San Diego

i’ve been trying to figure out how i want to write this post.
and in addition, how i want remember our trip to San Diego last week.
i want to be positive but i also want to be honest
which is sometimes a hard balance to strike.

so i’ll just start from the beginning and try to tell it how it is.

+ Adam had to opportunity to go to the International Experimental Biology conference in San Diego and present his research. it was a big honor and i’m so proud of him to be able to go!
and since it was a school thing, BYU paid for him to go AND he got extra grant money from the conference which paid for me and Elijah to tag along as well.
so not a bad place for a free trip!

- it is a 11 hour drive and Elijah screamed most of the way home {torture}. and then Adam was gone at the conference most of the day each day so i was left with a really grumpy Elijah trying to figure out what to do most days (minus one day where Adam only went for a half day. but the morning was brutal!)

+ we were able to visit La Jolla beach and see the tide pools & seals, check out Seaport Village, walk around the Gaslamp District, see the Mormon Battalion visitor center, go to the San Diego Zoo [by the miracle which is my good friend Ginny!!], get to hang out with Adam’s lab, get serenaded in Old Town, see the U.S.S. Midway, and eat lots of yummy food!

- Elijah fell in the water [twice!!] and is now completely traumatized of water {an after effect we are still dealing with!}, we had to walk everywhere! and when we wanted to take the train we missed it so my legs are still aching, Elijah screamed at every restaurant we went to and we had to take him outside most of the time [or in one instance when i went to lunch with my friend Ginny, we had to give up eating altogether and just leave], Elijah also didn’t sleep 3 out of the 4 nights we were there

[Elijah’s progression of getting taken out by a wave.]
  

+ we stayed in a really nice hotel downtown that was actually a suite so we could have a separate sleeping area than Elijah and he had his own corner. and although he didn’t sleep at night, he did take his naps all but one day which was nice.

- although people told us downtown San Diego was nice, walking around by myself with Elijah [and at one time after 8:00 at night] i found out it was NOT the nicest area and at one point i’m pretty certain i saw a drug deal. there were people yelling and some that were drunk along each street and let’s just say i found out i’m a lot more brave than i thought i was!

+ we made lots of good family memories despite all the bad parts! 

nope, it was not this perfect, glamorous trip.
yep, we are still feeling the effects of what a messed up sleep schedule can do to a toddler.
but overall, i do not regret going.
{although in the first 5 hours i definitely wanted to get on a plane and come home… }

i’m glad i got to go support Adam and we could be together and celebrate his accomplishments.
even though having a 2-year-old puts a whole new twist on family vacations, there were still many moments that i was happy to see Elijah’s face light up in pure joy.
it was definitely a trip we will not forget!

{Mormon Battalion & zoo will have another post. too many pictures as you can see!}