Coronado Beach

California…here we come!

We had a gorgeous view of the “MoonSet” on our drive to the airport.  The sun was rising at the same level that the moon was setting.  It dropped below clouds before dropping behind the mountains.  One of the prettiest things we have seen.

We stayed at the Coronado Beach Resort.  A smaller hotel across the street from the historic Hotel Del Coronado and within walking distance to the beach.  We love when the smaller places include everything we need – beach chairs, wagons, sand toys, and so on.  And a kitchenette!

We arrived so early in the morning we had to wait for our room to check-in.  We headed right to the beach in our jeans and played at the waters edge and took a nice walk.  Here’s a view from the hotel.

Then Aunt Karen and Uncle Craig joined us the next day for a full day in the sand.

Elizabeth enjoyed torturing…I mean playing with Daddy.  She buried him in sand and much more.

They built sand castles together.

With a moat and a tunnel under their castle – they finally touch!

We left the beach to get some lunch, but someone passed out before the food came!  We shuffled her from lap to lap so we could all eat.

The next day we hit the San Diego Zoo.  We went to CA without any plans or expectations and decided to do things as the energy came to us.  But the Zoo and Sea World were the only two options on the itinerary outside of beach, relax, beach, and relaxing.

The Zoo was wonderful.  As we expected.  Elizabeth loved the elephants.  We got to watch one get his feet and nails cleaned and got treats and an overall checkup.  It was amazing to watch this big guy precisely place his feet through small gates in his cage to get cleaned up…including his back feet!

She also enjoyed the aerial tram, which we knew.  Although the loud clanging of the cars at the loading area almost derailed the ride.

I had her measure herself against the monkeys…she’s almost as big.

Another one of her favorite animals (for now) is the hippo.  She loves to watch them at the Denver Zoo.  Good thing they didn’t act aggressively today.  They just floated around in their pond like usual.

She piloted a helicopter with Daddy as a passenger…

We did the aerial tram a second time, switching around who went with who!

She loved being at the beach though with Uncle Craig and Aunt Karen.  Craig might’ve forgotten that when you do something a toddler enjoys, you better be prepared to do it 3,000 more times.  ha!

After Craig swung her over and over, then she went after Daddy as the Tickle Monster!

After Karen and Craig left, we took the ferry over to San Diego and just walked the streets a little.

We successfully tuckered her out every day of our trip.

There was a small tidepool area near our beach, so we got to go look for crabs and urchins and anemones and other sealife to show her.

She was better about not being totally afraid of the ocean on this visit, so that was comforting, but at the same time we were teaching her never to turn her back to the waves.  It’s a hard balance to find – trying to give her courage with safety constraints!

It was a wonderful trip, but we missed not having Jen, Aquiles and Alex join us as we had hoped.  Maybe next visit.  We did what we wanted, though.  Relax on the beach.

More pictures on October’s WebAlbum.