San Diego- day 1

Despite alarms not going off and having to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn, we made it to the airport with enough time for bathroom and food stops before boarding the plane (thank goodness for Tom's A-list status on Southwest- we got to board before the family boarding and ended up at the front of the plane with our own row. Love it!)



The flight went well (partially thanks to a new toy with a purple squid like the one in the Beastie Boys Intergalactic Planetary video- Elias loves it!). We landed in San Diego, got our rental car and found out we could check into our hotel early (9am early- Thank you Hyatt!). We dropped everything off in the room and began our adventure right away.


The day started out with much needed coffee and a tour of the USS Midway. Our hotel is right next to Seaport Village and walking distance from the Midway, so a perfect first day activity. Elias loved the USS Midway! We learned the history of the USS Midway, explored sailor and officer living quarters and Elias loved playing in the climb-in planes on the Hanger deck.






From there, we went up top to the Flight deck which was full of planes, fighter jets and different types of helicopters. Some of them allowed you to climb inside- I never thought we could Elias to leave. Thankfully we could lure him away with the promise of learning about the ship's fire stations.





The fire station, as well as what seemed to be the daily life of the sailors was found on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th decks. We saw different galleys, the laundry, barbershop, chapel and of course learned about fighting fires. The pipes for fighting fires were painted in a specific pattern an located all over the ship. Elias loved seeing them everywhere we walked.





We finished our tour with one last ride in the climb-in planes and walked back to the hotel. While we should have gone straight back to the hotel for nap, picking something up along the way, Tom & I were excited for some In-N-Out and decided to grab burgers. Elias fell asleep almost as soon as we started moving. We picked up burgers, fries & milkshakes and ate in the car. Elias sort-of woke up, so we fed him almost a whole burger on our way home. Even half-asleep he kept asking for more burger and milkshake. Smart kid ;)

After nap, we grabbed some Mexican food. I wasn't initially too enthused about Mexican food, but my sangria and shrimp & lobster crepe enchilada were amazing. We walked around the Gaslamp quarter and then headed back to Seaport Village for a ride on the carousel. Thankfully I had read a review that mentioned how fast it was. We were all prepared to ride and it turned out to be really fast. Of course, Elias loved it!





Another late night, but a good and fun start to a much-needed family vacation.

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