Better Late Than Never

The Bells, Addie and I took a trip out to San Diego to visit Mom and Dad. It was in the middle of August. It is now September. Oh well, at least it's making it up here. A bit of a disclaimer: I think I did a fairly good job on my Bell/Addie ratio, but I am a little biased.

Here we are on the bus at the San Diego Zoo. It was a beautiful day- warm and a little humid, but not unbearable.

Dad left a little earlier than the others because he had a meeting to go to and I went with him so that I could get Addie down for a nap. Here is what happened literally as we were walking out of the zoo:


The next day President and Sister Donaldson had a departure activity with the missionaries that were leaving, so the Bells and the Van Bloem girls took a trip to La Jolla to play in the ocean. The grownups got sunburned (especially Aaron and me). My legs are still peeling. Gross. Aaron loved the beach. "It was so much fun, and it was free!" Jacob got knocked over once by a huge wave and Emily and Ian did too.

How brave am I to post a "my-legs-haven't-seen-the-sun-in-three-years-and-I'm-still-losing
the-baby-weight" picture? I guess I'm hoping my daughters cute tummy and legs are distracting enough.

The sound of the ocean really is soothing. Look:

The next day we hung around the house so we could recover from our burns. That night Emily and Aaron went on a dinner cruise. I was jealous.

But not too jealous- we got to eat In-and-Out, blow bubbles and watch hummingbirds fight over the feeder.

The next day (Sunday) Mom and Dad spoke at the Marine base. I have never seen the sacrament passed with such precision. There were two baptisms that day- they took place in a physical therapy tank. It was actually a very beautiful place- lots of trees and stucco buildings.

We walked (very briefly) around the temple. It had been an exciting weekend and we were all pretty tired. Interesting fact: There is no Visitor's Center- just a couple of folding chairs under a tree where the missionaries hang out. Hopefully that will be changing soon.

Sunday was also the day before Dad's birthday. Can you tell he was really excited about his carrot cake? Just kidding. We were just laughing because I had taken a couple of pictures of him where he has this same face.

Monday morning rolled around and we were ready (but not willing) to leave. A lot of the weekend had been spent trying to catch the lizards who live around the house, but to no avail. This guy (affectionately named "Stumpy" by Spencer because of his regrowing tail) was kind enough to let Aaron catch him right before we had to leave. The kids were ecstatic and wanted to take him with us, but Emily put her foot down. I agreed with her. Stumpy needs to keep Mom and Dad company. We let Stumpy go and started the long trip home. Sunburned and tired? Yes. Sick of the car? Yes. Would we have traded a second of it? Never.

The End