San Diego, CA

we arrived in un-sunny San Diego on Wednesday night around 11pm (1am MN time). It was our first visit to California and we were excited to see Sam - Tim's brother - graduate from Marine bootcamp and also see some of the sights in San Diego.


On Friday, October 15th, Sam Havlik became a Marine! It was so stirring to see all the new Marines lined up with a large American Flag waving in the breeze behind them. The Marine Marching Band played the Star Spangled Banner while proud parents, siblings and friends looked on, with their right hands covering their hearts. We are so glad we could be there to be a part of this exciting time in Sam's life.

As I said above, San Diego was un-sunny - the whole time we were there, we didn't see the sun once! The hotel had a lovely pool/hot-tub area, but I never enjoyed it (other than taking a picture with me sitting on one of the lawn chairs wearing my sweatshirt and sweat pants!) I definitely packed for sunshine and am thankful that I brought some sweats 'cuz that is about all I wore the whole time!! :o)


For lunch after Sam graduated, he wanted to go to a wonderful fast food restaurant called "In & Out". I guess ALL the Marine graduates decided to go there for lunch because the whole place was PACKED OUT!! Even the drive thru was packed. Below is a picture of the drive thru line-up that wrapped around the back of the building to the other side of the restaurant. Once we got the burgers and fries, though, I realized that the food was worth the wait. IT WAS DELICIOUS!!! Definitely go there for lunch if you are ever in San Diego!


After lunch we went on a boat ride around the San Diego harbor. It was pretty awesome to see so many huge military ships in the harbor and to see sea lions hanging out on docks in the harbor.


I love the black and white photograph "Kissing the war good-bye". Below we saw the statue that was inspired by that photograph. So cool!!
Below is a picture of the USS Midway. This war ship was docked in the harbor and we wanted to get a tour of the ship, but weren't able to. Next time!!




On Saturday, we all spent the day at the San Diego Zoo. It was pretty incredible to see the bird sanctuary and the hippos. We took the tour bus around the zoo and saw so many awesome animals that God has created! He sure is creative and imaginative!! Below, Tim and his brothers Dan and Chris are stopping to take a little break from all the walking at the zoo.



Andrew was tuckered out and took a little nap in the carrier that Tim brought (I told Tim not to bring it 'cuz I didn't think we'd use it. Good thing he didn't listen to me :o)
It was so great that Jordan and Grace came up from Texas for the graduation. It was fun getting to see them and hang out with them over the weekend. Andrew just loves Grace and enjoyed all the attention she gave him.


Saturday night, after dinner, we all went out for icecream to Cold Stone. It was a delicious treat!!

The last big thing we did before heading home to MN was to visit the beach. How could we come home saying that we never went to the beach when we were in California?? Even though it was overcast and cold, we still had a blast! Almost everyone played football in the sand. Andrew loved the ocean water and all the sand. It was a great way to end our time in San Diego! -Mare