Hi friends! I miss you! Our PiggyToes have been home from San Diego for 72 hours and I still can’t seem to shake off this mood! We were definitely not ready to come home. Vacation was more than wonderful and I can’t stop day-dreaming about the lifestyle they live there. I love it. Its me. Its what I want. Its perfect. and fun to day-dream I guess too. I had all intentions on blogging my way through our adventures, but once I got there, I checked out from everyone and everything and found myself even putting my camera down at times so that I can enjoy the view with my eyes and not through a lens. California is such a beautiful state and San Diego… wow. There’s no other place like it.
The boys had a blast in California & Brian and I even picked up a new sport while out there… paddle-boarding! Have you tried it? We LOVE it and had such a great time paddling the boys on the bay. Aside from our Paddle-board adventures, the boys really enjoyed all of the animals at the San Diego Zoo, they loved putting their PiggyToes in the sand at many beautiful beaches, we had fun gallivanting the towns, met really cool people at a few local spots, drove around a handful of little towns looking at different styles of homes, ate too much *delicious food, shopped… it was spectacular. The first vacation we’ve been on that we truly didn’t want to come home. San Diego, you were wonderful… too good to us… and we can’t wait to go back! Here’s a look at our Summer Vacation in San Diego, California ~ I’m warning you: Photo overload! (I just couldn’t help myself.) And if you want, feel free to click on any picture to enlarge it.
Departing Pitt… The boys were excited to be in the airport and loved the plane even more! The pilot invited them to tour the cock-pit during the lay-over and they were in Heaven (well, Roman was a little nervous)!
We arrived in San Diego & after a quick trip to Trader Joes, we found our home, changed into bathing suits and played on the bay!
The boys woke SO early the next morning (Think, a 4am wake up in San Diego is really a 7am wake-up where we live)! We grabbed S-Bux and toured the city. After exhausting the cool boats & ‘Jake & the Pirates’ ships, we found a park to play in. Roman played in the sand while Rocco & I watched street vendors set up for a street festival! We were all a little tired still.
When we woke the next morning, all Roman kept asking for was a dump-truck. Rocco wanted a shovel… And that’s exactly what they got! Both of the boys had a lot of fun playing at the beach and on the bay! Later that evening, we visited Mt. Soledad ~ Such a beautiful memorial and perfect sky above the cross.
The loves of my life.
San Diego Zoo… No one was into taking pictures (which was fine) and we had a great day with the animals! Such an awesome (& big) zoo and the boys especially liked the Skyfari!
Up and out early (again) visiting the seals in La Jolla! That evening, we drove through Sunset Cliffs – one of the most beautiful locations in San Diego. The view was breath-taking!
We loved Coronado and after spending a little bit of time there the 1st day, we had to go back! The shops, the food, the beach… we attempted to take beach pics of the boys but that didn’t work out well. They just wanted to play and run. One man passed us by and we asked him to take a family picture – Its not even in focus and its the ONE family picture we have. And then the sun went down!
One of the boys favorite moments in Coronado was watching helicopters perform water rescue training on the beach! My 3 guys were in Heaven!
Old Town, San Diego – Great Mexican Food, really cool town, fun balloon guy!
Old Town had awesome shops with unique gifty items, neat buildings, street music, an open grass area for the kids to run around in… and mine found a water fountain to play in.
The next morning, we went to ‘Mission’ for breakfast. They are known for 2 things: Apple Chicken Sausage and Pancakes! We tried the Banana & Granola Pancakes=INCREDIBLE! On our walk to the restaurant, we passed by a house that had a bees nest right outside of their kitchen window in a bird house. Scary! Later, we enjoyed paddle-boarding on the bay!
And before we knew it, it was time to say Goodbye to San Diego! Rocco & Roman brushed up on their Safety Manuals and all 40 of our PiggyToes boarded the plane home to Pittsburgh.
California, you were lovely and our PiggyToes can’t wait to visit again!
xo
Love all the pictures!
Looks like it was completely fun! I enjoyed San Diego while I lived there for a few years. Coronado was always fun to explore. I enjoyed sitting on the beach there at night and just relaxing with the the breeze and sounds. *sigh* I can totally remember it.
If I ever go back to CA, though, I’m going to Disneyland! haha
We used to go every year, I so miss that!
So glad you had such a wonderful trip.
Thank You Sarah! Ahhhh the beaches… the breeze… the sounds…. Its so beautiful there! We didn’t go to Disneyland because we did a big Disney trip (in FL) last year but we did go to Legoland and the Zoo! Really, we needed more time. Had intentions on going to Sea World (& thought about Disney for 1 day so we could do Carsland) but the time change was a factor and there was so many other things we wanted to see that it just didn’t allow for it. Not to mention, the boys were SO content paddle-boarding and playing at the beach! That just means we need to go back!!!! hehe Thanks for reading
Hi Angelique, What great vacation pictures you got. For some reason I never seem to have pictures that I think I have when I get home, lol. I went to San Diego back in Middle School(yes there was middle school that long ago
) just to visit the zoo which I remember as incredible. Haven’t been since, although Mark has been at least three or four times for business trips, always in the rainy season. He hated it, lol, so it is nice to know that during the right time of the year it is a beautiful place full of fun things to do. Curious as to how you picked it to go to and where did you stay?
Hi Jill! 1st of all- CONGRATS on your new grand-daughter! She is precious!!! and thank you for writing to me! Well, I totally hear you about never having the pics you think you have when you get home. Not to mention, a lot of my pics turned out DARK for some reason and when I checked the ‘play-back’ on vaca, it didn’t look dark at all. HMMM… Anyway, the Zoo was definitely a highlight of our trip! Huge, tiring but AWESOME! I also didn’t even know that San Diego HAD a rainy season. I was told its sunny and 70 all year round! Hot by day, chilly at night (need a sweater) but I loved it. There’s “June Gloom” that just so happened to be during the time we were there (you can see clouds in the early morning pics) but once the sun came out (around 10am), it was there to stay and we didn’t have a drop of rain all week! San Diego is so clean and beautiful and there’s so much to do and see – we really needed more time to do everything we wanted to! We picked California because it was somewhere I’ve ALWAYS wanted to visit and the timing was just right. No babies, no diapers, our kids sleep through the night & eat well… It was now or who knows? And after I went through my miscarriage and we talked about a summer vaca, I was like, “LET’S DO IT!” So we did! It was wonderful and you should really try to get there too! We found our home through a San Diego realtor who sent us a few pages of condos/homes in our price range and we picked one! We wanted to stay in Coronado but we were told they only do monthly rentals. However, when we got there, the locals said you can always find people who will squeeze you in for a week. Next time
I HIGHLY recommend staying in Coronado! We stayed in Mission which was great (young/party-like) and I was so thankful to be on the bay side! The ocean side gets crazy at night and on the bay, there wasn’t much wind and they boys could safely play in the water and we could paddle-board there too! Do you have any summer vacation plans? Nice chit-chatting with you 
Take Care!!!
I lived in Phoenix up until a week ago and we vacationed in Coronado all the time. Craigs List is a great place ot search for weekly or short term rentals in Coronado as is VRBO (vacation rentals by owner.) I know some of the apartment complexes also used to rent out their corporate apartments for 125 a night….we did that many times. We have become Coronado snobs and don’t visit any other beaches in CA. Looks like you had an awesome trip and I hope you got a chance to stop for ice cream at MooTime Creamery!