San Diego Weekend

This past weekend was pretty fun because we jumped in the car and headed to San Diego California.  The occasion was to introduce Thomas to his Auntie Laura, and also because Laura's boyfriend Ernesto was having a birthday!  Just for those who don't know, Ernesto goes to school in San Diego, and Laura moved to Connecticut in November for her job, so they don't see each other often and Jenn and I figured it was easier to see Laura in San Diego instead of going to Connecticut.

5 o'clock on Friday, Jenn and Leia finish with work.  Thomas and I throw them in the car, and the 4 of us are on the road by 6pm (when you have a baby, everything takes longer).  The drive to CA went really well because there weren't many cars on the road, and the border patrol lines were short and around 11:45, we arrive at the hotel.

Saturday was our busiest day by far mainly because it was the only whole day we were there.  So we woke up early (thanks Thomas), and had some breakfast, and then Jenn, Leia, Laura, Thomas and I hit the town (Ernesto was writing papers, because he's in school, remember)!  We first went to Balboa Park, which is right next door to the zoo (we voted against the zoo because $35 tickets is a lot too much).  The park had gardens and museums and the weather was amazing so we took lots of photos and had a good start to the day.

Next we went to Seaport Village, which is an area on the water with a lot of restaurants and shopping!  We got a lot of use out of the stroller and the girls found things to buy, it was a win-win.  As we were getting ready to leave Eddie and Melynda Hache (cousin) showed up, and so we all piled in the car and drove across the big scary bridge to Coronado.

Coronado as I'm told by locals is the "nice" area and so we walked around the beach and even checked out Hotel del Coronado.  As I mentioned before the weather was nice, but down by the water things got a little windy and everyone found out that Don is the wimpiest when it comes to the cold (which is surprising).  Jenn was extra excited because she was able to show Thomas the ocean and get his feet in the sand*.

*Fact- Don's first ocean/beach experience was also in San Diego.

After the beach  we all needed to go back to the Hotel (not located in Coronado) and rest and re- coop before going out to dinner to celebrate Ernesto's Birthday (pretty certain he turns 28).  At the hotel was bumped into some friends Daniel and Holly Poty who were also ready to help Ernesto party.

Ernesto picked a seafood restaurant (woo-who) for dinner, and then afterwards we all went back to the hotel and partied.  I'd go into detail but I don't want to embarrass all those who perhaps have a fuzz memory of the night.  We had a good time, non the less.

Sunday we all woke up, packed the bags into the car and headed over to the farmers market.  Ernesto kept going on and on about this farmers market, and so we had to see for ourselves.  They sold veggies, fruits, food, flowers and hippies (just kidding, but we saw a lot of Birkenstocks).  We all got a little to eat, and then the Hache's and Poty's left (to go retrieve their children), and the rest of us went to check out Ernesto's apartment.

Ernesto's apartment is very unique.  Being a young college guy, Ernesto explained that he doesn't need a lot of room or furniture or video games or TV or dishwasher.  Apparently the guy just does homework and talks to Laura on the phone, geeezzzz.  It was cool to check it out and hang with Ernesto and Laura, before getting back on the road.

As we drove out of San Diego, we made one final stop to my first home.  If you didn't know, I was born in San Diego, but I had never been back, and so we stopped to see the house my parents and I lived in while we were there.  I obviously don't know if the house has changed and I didn't try and go inside (I was a baby when we moved away), but it seemed like a nice place and area.

The drive back through the desert went pretty smoothly, and it was more interesting driving during the day to see the US/Mexico wall and check points and sand dunes, and pretty much Jenn went crazy snapping photos.

Overall we had a great weekend, and I hope you enjoy our photos.

San Diego May 09

more pics from Ernesto

Here are some videos from the trip.  One is of Laura meeting Thomas and the other two are snapshots from the beach!