Vacation

We've been back almost a week, now.  Life is kind of returning to normal.  In a good way.  Vacation is fun.  Unpacking, re-organizing, laundry, kid's schedules... not so fun.
It is Friday and things seem to be returning to our usual tempo. 
I think the greatest part of vacation was all of us being together for two straight weeks.   Next time though, Hawaii.  I'm already looking for rental houses on the North Shore of Kauai. 
A summary and some random thoughts on our trip.
1. Collecting snails at Grandma's house is just about as much fun as any amusement park.  Something about the "hunt" and finding every last snail.  Charlotte excelled at it.  She didn't want to touch the snails (can you blame her?) so Grandma picked them up (with her hands wrapped in plastic). 
2. Knotts Berry Farm is where Bob's mom used to take Bob and his siblings way back when she had very little money and wanted to treat them to something fun.  (late 1950s early 1960s).  A good half of the park is now covered in Roller Coasters.  We spent the first half of our morning in Camp Snoopy going on the kiddie rides that are under the Roller Coasters.  Fun, but noisy.  We spent the second part of our day in the original part of the park.  The Ghost Town, etc.  No towering roller coasters zooming over head and very very peaceful and uncrowded and fun!  I am a sucker for nostalgia and vintagey and I loved to think that Bob used to roam that very area when he was Charlotte's age.  Next time we go straight to the old part of the park and skip Camp Snoopy altogether.
3. Got to Del Mar and the sun found its way out for a few days.  The few days included our "busy" days of vacation.  Among them: Niece Alex's wedding, rehearsal dinner and picnic with family.  It was all wonderful and I'm glad Alex and Casey had sunshine on their wedding day.  Charlotte, Abigail, Claire and Mallory were adorable as flower girls.  Charlotte and Claire took their task very seriously and really had a blast.  All four girls were so fun to watch on the dance floor.  Kids should be invited to weddings.  It isn't so fun/easy for the parents but it creates great memories for the kids. 
4.  The sun disappeared on July 3rd never to be seen again for the duration of our vacation.  This put a little bit of a "cramp" in my idea of spending mornings, mid-day, and evenings swimming in the ocean.  The water temperature was bearable (around 68) but the air temp was a chilly 63.  We did spend a few days in the sand/water.  We just didn't camp out on the beach.  Both of my girls LOVED the sand and ocean.
5. Charlotte impressed me with her excitement at the waves and wonders of the ocean.  She wanted to go out further and further and jump the waves.  When she was clearly shorter than the wave height she wanted us to pick her up and take her out farther.  We have been to the beach/ocean a couple times a year since she's been born and this was the first year she really "got it" and didn't want to go back the instant we got there.
6. Abby is a born beach baby.  She loved it all.  She loves her big sister most so anything Charlotte wants to do, Abigail is not far behind.  So cute.
7. We headed inland in search of sunshine to the SD Wild Animal Park.  Probably one of the greatest places we've ever visited.  It felt like we had most of the park to ourselves.  The people seem to really congregate in the center area where the bus tour is located.  We saw elephants, rhinos, lions. zebras, and more.  Charlotte had her face painted with a unicorn and she couldn't stop looking at herself.  She thought she looked pretty neat and she was right, she did. 
8. The condo we rented was perfect.  Perfect in the sense it was located in a nice quiet area and we had a lot of open space and room to explore (rare for San Diego).  But... anytime we drove anywhere we were reminded that we were in Southern California (freeways, traffic to consider, etc.).  Next time we go on "vacation" we're going someplace a little more wild and scenic.
9. I think the sun has been out in San Diego all week.  Oh, and it is a whopping 103 degrees here at home.  Ick.  I'll take fog any day of the week.
10.  Opening day of the racetrack is next Wednesday.  We're going to see if we can't escape for a day to the track and leave the kids at home (with a sitter, of course)!