Tuesday, April 22, 2014

SoCal Spring Break Part 2: Oceanside

We rented a house across from the beach in Oceanside. So, of course, the first matter of business in the morning after a good night's sleep was.... BEACH TIME. And here is where you can tell these kids are from Oregon. Gray skies? Check. (All the better to keep our glowing-- as in reflective-- Oregon tans.) Rain? No problem. Less-than-balmy beach temperature? Let's get in! 



After a leisurely beach morning we set forth in search of tacos. Dave and I took the beach cruiser bikes to meet up with some of the others at the local taco shop. Dave asked Liam what his shirt said and Liam correctly answered, "Go Cougars!"
 We finished our afternoon by visiting the Mission San Luis Rey.


I tried to impress on my children that if they grew up in California they would know all about the long and illustrious history of California missions, Father Serra and El Camino Real. They might have even made a diorama of a California mission in the 4th grade (instead of whatever they make a diorama about in Oregon). But they were content with getting a pencil made out of a tree branch from the gift shop and calling it good. (I know. A parent's wisdom is always wasted.)

SoCal Spring Break Part 1: Loma Linda

We started our Spring Break trip to California by flying to Ontario airport on Monday, March 24th. We rented a car and drove to Loma Linda so we could see Auntie Alisa and Uncle Jacob's house. The kids enjoyed playing in their backyard. The top attraction was the stone wall,
... followed closely by the hammock.
Alisa was in her 9th month of pregnancy with baby #2. Stephen is getting to be a big boy with a huge head of hair!
Can you spot Jared in this picture?
 Look a little closer!
We went out for crazy gourmet pizza in Loma Linda with Alisa, Jacob and Stevie. The kids each chose their own flavor of old-fashioned soda. Our crazy pizza choices included one with spaghetti and another with barbecued chicken. But we didn't get the peanut butter and bacon pizza. Another time...