For Spring break this year we decided to venture to San Diego. The kids Spring break was over Easter weekend. Our original plan was to leave Easter Sunday at 4 AM and drive all the way. I was feeling sad about missing Easter services, but when we looked into flying out that afternoon, we couldn't justify the cost. As Sean and I were saying our prayers on Friday night, Sean looked up at me and said "why don't we drive half way on Saturday and stay in a hotel in Las Vegas. Then we can attend a sacrament meeting on Sunday morning before we continue on to San Diego?" I was so excited about the prospect and Mom and Dad Z and Mom P immediately agreed to the extra cost of the hotel. I found a hotel and got reservations and we left Saturday afternoon. I helped my Dad drive their car and then sometimes hopped back into our van to help Sean or hang with the kids. Mimi helped with the kids and kept Sean company in the van.
We attended a local Sacrament meeting on Sunday morning. It was a very nice Easter service and it was fun to explain to Brett how you can go to church anywhere in the world and it feels like home. The ward was much quieter than our home ward and I was glad we sat on the back row because Brett and I had to go search for tissues, then Lizzie needed to take a little walk since it was feeling long, then Brett was playing with a stress ball and popped it open. He was covered with flour and so was the seat and floor. It was in the middle of second talk and it was a huge mess. I took him outside and brushed him off and we found some very kind people who said they could vacuum it right up for us. Glad we were in the back so hopefully most people didn't notice our drama =)
We drove to San Diego and the 5 hour drive took way longer because of traffic and stops, but we made it and the hotel was very exciting! I went in to get our keys and discovered they hadn't put our rooms together which was a bit frustrating. I also needed to find the restaurant and try to get breakfast reservations and dinner reservations. We couldn't make any reservations online because our group was 8 people. Luckily they were able to get us scheduled for breakfast and told us to come back in an hour for dinner. We went up and checked out our room and then did the scavenger hunt to open a treasure chest in our room. The treasure chest had lego parrots in it and the kids were super excited. They also got to open the treasure chest in the other room. The kids were super excited about their beds and the theme of the room!
The buffet dinner ended up being stressful. We arrived and they told me how much it cost for all 8 of us and I was a bit shocked! We didn't really have any other choices because there was no other restaurant around and we were hungry. So we went in and there were a lot of yummy options. I was trying to help Alana and she got super frustrated because I was treating her like she couldn't do it. I sometimes forget that they grow and can do things themselves. The next morning I just showed her how to use the tongs and reminded her not to use her hands and then let her do it on her own. Brett got his food all set and then when he tried to sit down he had a panic attack because the floor wasn't super clean and there was food spilled. It was the end of the night and very normal for a buffet restaurant, but it was just too distressing for him. He ended up not really being able to eat anything. Alana also didn't eat much and I think Lizzie ate a brownie. Sean and I were so distracted helping the kids that we were kinda mindlessly trying to get food in before we called it quits. Not sure how the other adults enjoyed the food, I do know they were surprised by the $230 price, lol! Breakfast was in the same place the next morning and we were able to go over some strategies Brett could use if things weren't as spotless as he wants. Breakfast was included in our room and I let Alana do her own thing. They had delicious french toast sticks so I was super happy. Sean liked that they had Mexican food one morning and Chinese food another. My Dad got the cocoa puffs with chocolate milk one day and Sean copied him. After breakfast on Monday we went to explore the other hotel. We found a fun playground with a guy doing balloon animals and a slide in the lobby. 
The restaurant was themed so cute! There were lego creations everywhere. My favorite was this mixer that went round and round.
Heres the kids the first night getting their lego surprises out of the monkey treasure box.
We wandered over to the bat ray tanks and we got to pet them. After we had petted them, Alana, Sean and Brett went on the Manta roller coaster and Lizzie and I went to see an aquarium and buy a wand.
Alana and Brett really loved petting the rays. Lizzie thought it was ok.
After we explored the Castle hotel, we all piled into the cars and drove to Sea World. We decided to go straight to the penguins and then we kinda drifted all around after that. We put sunscreen on the kids and us, but it was windy and I think most of it blew away. I got pretty burned, Sean and Lizzie got a bit burned too. My mom and Mimi got burned too. I bought some cream sunscreen for the next day.
The inside penguins were pretty cool! We got to see a guy feeding these outdoor penguins and it was SOO cool. My favorite part of the day. One of them named Baby Kai kept jumping on the guys lap while he was trying to feel them the fish.
After we left Sea World, we were super hungry and didn't want to eat at the hotel. Sean found a little local malt shop that we went to and it was so yummy!
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