Boys' Birthday Weekend in San Diego

Since it has rained the past two years in a row on the boys' birthday, this year I decided to skip a birthday party and we took a family vacation instead. And this year, we woke up to a beautiful blue sky, sunshine, and 70 degree weather! We were thrilled to have such perfect weather for our long weekend in San Diego. We stayed at the Grand Pacific Palisades Hotel, which is walking distance from Legoland. The hotel was wonderful. Very kid-friendly. The vending machines had ice cream in them! They had a splash pad and pool just for kids and Dave and I managed to have a competitive game of air hockey and ping pong in the rec room. I say competitive but really I just tried really hard and he still easily beat me. Ha.

Next to the hotel was the Karl Strauss restaurant. Oh my. We were in heaven. The food was so delicious and they had a breakfast buffet in the morning. We went. TWICE.
Legoland was not exactly what we were hoping for. I was extremely disappointed in the height restriction (they don't let babies/toddlers ride ANYTHING!) The kids were too young to care though and managed to have a blast with the other cool activities (jumbo building blocks and fun play structures and a huge splash pad). Legoland has an Aquarium next door and it was small but really awesome. The kids loved it and we were the first ones there so we didn't have to wait to see anything. 

We decided to take the kids to Toys R Us on their actual birthday and they got to choose their presents. Carter, of course, chose a Thomas the Train railroad set and Archie picked out a small purple car. We also bought them some new Lego kits. Then we went back to the hotel room and played! It was so wonderful to spend so much time together as a family without any work, stress, or obligations.

Late night ice cream!

This kid LOVES to eat!

Carter  built this lego castle in like 5 seconds. Pretty cool, huh?  :)

I think we enjoyed the trip as much as the kids!

One of the cool parts of Legoland--the building play areas.

Chewy photobombed us!

Carter's favorite part of the whole trip was the water play area.

Archie was thrilled to get to sleep in a bed with pillows!

When we got home, there was a package of presents waiting on our doorstep from Grandpa and Grandma Cushman (my dad and Mary) They always pick such fabulous gifts. Archie's favorite was the musical card and Carter loved everything--he got a cool remote control car and a toy airplane that he has to put together himself with real tools. (The kids now chase each other around the house with the toy drill!) Our house looks like Christmas already because of all the new toys and boxes everywhere!