to form, made lots of allies amongst the LeSueur boys. For most of the trip, Allan was her favorite, but she shifted between him and David throughout the week. She crawled in their laps to snuggle at nighttime and followed them around as we played at daytime.
The cliffs above LaJolla Beach offered a breathtaking view. However, we couldn't stay long because Christopher kept giving us the willies as he toddled too close to the edge.
At first, our kids were hesitant to get in the water, but once they did, it was hard to get them back out. Christopher kept putting his head in the sand in "downward dog" position. He was always completely covered in sand within minutes of stepping foot on the beach. Kathryn liked building castles and pools in the sand. She liked skipping in the waves or sitting on a body board while I pulled her through the shallowest waves. Kade played lots of ball in the sand and rotated between building sand castles and looking for shells. Grace and Kate spent lots of time floating in the knee-deep waves that pushed them back and forth against the shore.
Whenever the kids got too sticky or sandy, it was so easy to walk to the water and rinse them off. And that's exactly what I did with Kathryn's sticky marshmallow hands when we made s'mores after dinner one night.
The LeSueurs took us to a strawberry farm in Carlsbad where we picked and ate buckets full of the biggest, sweetest strawberries.
Christopher was in all-you-can-eat heaven! He preferred dipping his in the dirt before eating them.
On our last day, the weather was very rainy, so we toured Old Town San Diego for the morning. We visited little museums and shops.
On our way home to Utah, we stopped in Rialto to see Grandma and Grandpa Bowman. Sadly, this is the only picture taken while we were there. You can see how the kids enjoyed all Grandma's trinkets. Grandpa is having heart and lung issues and has to wear oxygen now. He didn't crack as many jokes as usual, but I am so glad we took the time to see them. I can tell that they treasure every minute.
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