The Keyes!: Trip to San Diego for Christmas and Ringing in the New Year

DAY ONE: FLYING

After the excitement of Christmas morning wore off the kids had to pack some things and we were off to the airport

This was the first time flying for all four kids

We flew from Spokane to Las Vegas and had a layover there. The kids got to see some gambling up close.

Then it was the flight to San Diego. The kids were mesmerized by palm trees.

DAY TWO: SAN DIEGO ZOO, IN-N-OUT and PLUNGE

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel

Then we were off to the zoo to do some family history?

The giraffes were really cool

That tongue is ridiculous

This rhino was HUGE and quite active

Some beautiful creatures in the distance

Checking out the zebra

Henry was happy to see the camel

There were lots of elephants

They had some capibaras

And a leopard

The boys were brave enough to ride a tiger

The zoo was HUGE. There was even a gondola across it

We saw a giant panda

And Rafiki

This waterfall was really impressive

I can't remember what type of bear this is

We really enjoyed watching the orangutans

This was the ugliest creature in the zoo

Lyza enjoyed the insect area

Especially the leaf cutter ants

You could see into their underground tunnels

This huge stone sphere was floating on water and spinning but with enough effort you could change the direction it was spinning

We got to ride the gonola

I am not sure this bear is to scale?

This bear just wanted a nap

We took this picture as a throw back to the first time Kim and I went to a zoo together (the Calgary zoo before we were dating)

We didn't get a hippopotamus for Christmas

By this point we were exhausted and happy to sit and watch the hippo for a while

The zoo was a good way to start the trip and we had lots of fun

After the zoo we went to an In-N-Out. It was a different type of zoo...so busy

The food was pretty good, except for the fries. The fries were really bad.

After that we went to an indoor pool with an obstacle court called "Plunge"

We had a good time there

Then we got some frosties from Wendys and took them back to the hotel

DAY THREE: SEA WORLD AND EVENING PADDLEBOARDING

We were up bright and early the next day to go to Sea World. We began with a little bit of rain but not enough to stop us.

There were lots of really cool jelly fish

And sting rays

This walrus was huge

Baby Beluga

So many sea turtles

Sea lions

The kids got to touch sting rays

We got in early for the killer whale show

It was really impressive

They would swing their tails and splash the audience

There were amazingly acrobatic

This was by far the highlight of Sea World

After that we saw a smaller dolphin show that was cool

By then we were starving so we ordered some really expensive and mediocre food

This touch pool was full of little fish that nibbled at your skin

After Sea World we saw the temple while driving

Our friends in Coeur d'Alene have family outside of San Diego and they connected us so that we could borrow their paddle boards and paddleboard in the ocean at sunset and then look at Christmas lights on homes along the water

I had the best little motor on my board

The sunset was beautiful

The lights were cool but I couldn't really capture them very well on camera

We tried to stop by the temple on the way home but the grounds were closed. The temple is also closed for a long time for renovations.

DAY FOUR: FLEET SCIENCE CENTER AND LA JOLLA SHORES BEACH DAY

The next day began with a science center in San Diego

The various musical contraptions were favorites

I felt like the walls were caving in on me

This was a very interactive game where you had to move the bottom screen around and the changes in slope effected the ball on screen

This was a cool skate park design studio

This ball pit was probably the favorite for the boys

We got to watch an Imax film about otters on a huge curved screen

And then the boys wobbled around

After that we headed to the ocean and everyone jumped right in

We rented wet suits and boogie boards and had so much fun in the water

There is no better way to say cool than matching wetsuits

Time really flew by when we were at the beach. We all (especially Henry) could have spent much longer there

After that everyone got fish and chips but I got fish tacos (and made the better choice)

DAY FIVE: LA JOLLA COVE, LEGOLAND, AND SAFARI PARK

Guess where breakfast was the next morning? You got it, at the hotel ;)

We left early to stop by La Jolla Cove to see sea lions

And boy, did we see sea lions!

The kids also liked checking out sea creatures on the rocks since the tide was low

Then we drove to Legoland

Mason was so excited to see the Ninjago area where the most exciting ride is. Spoiler alert: he never got to ride that ride because the lines were too crazy. More on that later...

When we first got there we waited for an eternity to ride a ride that was fun, but nothing amazing

They had lots of neat areas through out the park

These fried apples were AMAZING

We all did a submarine ride that was pretty fun

This area, Miniland USA, was really cool. They had different cities built out of Lego

This area was about the Lego Movie but was a little bit of a disappointment (at least to me)

As you can imagine, there are huge Lego builds everywhere

We had all you can eat pizza, salad, and pasta and it was pretty good

After that the kids went to the Ferrari area

You can build race cars there and race them on different tracks

Lyza and I snuck off to wait in line for a spinny ride

One of Mason's creations

Nixon joined us right as we got to the front of the line (convenient)

Another build

And Henry's masterpiece

There was a marching band

We waited in line forever to go on this ride. It was fun, but...

Right at the end the kids were able to trade some mini figures

So what was our Legoland experience? Disappointing, frankly. It was way too busy. Not everything was open. The lines were RIDICULOUS and there were no shows or things to sit and watch (compared to Sea World). The boys were the most hyped to go to Legoland of all the activities we had planned and by mid afternoon they were asking to leave. So we left and headed to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Unfortunately we got there late afternoon/early evening so the safari tours in vehicles were over. But we were greeted with a magical sun set and we made the best of it.

The portions of the park that were still open were lit with Christmas lights

We saw a tiger and some other wildlife but the best thing we saw (after waiting in a long line) was the platypus

DAY SIX: ANNIE'S CANYON HIKE, THE BEACH, and FLYING HOME

The flights we had booked for our last day really sucked. We were leaving late morning but getting home near midnight. We made some adjustments that let us leave in the afternoon and still get back near midnight but that allowed us to have some extra time in San Diego and we didn't have to have a 6+ hour layover in Oakland.

So we said goodbye to our hotel room

Then we packed up, drove, and started a hike to/through a slot canyon

It got really narrow

Then there were some sketchy stairs and ladders

But we made it to the top

After that we found a beach to swim and play at

We also did some tide pooling and found lots of anemones and hermit crabs

Mason found all sorts of treasures

After that we visited Old Town San Diego with the intention of visiting the Mormon Battalion. Well, we only got to visit the parking lot of the Mormon Battalion. We ran out of time between the last minute visits to gift shops and finding some lunch.

Then it was off to the airport. We played some games while we waited.

When we got home the kids got to play with their new things from Christmas that they had to abandon for our San Diego trip

We took down our Christmas decorations then on New Year's eve we were invited to a get together with a couple of other families. There were some fun Minute to Win It type games