Vacation Time! (part 1)

We, along with half the Valley it seemed, headed to San Diego (actually Coronado) over the 4th of July weekend. We just wanted to get away from the heat for a few days and relax for a bit. We found a great deal at the Hotel del Coronado (which isn't nearly as fancy as the regular price would indicate) so we were able to stay on the beach. Coronado is an island just across from downtown San Diego. Definitely a touristy place, but it was nice being able to walk down the main street and have all kinds of restaurants and shopping available.

The hotel was having their own party on the beach the first night we got there, so after we settled in for a bit and Zach explored the room some we headed down for some free s'mores, music, and Zach's first visit to the beach.

From Zach 2009 July (includes San Diego)

From Zach 2009 July (includes San Diego)

Our first full day we headed up to a Stone Brewing Company. We (ok, I) hoped to take a tour but they were swamped because of the holiday weekend, so I just picked up a shirt and a couple of beers only available at the brewery. When we got back to the hotel we headed down to the beach for the afternoon.

Zach had a great time! He liked playing in the sand of course, and we even managed to keep most of the beach out of his mouth. We took him towards the water, putting him so most of the waves would just barely come up to him. At first he wasn't sure, especially since the water was chilly, but soon he was splashing and having a ton of fun!

From Zach 2009 July (includes San Diego)

I took him out into the water so I was knee-deep or a little more and we watched the waves come in. Every once in a while a big one would splash us both. Pretty soon he was laughing and pointing as they came in!

From Zach 2009 July (includes San Diego)

Our second full day was the 4th. We headed down to the main street in Coronado to check out the 4th of July parade. Since San Diego (and Coronado in particular) is a Navy town, I was looking forward to the Navy band, etc. They had a couple helicopters do a fly over and a few bands play. And the typical parade stuff - waving politicians, classic cars, etc. We had a pretty good time though. Especially when Zach found some puppies to play with! :)

From Zach 2009 July (includes San Diego)

There were fireworks pretty close to our hotel so we were able to watch them from the parking lot. Zach liked watching them, but wasn't so sure about the noise. It didn't bother him too much, but he did watch most of them snuggling on Mommy's shoulder. :)

More next time in part 2...