San Diego Part 2: Gaslamp, Aggies, and Harbor

We happened to take our San Diego trip during football season so the majority of Saturday was spent watching the game or planning watching the game. That morning we started with a delicious breakfast and a nice walk around Balboa Park (near the zoo). We quickly made our way to the Gaslamp Quarter to find the perfect sports bar for football watching. We kept an eye out for other Aggies, but surprisingly didn't meet any! 

Hotel Del by night

At halftime we decided to stretch our legs and change locations. I was so excited to happen upon a precious bar - chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, salads on the menu, and fluffy pillows! Forrest compromised and we watched the second half of the game in the "girly" bar. 

The girly - shabby - chic bar! 

After the game we headed to the harbor for shopping, more eating, sunset watching, and bird talking. This was by far my favorite stop for shopping. I cannot tell you how many people stopped us to talk to Forrest about the Aggies and Johnny Manziel! I heard the recap of the game at least 10 times! 

Our last day in San Diego we decided to revisit our favorite breakfast place, make a few shopping stops in Coronado, and spend most of our time on the beach. It was a short trip, but I feel like we were able to check off many hot spots in San Diego while still having time to relax. 

San Diego Part 1: The Del, The Beach, The Sunset

San Diego should be the #1 spot for a baby-moon (you know what I'm talking about, the term some genius marketing person came up with to help give people another reason to spend money and go on vacation)! Our reasons for picking San Diego included: direct flight, nice weather, and highly recommended. Little did I know I would fall in love with the city and want to move there. 

Where to begin? The people were so nice. Everywhere we went. Nice people! I don't blame them, sun 100% year round would make me a nice person too. We stayed at "The Del" in Coronado, but rented a car so that we could explore different areas. It was easy to navigate and super fun having a convertible. 

Hotel Del Coronado - Beautiful, full of history, and haunted!

The first night in San Diego, Forrest arranged a little bonfire on the beach and we literally ate s'mores for dinner. So healthy and every pregnant girl's dream (Davis' dream too, but he wasn't there). As we were enjoying our cozy bonfire on the beach, our s'mores server came over to tell us the Navy Seals were doing drills on the beach. We decided to walk down to the tiny green lights he was pointing to and see them in action. Amazing! The Navy Seals were fully dressed, running into the water (freezing), paddle a certain distance, come back, cross a field of rocks with their boat, then crawl in the sand, and repeat! We went to bed full of s'mores and proud to be American. 

Our first morning was spent relaxing on the beach and planning the rest of our time there. Highs were in the 70s and it felt amazing sitting on a beach, white sand, without sweating or burning. Ahhh, heaven! The first full day in San Diego we decided to take our convertible and drive to La Jolla. We went to Torrey Pines Gliderport, which had unbelievable views, we shopped La Jolla, ate at George's rooftop bar for the breath-taking sunset, and walked after dinner looking for the seals. Super cute seals, but by that time our pictures didn't turn out because it was dark. 

Torrey Pines Gliderport

Torrey Pines Gliderport

George's

George's

Hill Country Hyatt

We often get visitors to SA who stay at the Hill Country Hyatt. This particular weekend Annie and Papa Tom stayed there a couple nights and invited Davis. He loves this place, what kid wouldn't? Face painting, buffets at his eye-level, lazy river rides, nightly s'mores, slides, waterfalls, movies on the lawn!

Lazy River fun

Not quite tall enough for the slide...darn

Destin Part III

One day of our vacation was spent exploring other areas in and around Destin and visiting family friends at their beach home in Rosemary Beach. 

We stopped in Seaside for some shopping and a snow-cone. It was picturesque with adorable shops, turquoise bicycles, and a line of airstream food trucks. 

We made it to Rosemary beach in time to enjoy the sunset on the beach and a wonderful meal with some old friends from days in Paris. The community they live in has beautiful surroundings...not only the beach but a couple different pools and parks. Davis loved playing at the park and we even met a couple Aggies!

Destin Part II

Ahoy matey! A major highlight of our Destin trip was aboard the Buccaneer Pirate Ship! Davis loved every minute of it!!

As we stepped foot aboard the pirate ship, I was looking for the life jackets as we smiled for a picture with the Captain. Was I the only parent wondering how we could actually take a boat ride with all these kids and not one wear a lifejacket?

If you have young kids and are heading to Destin, I highly recommend a night on the Buccaneer. The kids are entertained the entire time you enjoy the bar and a sunset cruise! They shoot cannons, have water gun fights, swab the deck, paint faces, look for treasure, sword fight, and do all those other piratey things one does aboard a pirate ship.

Davis is so independent when it comes to these kind of situations. He's not shy at all and loves to meet new people. I have to learn to let go...as Forrest and I stood on the deck above him watching and taking pictures...I had to remind myself he can handle it. He can refill his water gun on his own and he can go into the other room to get his face painted without me. Such a grown up 3 year old!

Finding treasure was Davis' favorite activity of the night. The kids all went below deck to hear the story about another pirate, Captain Blackbeard, who was after their treasure. The kids needed to find the treasure first, of course. Davis came back terrified! Telling me that the "black man" was trying to get their treasure. I immediately realized we needed to make sure we corrected his story, I kept telling him, the man's name is "Blackbeard!!!!"

My favorite part was at the end when the kids danced to the Cupid Shuffle and Wobble. Davis was following along with all the right moves...down down do your dance! Reminded me of dancing on a cruise ship my senior year at A&M...kind of :)

Davis went home with treasure, a painted face, a pirate hat, an eye patch....all while shouting, "we are the crew of the Buccaneer, yo ho ho and a bottle of root beer!" Brainwashing at it's best!

Waiting for the cannons to go off!

Water gun fight!

Papa Tom was in the hula-hoop contest!

Listening to the story about Blackbeard! Terrified? Yes

Destin Part I

Vacation: no schedules, no baths, no shirts, junk food, no naps, no bedtimes, no routines, fun in the sun, swimsuits, books, beach toys, sand castles, bike rides, putt putt, and bloody mary's!

With no plans, we hit the Destin beach everyday. For Davis, it was back and forth between the pool and the beach everyday. He loved playing frisbee and football on the beach and building sand castles, then immediately destroying them. Davis jumped waves then rode the waves. He caught fish in his net and kept them as pets for the day. We even buried Daddy. 

At night we enjoyed meals on our balcony or going into town to find the freshest seafood. It was always followed by delicious ice-cream in a waffle cone of course. When we weren't eating, we took Davis to play putt putt and also ride go-carts, huge hit!!! 

Sunscreen mustaches!

Poor Forrest

Putt Putt

Go-carts

On our way to Destin...

A couple months ago we booked a family vacation to Destin and it couldn't get here fast enough! This if Forrest's first time taking off an entire week since our honeymoon. And it was a true vacation, I left my computer at home, which I rarely do. It felt so good! 

The night before, we had a lot of packing to do. Davis wanted to make sure we brought enough toys so he literally took his toy bucket and dumped it on top of his clothes. I had to wait till he was in bed to unpack all those toys! 

Davis was just as excited about flying as he was about the beach. Everyone he saw, he would tell them, "Hi, I'm Davis. I'm going to the beach. I live in San Antonio, but we are going to Florida. Are you going to the beach too?"

He especially loved the "train" aka Skylink at DFW. We rode that a couple times. If you're wondering, a full loop takes 20 minutes. Forrest and I got a little motion sickness, so we had to drag Davis off the train. 

Australia...under the sea and in the outback

Being an island, a huge one, Australia has some unique wildlife not found anywhere else in the world. This was a part of the trip that I really enjoyed. Australians do such a wonderful job of loving their animals and fish...and we got to see it all!

We spent one morning at the Aquarium, taking our time to learn about all the interesting sea creatures and checking out the scary sharks! But don't be fooled, the sharks are not the deadliest animal in the Australian seas, it's the Box Jellyfish and happens to be in the top 5 most deadly species in the world!  

Little Fairy Penguins

Penguins having a snack

Headed to Australia, all I could think about was that I was going to get to see a real live kangaroo! We decided to go to the Featherdale Wildlife Park instead of the zoo because ...well just take a look below... we got to actually touch the kangaroos and feed them! They were free to roam!

It's a joey!

Koala

My mom feeding the wallaby

Baby joey with mama wallaby

Dingo