San Diego Day 1

Last Saturday, we woke up early and set off to the airport for our flight to San Diego.  We were all very excited to be heading to California - the kids had never been before, and I hadn't been in many, many years (Roy has been for work more recently, but that's not very fun!)!  Getting up early and heading to the airport has gotten easier because the kids are always very excited to get breakfast there, so all we need them to do at home is get dressed and brush their teeth.  It's quick and easy.

We were lucky that the hotel had a room available for us (and we're lucky that Leighton's now big enough to carry the suitcases for us!) for really early check in, so we got our stuff up to the room and then decided to walk to Little Italy for lunch and a wander around a Farmer's Market.

We then walked to the pier to get tickets for the ferry over to Coronado Island.  The ride was about 15 minutes, and we had a nice view of the skyline and got a good look at the USS Midway, and Leighton was happy to spot the baseball stadium!

After we arrived, we walked across the island (Riley was tired and a bit grumpy so it took a long time) so we could go down to the beach in front of the Hotel Del Coronado.  There were a couple tide pools, so we got to see some fish, hermit crabs, and sea anemones.  We also spotted a sand dollar on the beach and a couple dead crabs.  The dark sand had mica in it, so it was gold and glittery.  And there were so many shells to collect!

Our collection of shells

We then walked back across the island (this time we walked at a brisk pace and it only took about 30 minutes) and caught the ferry to the other stop near the convention center and baseball stadium.  Leighton was, of course, thrilled to see Petco Park and to go to the team store for the Padres.  While we were in the store, Leighton and I were trying to look through the windows to see onto the field, and an employee offered to take us down to a section on the field.  He was telling us all about the park and how great the games are there.  We now have another ballpark we want to go see a game at!

We had already had about 2.5 hours of walking time already, but added another 30 minutes and walked back to the hotel.  After that, it was time for relaxing and sleeping!