ODU plays UTSA again this year - that means a visit to see Courtney!

We were lucky enough this year that Courtney's team (UTSA) played ODU in Norfolk, VA so we got to see Courtney's team play and even got time for dinner with her.  As always it is so great to see her and these little visits are such a treat.

Best Pilot Ever!

On the way home from San Diego, we encountered what has to be the best pilot ever.  He was kind enough to invite Lily into the cockpit, talking to her for a good five minutes and let her sit in the pilots seat, wear the pilots hat and even look at all the awesome cockpit buttons.  I'm surprised she was that alert at 5:30 am, but she really seemed to enjoy it.

More Carlsbad

In addition to getting to see our friend Dan Zeller, we also got to spend time with a couple other friends.  Meghan & her family and Rachel and her husband.  Lily got to play with Meghan's children... I wish I would have got pictures.  We had several get togethers so I really have no excuse except I was spending all my time catching up with old friends.  It was GREAT!

We also enjoyed some nice evenings out.  One night we headed to a restaurant on the beach called Pacific Coast Grill, just in time for sunset.  The food was fantastic and the views were even better.

 

We also headed back to La Jolla for some yummy tacos at "The Taco Stand" and got a chance to show Chris the awesome childrens beach with all the cool sea lions.

Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma & the Tide Pools

On Chris' first day off his conference we headed down to San Diego proper to the tide pools at Point Loma and also got to check out Cabrillo National Monument before heading to The Prado restaurant at Balboa Park for a yummy meal with our friend Dan Zeller.  What a great day.

I will freely admit that the tide pools weren't nearly as good as the ones in Oregon, but Lily still thoroughly enjoyed herself and likely could have stayed for hours longer.

Me and my favorite girl!

  

Sea Anemone

  

Shark egg (with a shark squiggling around inside)

Point Loma Lighthouse

  

Cabrillo National Monument (and some fantastic views)

Omni La Costa Resort

One of the things I love about Lily the best is her ability to meet friends in the craziest of places.  Our visit to the La Costa resort in Carlsbad proved pretty easy and effective for friend making with the eight pools and two water slides.  Her new friend is Isabella who is from Oregon and whom she enjoyed playing with on three different occasions during our visit.  Unfortunately I didn't want to get pictures of Isabella because I didn't have her parents approval, but I got some great pictures of Lily enjoying her pool time.  I can't complain about sitting in the sun myself.  What a treat.  And Chris was able to bring us snacks back from his conference here and there.  What a gig!

GIA (Gemological Institute of America)

I bet you are wandering what the heck the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) is?  Well I did as well, but since I have a budding gemologist on my hands (yes, Lily claims she wants to be a chef and a gemologist at the same time), I decided to figure out whether we could get a tour.  Well they have a small museum, but come to find out you have to have a reserved spot for a tour.  Full on call, get a background check, etc.  But heck, it was easy enough and Lily and I had a great tour.  This place has some serious security though.  I guess it is not only a formal institution/college, but is also where they do a significant amount of gem grading.  Yep, think loads and loads of diamonds.  Lily learned all about the certification and degrees she could get in the future. 

Southern California beaches

The shelling wasn't quite the same in S. CA as in Bonita, but we gave it a good try and even found a couple pieces of sea glass. 

Southern California here we come...

To start our time in S. California, we headed up to Hollywood for an adventure that Lily requested.  Our hotel in Hollywood was SOOOOO cool.  It was a new Kimpton with an awesome infinity pool overlooking the city.  It was also conveniently located to some great restaurants.  We were able to take the Hollywood tour while we were there, complete with a visit to Justin Bieber's house.  Hee.hee. 

We also went to the Griffin Observatory for the best views of the Hollywood sign and went to the Getty Villa in Santa Monica on the way out of town.  Unfortunately my pictures from this time period got erased.  Not sure how.  Technically challenge I suppose.  Even though there weren't pictures, please be assured we had a fantastic time. 

On Monday we headed to Carlsbad to check into our hotel, the Omni, which was a full on resort with 8 pools, 2 water slides, about 5 restaurants and a bunch of shopping options.  Not a bad way to spend another week.  Unfortunately the weather was out of the norm and we got some cold rain, but it did clear up later in the week to allow us to get a little pool time in. 

Lily and I made the best of our less than stellar weather days with a visit to La Jolla Kids Beach (sea lions come to have their little pups here).

Snow Days....

We came back from Florida for what was supposed to be 4 days of school before taking Lily out of school again for another week to go to California.  But we got snow that Thursday so school was cancelled for the next 4 days, meaning Lily only had to take 2 vacation days.  While the snow was fun, it made us a little nervous about whether we were going to make it to the airport to get to California, but luckily at the last minute the driving restrictions were eliminated and we headed out.

I must say, Lily really loves snow.  In fact, she is the biggest snow lover in the entire family.  Here she is enjoying one big snow drift in front of our house.

The Rest of Christmas Break

The day after Christmas we were joined in Bonita by our friends from Delaware who drove down for a getaway.  We had a great time with Andrea, Matt and Alex.  The kids got to go on the Everglades Airport tour again, we hit Lovers Key State Park for some kayaking and beach time, the Childrens Museum in Naples was a first time hit and we did a lot of walking to the beach and on the beach searching for shells.  Of course the pool time was fun too.

Lily dressed up in her day after Christmas purchases

Snow(sand)man at Lover's Key State Park

Alex and Lily for one of the few pictures I could get of them

Alex and Lily at the Childrens Museum

And of course shells, shells and lots of shells.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day we got up, unwrapped our presents and headed out to Marco Island for what turned out to be another amazing shelling day.  On Marco Island there is this fabulous beach called Tigertail where you have to wade out across a lagoon, or kayak across to get to the beautiful beach that has an amazing sand bar.  We got so many shells (including sand dollars) that we had to stop looking for shells because they were too heavy for us to carry.  We are starting to think that maybe Lily should start her own conch selling business.  She could make hundreds of dollars selling them for a buck a piece.  But the little rule follower informed us that she needs a license in order to sell anything.  Hilarious.  So I suppose we will have to save the sea shelling business for another time.

The weather on Christmas Day was hot.  Yes, HOT.  So hot that Lily started sitting under a towel so we knew it was time to call it a day.  And what a day it turned out to be.

Christmas Break in Bonita

I realize that we were just there less than 1 month ago, but man do we miss this place every single time we leave.  It really has become our home away from home.  And it truly is the best place for us to spend Christmas each year.  We arrived on Dec. 23 and enjoyed some beach time, food time and just general family time before Christmas Day.


On Christmas Eve, we headed out to Sanibel Island to hit Doc Fords for some yummy food and we tried shelling at a new beach we haven't tried yet at Blind Pass.  There is limited parking so we got there early.  We got loads of shells, saw a ton of dolphins and had a super fun day.

Since we missed out on Stone Crab over Thanksgiving, we got smart this time and pre-ordered a couple pounds for ourselves.  Oh and man was it worth it.

Lily and Chris at Bonita Beach (sunset time)

Dolphins from the beach

And some hole digging