Mazen and I went to San Diego to visit his grandmother, Karen, aka “KK.” Here’s a recap of our summer in California!
Mazen and I are back from our trip to San Diego!
Some of you may remember KK, Mazen’s dad’s mom, from the blog. She moved to San Diego, then to New Orleans to be near her other son, and then back to San Diego last fall. She LOVES San Diego and is so happy to be back!
We joined Mazen’s uncle Andrew and his daughter there for five days to spend some time in the California sunshine. (We decided not to share photos of Mazen’s cousin, but they had a LOT of fun together!)
The ironic thing is that Virginia suffered a heat wave while we were away, but we came home with more sunburn than we were used to. We spent a lot of time at the beach and took the kids to the San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld.
Summer in California
Day trip
Mazen and I flew out last Saturday morning first thing. He was able to check out the Capital One Lounge and was blown away. He tried his first latte in an attempt to be fancy, but he didn’t like it. (Here’s my post on how to get into these fancy lounges! We saved a LOT of money on airport food!)
We made the most of our days by arriving at 10am Pacific time, so we had the whole day ahead of us.
California casual
I changed out of my dirty travel clothes into a cute casual outfit!
We settled into KK’s house. She and I shared a twin room, while Mazen, his cousin, and Andrew shared KK’s bedroom.
We had a little lunch (which felt like dinner to us!) and then went to check out Mission Bay Beach, just a few blocks away. How nice would it be to have this beach and walking trail as a backyard!
Later that afternoon we headed to an epic playground in Mission Beach, where we enjoyed being outdoors without the East Coast humidity.
That night, KK made a chicken pasta dish with Caesar salad and fresh corn on the cob.
For dessert we had ice cream cups. The Butterfinger topping was delicious.
Kayaking adventure
On Sunday morning, KK rented us two double kayaks to cruise around Mission Bay. She dropped us off at the rental place while she went to get her own kayak from the yacht club. We headed out with plenty of sunscreen!
Our navigation took us under a bridge and to an island full of birds.
We were pretty tired, but ended up taking the long way around a large island in search of sea lions. We never found them, but we came back with very, very tired arms after 2.5 hours in the water.
Burgers on the beach
Once we returned our kayaks, we walked to the yacht club that KK is a member of. There we grilled burgers and relaxed on the beach for a few hours while the kids played.
French beef
Back home, we showered and cooked French beef (a classic KK recipe) with broccoli for dinner.
In search of açai
We start each day with a French press coffee.
The other times I’ve been to San Diego (last time I was pregnant with Birch!) I’ve loved walking along the boardwalk at Mission Bay Beach and eating açai bowls. KK lives a little further from the ocean (she’s in Pacific Beach for locals), so I walked a little further to find her. The crazy beet Where I got a big bowl!
Zoo Day
After breakfast we “grease up” with sunscreen (as KK says!) and head to the San Diego Zoo!
Some of the highlights…
An elephant pedicure
These beauties!
A lion sleeping a few meters from the window
This orangutan makes eye contact.
These crazy alligator-like gharials
Lunch
We packed sandwiches and chips for a picnic. Not only did we save money, but it was great to be able to eat right when we felt like it.
We walked over six miles throughout the entire zoo and we still didn’t see everything!
Dinner in the Village
We went home to shower and went to dinner at Townwhich we loved.
The atmosphere was perfect.
Daisies!
Chicken and tortilla salad
Stay tuned for part 2! Happy 4th of July!
