Top 10 Tuesday--Vacation Highlights

The kids at Scripps Aquarium

As I mentioned yesterday, we were on vacation last week, so I wanted to do a quick roundup of the highlights and what better way than a Top Ten List. We were in San Diego so there was lots to do, however my mother-in-law doesn't like people to use her house as a hotel, so we did short bursts of tourism in the mornings and spent the rest of our time with the family. Here are the highlights..... 1. Cabrillo National Monument. Spectacular views! The kids enjoyed walking from the visitor center up to the lighthouse. Daddy and L went up the winding staircase to the top of the lighthouse while T and I stayed downstairs and in the museum area next door. Then we went around the back to look at more great views and enjoy the gorgeous weather. The kids had lots of fun. {There are tide pools in another area of the park, but we didn't attempt that this time around.}

2. San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park. We chose this outing because of L's love of all things cars, but we were slightly disappointed to find almost all the cars roped off. 5-year-olds are all about the touching. But they did have a car and motorcycle to sit on in the children's area and a 100-year-old car to sit in. T was unimpressed, but L walked around with Daddy and enjoyed the museum, I think.

3. Scripps Aquarium. No Sea World for us--too expensive and our kids don't last more than two hours, so for our Fish Fun we headed to this aquarium. In addition to lots of small and one big tank, there are tide pools outside that the kids loved exploring. L also liked the shark tank and there was a water table the kids could play at (they could set up barriers to make currents and L loved sending boats down the paths and yelling "I win!"--a big hit).



4. San Diego Air & Space Museum. I was really impressed with this museum, I couldn't believe how many aircrafts they fit into this relatively small building. I was assigned to follow T, who wasn't interested in the planes, she preferred to run around the atrium. L liked running around too of course, but Daddy managed to walk him through most of the exhibits. There was also a tiny plane for T to sit in and a helicopter for L to climb in, so it was a good time.

5. Star of India or as L calls it "the pirate ship." Hubby's sister took L on this outing last Thanksgiving and he loved it so we had to do it again. (I stayed home while T napped so L went with Daddy and his aunt.) His aunt was so awesome to get him a pirate hat and telescope (and gun that I wasn't thrilled about) and he had a fabulous time exploring the ship and pretending to be a pirate in the model ship below deck.

6. The beach of course. We like Mission Bay. {My husband says the bay is not the same as a beach, but I say if water meets sand, it's a beach.} The hit of the week! They played in the water, they played in the sand, T loved being pushed on the swings (this part of the Bay we like has a playground on the sand as well for extra fun). Super fun! The only downer was the air and water were both cool and we couldn't stay more than two hours for fear of freezing our children.

7. No trips to the ER. No, we don't have a history of tragedies on vacation, but staying in an unchildproofed house plus all the time my kids spent running sock-footed on the linoleum floor, it's a miracle no one was harmed.

8. The kids pooped semi-regularly. L did not poop the entire time we were at the in-laws' last Thanksgiving so we wondered how it would go this time. Without going into details, I'm happy to say he stayed regular. T, however, skipped a few days in the middle of the week that had me literally praying for poop and the Lord did provide and our trip continued.

9. Great weather! Obviously a major reason for vacationing in San Diego in August is to get away from the Phoenix heat and SD delivered. Gorgeous 70-degree days and light breezes and blue skies and no rain (except overnight). Fabulous!

10. No housework. Well, I did a couple loads of laundry and I washed bottles by hand and of course there was the extra child-supervision, but mostly it was a huge drop in housework from my usual routine. And zero cooking--wahoo!

I know I'm fashionably late, but I'm linking up with Oh Amanda. Go over there and check out more Top Ten fun! :-)