Day 15: One last visit to the beach and dinner with the fam...

Tuesday, August 29TH...

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!!!  I'm finally down to posting about our last full day in San Diego!  I thought I'd NEVER get to this point!!!  After this post, I'll pretty much be all caught up! Yay!!!

Ok, so on our last full day in San Diego, I ran a few errands in the morning, without the boys.  I had to swing by Sun Diego (it's a surf, snow and skate shop with guys and girls apparel) to see if they had any clothes or accessories I couldn't live without {it's my usual go to shop, there and Raw Clothing in P.B.- we don't have anything like Sun Diego up here in Utah... Zumiez, Pac Sun and Called to Surf don't even compare} unfortunately though, there wasn't really anything that caught my eye.  Bummer!  I needed/need (still DO) new clothes- I gave most of mine away to D.I. last year when I was pregnant and maternity clothes are so.NOT.cool when I'm NOT pregnant... Ugh.  I just hate shopping here... If only I didn't have to take the kids, and if only more stores I like were here in Utah County and NOT only up at The Gateway!  My in laws just informed that Nordstroms in the University Mall in Orem is moving and leaving Utah County too!!! The news really has been quite upsetting... Alright, so anyhow, after running a million errands, and using my Portuguese at the shell stand down in Mission Beach with the kid working there who was in San Diego for the summer from Brazil {it felt SO.GOOD to speak Portuguese again!  I NEVER get a chance to use it and I feel like I'm pretty rusty when I do.  I don't even DARE try writing in Portuguese anymore- my grammar is horrible along with spelling}...  okay, so like I started to say, AFTER running a million errands, I packed up the older boys, my nephew Kyse and niece Paresa and we went to the beach for one LAST visit.  

 Kyse was such a great trooper... 

He let the kids bury him in the sand. 

Man I miss that place now as I'm thinking about it.  I've NEVER EVER put any pressure on Spencer to live in San Diego, cuz I just know that it's just WAY too expensive to live there, particularly for a family our size BUT after this last recent trip, I came home and told Spencer, if there was any way he could earn a couple million dollars--- (you know, cause it's doable, right?!) the first thing we'd do with it is buy a beach house in San Diego.... I LOVE it there SO much and it was SO.SO.SO. hard leaving it this last time!!!  It was even hard on the boys.  The following morning, all the boys were loaded and buckled into the car, ready to make the L.O.N.G. trip back home to UTAH--- everyone that is but Noah.  We couldn't find him anywhere.  I searched and searched--- no Noah!  Eventually I did find him... I can't remember now where it was that he was hiding, but where ever it was, he DID.NOT.WANT to leave.  I completely understood just how he felt. If I didn't have to get home so the older boys could start preschool and Kindergarten, I probably would have stayed another week or two, or maybe three {three's pushing it... I'm pretty sure my parents would have asked me to leave by then... my boys sure tired them out!}... besides--- we all missed Spencer, a.k.a. Daddy- so we were all a little bit anxious to get home.

That evening, we met my parents, Janna's family and Jeff's family over by Montgomery Airfield to eat at my absolute fave Mexican restaurant, Casa Machado....

I LOVE this place and any and every time I visit San Diego, we have to eat there.  I told Spencer over the phone that we were going there to eat and he said he was jealous!  {It's not very often he's green with envy}.  My family has eaten at Casa Machado for as long as I can remember.  It's right next to the airport where my dad used to give flight lessons, and it's not very far from his other work, so I remember meeting him there often with my mom for either lunch or dinner and we always ate there for celebrations {There or Black Angus}. I could fill up alone on their chips and salsa--- I could actually probably DRINK the salsa and be completely content... their hot spicy carrots are delish {I really need to learn how to make those} and every time I go, I order a Shirley Temple (I know, it's not very Mexican'ish--- Horchata would be more like it but I don't like Horchata and I can't drink it)... My boys have been to Casa Machado a few times now.  They LOVE to eat and watch out the windows to see the small planes come and go...

Of course. 

Cohen HAD to sit next to Tatiana. 

Like I said before---

If they knew what kissing was, 

the two would be "Kissing Cousins".

So the following is a quick funny story I MUST share: So my sister Janna, brought Noah over to meet me at the restaurant with the rest of her kids... She told me she was stopped at a stop light when the car that pulled up next to her had a guy smoking a cigarette.  Noah exclaimed, with zero reservations "Whoa! When I grow up I'm going to DO THAT!!!"  If I remember correctly, it was only a couple of weeks before that, that Noah would wake up every morning for about 2 consecutive weeks asking for COFFEE.  Um, WHAT?!  We don't drink coffee-  in fact I didn't even know he knew WHAT is was until the first time he asked for it, and we certainly DON'T smoke--- which reminds me, I think we probably need to have that Family Home Evening Lesson on The Word of Wisdom, NOW! {I suppose I ought to just be grateful he hasn't tried coffee or smoking and lets pray he never does!  I told my sister Tricia about these incidences and she shared with me that her younger son, Izzy, who is 3, has a terrible habit of picking up used cigarette butts off of the ground and SAVING them- stashing them anywhere he can hide them.  I think I remember her telling me she found some under his pillow!!!  Gross- could you imagine?!  Gross, gross, gross!!!}

We said our final "Goodbyes" to Jeff and his family before leaving the restaurant that evening... I hope to see them again sometime sooner rather than later.

We TRIED to get a decent picture of all the grandchildren together...

Is it just me, or is it nuts that these aren't even ALL of the grandchildren?!  

We were still missing 13!  

4 kids of Celeste and 9 of Tricia's.

It's hard to believe that Lilibelle is older than Atticus by a month.

He was almost TWICE her size!

A HUGE thanks to my parents and family in San Diego for welcoming me and my boys and making our visit such a fun and fabulous one!  It was positively MEMORABLE!!!  {My boys STILL talk about it, like it was something we just did yesterday!} My parents and sister Janna helped out more than I could have ever expected them too by watching the babes for me a lot of the time so I could actually take the older boys to fun places like Disneyland!  My niece Paresa and nephew Idrese even helped me in so many ways I appreciate.  We had a wonderful time visiting San Diego- I only wish we could have done more and seen more of the friends I have there.  Perhaps next time!

Day 16.

Wednesday, August 30TH... 

After the delay of trying to locate Noah who was hiding, we headed home to Utah.  Grandma came with, to keep us company... we chatted practically the entire ride with Disney music on in the back round... I was afraid I'd get bored driving because I knew grandma wouldn't want to listen to my "usual" music of choice--- Angels and Airwaves, The Ting Tings, Mumford and Sons, Rhianna, Lady Gaga, etc.... SO, I popped in a couple of Disney c.d.'s I had and we listened to those all the way home.  Surprisingly I enjoyed them and I actually think they made the car ride home feel shorter than it was!!!  I drove the whole way, with just two stops--- one in Barstow to fuel up and one in St. George to fuel up again and use the restrooms.  Oh wait, we did stop again, near the side of an empty road near Nephi, for the boys to use the bathroom, they thought it was so.cool peeing on the side of the road in bushes near a flock of sheep {it's during instances like so when it's nice that I have boys and not daughters... boys will pee anywhere and never complain about it!}... oh funny story: Just as we were exiting the canyon in St. George,  Ian asked me where all of the Indians were... I drew a blank.  What was he asking me??? I had to ask him what of course he meant and he clearly seemed rather upset that he hadn't spotted any Indians out in the desert!  I still have yet to understand WHY on earth he thought we'd see Indians with their tee-pees and horses along the side of the freeway, but I sure thought it was cute!

We finally arrived home by 5'ish that afternoon/early evening.  The boys were THRILLED to see Spence, and I must admit, I was too!  I was impressed with how well he managed to keep the house clean--- I expected it to be a mess.  We let the boys jump around on the trampoline out back for a while to burn off all of their energy before bedtime... it was good to be home... even if it wasn't San Diego, because home is where the heart is, and my heart belongs to Spencer.

On another note:  I'm so happy I actually made this trip!  I was secretly terrified of driving down to San Diego alone with my boys, by myself but it was easy breezy!  They really are the.best.road.travelers.  So now that I've successfully made this trip down there--- I can't wait to take more like it!!!  Hopefully ones with less amusement parks and MORE trips to the beach!!!