Ava, Ella, and Abby's Movie

I'm not sure if we are back to blog posting or not - but I wanted to share this link. It is a video that the oldest girls made while their moms were at the relief society broadcast.

Cousins' Movie

What a talented trio!

- C

Weekend at the trailer

Two weeks ago we went to visit my work partner at his vacation trailer in the Crowsnest Pass. We had such a great time and by the end of the day, we had entered into a deal with one of his neighbors to rent their trailer for the entire summer! This past weekend was our first time trying it out.



It is a lot smaller than it looks in this picture. I was using Tanis' wide angle lens so it made the interior look huge. Even though it was a tight fit for all six of us, it was still much more luxurious than staying in a tent as we have been doing for the past 10 years. It will be hard to go back to the tent after this, but Ella and Tyson still roughed it one night when they slept in the Hennessy Hammock we set up beside the trailer.



The wide angle really has a nice affect on skies.



And it makes Tyson's short little legs look longer.



As usual, Heather outdid herself with the menu. We ate just as well as we do at home.



We spent part of a day exploring the boulder field at Frank Slide and then we splashed around in Blairmore's outdoor swimming pool.



Here is a picture of the kids at Chinook Lake.



The kids didn't actually drive the quad but we had to hide the key because Deacon figured how to start it and shift it into gear. He loved each time I took him on a slow tour around the campground.



Coleman has a nice little spraypark that was a welcome break from the hot weather.







On one of the days, Rick and his family took us to Ranger Lake - Heather and the kids in 4x4s and me via a hair raising quad ride with his son. I totally sucked at fishing but the kids did awesome and each of them caught their first fish - they even kissed them.



Ella's fish was big enough that we were able to keep it and cook it up that evening for the BBQ.

I know this was a short blog but I promised Tanis I would post some photos.



- C

Favorite Photos (uncropped)

- C

Food

Like usual, most of my planning for this trip focused on where we were going to eat. I had a list of must-visit restaurants and scheduled them for the days that our activities brought us closest to them. One goal was to try sample San Diego's unofficial dish - the fish taco. I also chose some places based on Internet reviews and from TV shows like Man vs Food and Diners Drive-Ins and Dives.

One of the first such places was Blue Water Seafood which was supposed to be one of the best places for fresh seafood. The restaurant had a deli look to it with two counters, one where you picked out seafood to have it wrapped in brown paper to take home, and another where you ordered something for the kitchen to cook on the spot.



This is a picture of Mason's chipotle shark taco. We choose mahi mahi for Ella and Tyson and at $4 per taco, they were so huge, we had to remove half of the fish fillets just to close them up. These three tacos would have been enough for our family if we were eating responsibly and I kept asking myself, "if you can get this for $4, why would anyone who lives here ever visit McDonald's?" These tacos were perfect and turned out to be our favorite (we also tried Wahoo's Fish Taco and Roberto's).



I said if we were eating responsibly. Heather and I also ordered this sandwich made from local halibut cooked in lemon garlic.



One evening we ate at Phil's BBQ - a spot we picked for the El Torro sandwich you see pictured above. The restaurant is spacious and dimly-lit and after placing your order they give you a pager to call you back when your food is ready. We found a nice spot on the patio and by the time I had filled our water glasses, we were being paged. These sandwiches are so full of meat, they don't seem to make any pretense about expecting you to be able to close them. Instead we shared one sandwich among the kids by giving them each a piece of the bun and a pile of meat to eat with their hands.

The meat was covered in a slightly-spicy bbq sauce and only three of these $6.50 sandwiches would have fed our family. $6.50? At that price, why would anyone ever visit Subway? (Actually I can answer that one myself: Maybe some people like vegetables on their sandwiches).



Along with two El Torros, I also got half an order of baby back ribs that were such a hit, they seemed to disappear from the plate, and for the rest of the week the kids kept asking to return to Phil's. Sadly, the day that we went back there was a lineup out the front door and down the entire side of the building, so we ended up going somewhere else. By now, I am really regretting that decision.



Here is a shot of Roberto's which wasn't on our official list but was conveniently located a few hundred feet from the sand on one of our beach days.



Roberto's take out window has a different approach to the fish taco. The battered fish served on two corn tortillas and an optional hot sauce seemed more like fast food than the 'we-were-swimming-earlier-today' tacos at Blue Water. But at $2.50 per taco it felt like I was making money as I ate them. And two tacos with a bottle of lime-flavored Mexican soda had me stuffed.



It's not fancy or exclusive but we couldn't make a trip to the US without locating our nearest Costco and treating ourselves to a hand-dipped chocolate almond bar. They start with a bar of vanilla ice cream the size of two Klondike bars, then dip it in chocolate sauce and roll it in crushed (not slivered) almonds. When you start eating it, it is still hot and liquidy but gradually hardens into a shell. We have found that as long as we only order one or two of these for our whole family to share, we don't feel sick (and guilty) afterwards.

There's no ice cream treat like this in Canada at any price, but the $1.50 cost of this one is incredible. What makes it more strange is the fact that while the $1.50 pop and hot dog at US Costcos is identical to our $2 combo, it is impossible to imagine this almond bar selling here with only the same $0.50 increase. If Hagen Das is any sort of baseline, this bar would be more like $15 here, which leads me to conclude that we Canadians are getting ripped off by our ice cream treats.



One day we went to the Corvette Diner which was a great place for the kids. They had a 1950's theme that extended to the decor, music, and waitresses' made up names. I didn't take any pictures because we were seated in a section lit only by black lights and the fluorescent green table tops that left temporary silhouettes of any thing that blocked the black light from hitting the surface.

The burger was good and fortunately the "garbage plate" was much better than the name suggested - coming with mini sliders and assorted bar-food appetizers. We also got a chocolate shake and a strawberry shake to share.



Hodad's is a surfer joint located a block or so from the beach and was on the list because of their hamburgers and cool atmosphere.





We sat at a long surf board-shaped table in the center of the room and ordered two bacon cheeseburger combos, avoiding the bacon double cheeseburgers that Hodad's is famous for. I don't know how I would have eaten a double burger because I could not even fit this one in my mouth. I had to take it apart and eat it in sections.

After sharing a chocolate malt that came served in the blending cup topped with an extra scoop of unblended ice cream, we decided that for our family the perfect amount of food would have been: one single burger with fries, one single burger without fries, and the malt to share.



I didn't take any photos when we ate at Luche Libre which is too bad because it is a crazy place - if you skip to 1:40 in the above video you can see what we ordered (at 6:30 it shows Phil's BBQ as well). It was kind of dark when we went and after standing in line for 20 minutes, as soon as we got a table we dug into our plates of Surfin California burritos, rice and beans, and various salsas from the serve yourself bar. The burritos were amazing and even after sharing with the kids, it felt like we ate way too much. We actually had the Champion's Booth reserved for our final evening, but we ended up being a no-show because our plans had changed.

On one evening we also had Mexican at El Indio Restaurant which was a cafeteria style eatery with an intimidating menu which spanned the entire front wall. The person who took our order suggested some stuff for me and we enjoyed a feast of tacos, enchiladas, rice, beans, carne asade, a tamale, and tortillas served on styrofoam plates. We divided up the food amongst the kids' and they also shared a plate of chopped up toquitos covered in cheese sauce.



We had pizza twice during our trip, once for a sit down meal at Filippi's Pizza Grotto in Little Italy, and once ordered by the slice from a little shop off the beach. Both places were excellent but I'm not the best person to judge because I have never met a pizza I didn't like.



This was a frozen yogurt bowl that you filled yourself with whatever flavour of frozen yogurt and toppings you wanted, and then payed for based on the weight of the bowl. I thought it was an excellent treat for us to share with six spoons on a bench beside the Mission Beach boardwalk. But then Heather pointed out that the bowl cost just as much as two of Hodad's malts... and that took some of the enjoyment out of it for me.

Well, that summarizes the food portion of our vacation, excuse me while I go check the fridge for something to eat.


- C

Out and About

USS Midway



One of the first things we did after arriving in San Diego, was to head down to the harbor where this retired aircraft carrier (once the largest warship in the world) serves as a floating museum. The city has always enjoyed a close relationship with the military and is home to a number of naval bases and airfields. We were often seeing destroyers in the harbor and military helicopters and jets in the sky. With all of this happening around us, it was neat to be able to explore a real aircraft carrier.



The headphones were part of a self guided tour. As we came to an exhibit, we just typed in the exhibit number and an audio recording would explain it or share a story about what life was like aboard this floating city. We saw sleeping quarters, the machine shop, jail, convenience store, cafeteria, and even the ship's post office.



Deacon playing on one of the anchor chains.



Up on the flight deck they had a bunch of airplanes and helicopters on display, as well as retired veterans telling stories and giving presentations.



Without a wide angle lens, this picture is the closest I could come to showing just how huge this ship is.

Beaches



We set aside two days for the beach, during which we enjoyed the sand and surf in Mission Bay, Point Loma, La Jolla, and Coronado Island. Despite visiting so many different beaches, we spent very little time travelling and a lot of time relaxing.







The kids never got bored of digging in the sand or wading in the water. Our weather was perfect and at times, it seemed like we had the whole place to ourselves.



This is a place in La Jolla called "The Children's Pool", which has been taken over by harbour seals. After Sea World it was neat to see these animals in their natural environment.



I thought I was quite fortunate to catch a photo of this extra large wave hitting the concrete breakwater.



The kids didn't feel the same way.



Here you can see the famous Hotel del Coronado in the background. The kids really enjoyed this beach and I thought it was cool because there was an airbase at the end of the beach and every 10 minutes or so you would have jets coming in for landings. It was deafening at times but it was neat to see war planes at work rather than on display or flying in an air show.

The Church



While we couldn't attend the Temple without a babysitter, it was nice just to be able to visit the grounds. The San Diego Temple is absolutely beautiful and photos just don't do it justice. The other side of the Temple overlooks the freeway and each day we looked forward to seeing it as we traveled to and from Lego Land.



We met a member of the church at the Shamu show on one of our days and she told us about the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Centre in the Old Town district of San Diego. We were sure glad she shared this tip with us and it turned out to be a wonderful experience.



The tour was put on by missionaries and was comprised of different rooms decorated to depict different locations along the battalion's journey.



The main characters told their stories from talking picture frames and movies. I was really impressed to learn that the centre gets over 400 visitors each day, including local school field trips. The Elder giving the tour told me that residents recognize the Church's importance in the history of California and that the wagon road built by the battalion - which later became the major route for settlers and even the rail line - is often credited as being a major reason why California achieved statehood in only two years.



After the tour the kids got to pan for gold, draw water with a hand pump, and do laundry on a wash board.



I was most impressed to hear that when the battalion arrived in San Diego, despite the fact that they represented the conquering force of the United States Military, instead of doing those things that conquerers are often guilty of, they set to work alongside the Mexican people. They built up parts of the city and introduced fired bricks, replacing the adobe bricks that had been used up until that point. The battalion members became such close friends with the early San Diegans that when it came time for them to leave and join the Saints in Utah, the town's people circulated a petition to try and keep the Mormons from leaving.



These days we spent outside of the theme parks made up the 'holiday' portion of our vacation. And as an added bonus... they didn't really cost anything.



- C