Vacation Day One

I kind of already lied to you because day one of our vacation involved driving all day. We went to St George and had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa. Then we drove to Barstow and had dinner at a weird bus stop. One of the kids was wanting to describe it as "ghetto" but accidently called the place "hoodlum". It was a good descriptor. Then we went to Corona, CA where we stayed in our hotel.

We got up and drove to Crystal Cove state park because they had pretty good tide pools. We went to pelican point and we didn't see any pelicans. 

We walked about 1/4 mile along a board walk and cliff to the tide pools. It was really beautiful.

Then we explored tide pools.

There were little crabs and huge sea slugs, and other creatures. 

Then we explored the beach.

 There was this cool waterfall area,

And this cave was really cool.

But everyone was sad that the cave didn't go very far in. 

 The walk there and back was super pretty and had some really cool plants. Here are some examples.

Then we drove to a fabulous house that my mom rented for the weekend. It was near Oceanside. 

First thing we wanted to do was get a family picture so we could then jump in the pool! 

The adults had fun talking while kids were in the pool. 

... and I didn't get pictures of kids in the pool. 

We decorated the downstairs room as a secret for my mom. It was for my parents 50th anniversary. 

Surprise! 

My mom had a lot of pictures from their 50 years that she shared with everyone...

And we had a surprise for her! It was a photo book! 

So then we had cake and looked at all the pictures in the book. 

I did get pictures of the kids swimming at night. 

and the old kids got in the hot tub. 

It was a great first day.