Carlsbad Part 1

Happy Monday Everyone!

This post is going to be a long one. So get comfortable and grab that cup of coffee and let's begin.

Thursday

We headed to Carlsbad for a business trip. To check out the Queen Bee Market. What was supposed to be a one night trip turned into two. Alec did not want to make the long drive for such a short trip, so he stayed at home with a friend. We really enjoy our time in San Diego, no matter what we end up doing! Our hearts feel at home there!

We left Thursday around 3 pm. Had a nice Chevy Impala rental to drive. Took us about 5 hours to get there, with 2 short stops. I was hoping to see the sunset from Mission Beach, but we were about 45 min too late.



almost through the mountains and into San Diego

realizing we were not going to make it to the beach for sunset

We checked into the hotel and headed out to dinner at a family favorite, Sammy's Pizza. I adore the 4 cheese pizza.

 We went to one of their locations years ago for the first time. Emma was just a toddler back then. We had spent the day at the beach and were chilly and covered in sand, and needed to eat fast. We pulled in thinking, "pizza, sounds good and not too much money". We were so suprised when the meal was over and we spend $100. We had not paid attention to the prices and they serve individual pizzas, plus appetizers, plus a couple of glasses of wine, plus these giant ice cream sundaes.

 Well, we try to stop at the Mission Valley location when we can. It's too yummy to pass up!



mark and emma at Sammy's

There was also talks about a night walk on the beach, but in the end we were too tired. And it was a bit windy and chilly that night. We just relaxed at the hotel and went to bed at a decent time.

Friday

Slept in. Starbucks and a blog post. Off to Ocean Beach. We have never spent much time at OB. We tend to go to Mission Beach or Imperial Beach by the Hotel Del on Coronado Island. So we tried something new. And really had a great day. The beach was a bit overcast, so no swimming. But we took a nice long walk (my knee seemed much happier in Cali) and collected seashells.

seashells and seaweed

emma "proposing" to her dad

emma and I

showing off the new pedicures

me and Mark

Next we headed out for some shopping. I bought my first pair of Tom's (red canvas). Katie and Emma bought shoes also. We took photos of all the flowers,

katie with the sun in her eyes

petals curled in on some of these flowers

We stopped at a candy shop and bought:

Katie: jawbreaker

Emma: ?

Mark: almond bark

Me: champagne truffle and milk chocolate with caramel and crushed red pepper (yummy)

Family share: chocolate covered bacon (had to try once, but never again) and chocolate covered Twinkie (pretty much what you would expect)

Due to technical errors, see part 2 for the rest of the trip.