Escape from the Desert

Since most of Joe's work team and the corporate office are located out of Camp Pendleton, he will occasionally get sent there on business. When possible, I like to take the kids down there for a few days and enjoy a little mini-vacation down by the beach of North San Diego County, where we were once lucky enough to be stationed but of course never fully took advantage.

The last several times we were down that way, we went to Sea World (a personal fav of mine) but this trip I was going to take the kids to the zoo. That was until in the darkness of our hotel room we slept in until 9am. Not exactly the early start I had envisioned. So instead, we went to the beach for awhile and when the kids got tired and hungry, we jumped over to Ruby's Diner for lunch. It's a perfect location - turkey burgers for me and a train that goes around the diner to entertain the kids. And it just happens to be located at the outlet mall so after lunch we hit up a couple stores before heading over to Flower Fields, a local attraction in Carlsbad. The ranch contains over 50 acres of colorful blooms covering the hillside overlooking the pacific ocean and it just happened to be closing for the season on May 11th. Back in the day, I actually worked off the exit to Flower Fields, was able to witness it's beautiful display daily for a full season but never actually went to explore the grounds in person. With little expectation other than to see a bunch of pretty flowers, our impromptu visit was the highlight of our trip. They had a hedge maze made from Sweet Peas, a rose garden, a Santa Village playground and a passport game whereby the kids collected stamps at various stations throughout the grounds - something Jake enjoyed searching for quite a bit. Today, before leaving to come home we went back to the beach and although it was too chilly to be in the water, the kids enjoyed attempts to build sandcastles and running away from the waves. It was a nice little getaway but honestly, it is this time of year where here in the desert we have the envious warm weather (before it gets unbearably hot) so it is nice to be back home in our shorts and tank tops with plentiful sunshine.

Here is Jadyn the first day at the beach. Jake was so busy running away from the waves that I didn't get very many pictures of him that first day:

Here the kids are upon entering Flower Fields, smelling the pretty blooms:
And here they are actually obliging me by hamming it up as flowers:
The view ascending the hill:
The view going up the hill:

Up close:

Jake climbing the mushroom at the entrance of Santa's Village:
Peeking out the windows of one of the miniature play houses in the village
Posing for an almost perfect picture at the photo pavilion at the bottom of the hill:
The 2nd day at the beach, Jake was much more eager to pose for the camera:

Jadyn watching the birds in the distance:
Time to go. It's chilly here at the beach!