Rachel's 11th Birthday

Rachel turned 11 in April! For a fun party we took the cousins to the zoo.

Rachel also earned the Great American Award. Fifth graders could earn this by memorizing all of the states and capitols, memorizing the preamble to the constitution, doing a service project, and creating an art project about America amongst other projects. She really had to go above and beyond to get this recognition.

Beaches and the Temple

Beach time, finally! We have been informed that the next vacation should be to a beach house. No amusement park is necessary.  Next time we are near a beach, it will have to be in the heat of the summer. It's always fun to see some people playing in the water (crazy tourists from the north) and some people wearing jackets.

Wealthy residents in La Jolla built a breakwater to provide the perfect, protected beach for their children to play. This breakwater also provides the perfect, protected beach for the harbor seals and their babies to lay. So out with the kids and in with the seals. Seals are really cute and fun to watch...as long as they are downwind.

My mom and dad on the breakwater.

The tour of the Mormon Battalion Museum was excellent. It's a very fun, interactive, multi-media production. We got to view our ancestor who marched with the battalion and appreciate our ancestors that much more.

Point Loma was one of our last stops before leaving. Blue skies, blue ocean, beautiful views.

 How big are you compared to a grey whale? You can find out here.

This is the view from the door of the public bathrooms. I thought this has got to be the best view from any bathroom anywhere. I wondered if I was weird to even think this,  but then I overheard another man say the same thing. I guess great (or strange) minds think alike.

 Point Loma lighthouse.

 This is the courtyard of our cute, little, mom-and-pop, motel--the Dolphin. This place was older but very clean. The owners really take good care of the place. They have had the same head maid for 30 years. That is really saying something. She dressed like she was going to work in an office and was really friendly as was everyone there. The owner comes by every morning to talk to guests. He was concerned that Camille didn't have a jacket on and wanted to lend her his. I would definitely recommend this as a great place to stay with wonderful customer service.

We were able to see the temple twice,  on our way back from the beach and on our way out of town. The second time we met a missionary companionship where one missionary had ties to Cedar City and the other had family in Idaho. My mom and dad and Curt knew one or the other's families.

On our last day we finally got the blue skies and sunny weather we needed on spring break!

USS Midway

Our second day in San Diego we headed over to visit the USS Midway. On our way there, we took a quick detour to see a ship under construction. This ship, the San Salvador, was being built as a replica of the first European ship that sailed into San Diego Harbor in 1542.

Just a short mile or two across the harbor, but light years away in technology, was the massive floating city, USS Midway. This aircraft carrier was the longest serving Navy aircraft carrier in the 20th century. We loved exploring the ship with the help of audio tours. Seeing all the aircraft and learning the history of the ship was fascinating.

Admiral's quarters.

Captain's quarters.

Camille as the "Boss." This is the flight deck control.

Here's a piece of equipment that hasn't changed much in 400 years.

Inside a helicopter.

Erin as a pilot.

My uncle Jack flew a plane like this in WWII. He was dating my aunt at the time and my dad remembers him flying over the house during training as a way to say "hi" to my aunt.

A ready room for one of the flight squadrons.

The ship had it's own dental and doctor's offices.

In the engine room.

I think that I do a lot of laundry and cooking, but after reading about all the work to keep thousands of Navy men fed and clothed, I feel like I have it relatively easy. Note the huge washing machines and the big vats for stew.

I already have a lot of respect for all the branches of the military, but after seeing this I must say the Navy also rocks!