San Diego 2006 (Part1)

Lee and I survived flying across the country with a 2 1/2 year old and an 8 month old! Yeah! We went to San Diego for 5 days for our friends' wedding, Phil and Jenny (Schroeder) Wanner. San Diego is BEAUTIFUL! Perfect weather all of the time...I'm not kidding. The following is a summary of our trip. I apologize for the length. I wrote down everything for journaling purposes.

The Flight Out

Not too difficult. We had to wake the boys up at 5:15am to make our 7:30 flight out of Ft. Wayne. They were slightly thrown off for the rest of the day...but no major issues occurred. The biggest thing that happened is that Kiefer had a few 5 minute crying episodes on the plane, which probably bothered several people around us, and Krue had a poopy diaper that I had to change in the airplane bathroom! Talk about tight spaces! That was very challenging.

Krue loved going up in an airplane and seeing the clouds beside us. He stayed occupied by watching movies on our portable DVD player (thank goodness for those!)

We met up with Lee's step-sister, Sara, at the Dallas Airport and flew the rest of the way to San Diego with her. We couldn't be happier for asking Sara to go with us on this trip. Honestly, I don't know how we would have managed without her. It was so nice having an extra pair of hands and eyes around. Plus, she was fun company to have :)

San Diego (Day 1)

Once at our hotel, we met up with my parents and my sister, Ali (who flew out a couple of days earlier with her husband, Dan). We spent our first afternoon getting things organized in our hotel room (for those of you who have kids, you know what I mean) and Krue took a much needed nap.

Later that evening, Lee, my dad, and I went out to dinner and met up with friends (including Ali and Dan) who had traveled from the Bluffton area for the wedding. Wonderful Sara stayed back at hotel with the boys and ordered pizza. We had a great time! San Diego has a 3 hour (earlier) time difference from Indiana...which made it very difficult for us to stay out late...and is also the reason my mom stayed back at the hotel :)

San Diego (Day 2)

We all slept in! We then walked down the road to an adorable outdoor breakfast place and ate. I love California food - so healthy! Next, we walked down to check out the beach and ocean. Beautiful! There was a cute little playground that overlooked the ocean, so we spent lots of time playing on that. Kiefer even enjoyed the swings!

We went back to the hotel so the boys could take naps. Sara stayed with them while Lee and I headed back down to the beach so he could surf and I could lay out. About an hour later we walked a little further down the beach for a "Beach Party" hosted by one of Phil and Jenny's friends. The house was right on the beach! We spent a couple of hours there and then headed back to relieve Sara. We decided to take the boys to the beach for a little bit. Krue was a little intimidated with the waves of the ocean and didn't like walking in the soft dry sand. He liked running on the wet sand with Uncle Dan and playing the game where the waves chase you with Aunt Ali. Kiefer loved watching the waves and putting his hands in the sand.

That night we went to a cocktail buffet for Phil and Jenny's out-of-town guests, hosted by Jenny's parents. Sara stayed back at the hotel with the boys.

San Diego (Day 3)

We went to breakfast at another cute outdoor restaurant called "The Pacifica" and then shopped all morning around the square. My parents took Krue to an Exotic Animal Park, I took Kiefer back to the hotel for a nap, Lee went surfing, and Sara laid out by the pool.

That evening Lee and I went to Phil and Jenny's wedding. It was a small, beautiful wedding overlooking the ocean on the roof of a hotel! Both Phil and Jenny looked gorgeous! Once the wedding was over, they removed all of the chairs for a cocktail hour on the roof and a great view of the sunset. Next, they moved us downstairs to the ballroom for a 5 course meal and live band. Some of the highlights of the wedding were my Dan's (my brother-in-law's) best man speech, some handsome young men escorting my mom out on the dance floor and dancing with her, and pizza being delivered the last hour of the reception! How cool is that?

San Diego (Day 4)

We got up early and went to the San Diego Zoo! This zoo was sooo cool! It is very big and has lots of unique animals that I have never seen before. I was so excited that we were able to see the panda bears. We were there from 9am to 1:30pm and only saw half of the zoo! Krue liked the bunnies and turtles the best. He was so tired towards the end and was only interested in sitting on the benches and singing. Lee had to carry him out.

The boys and I went back to the hotel and took naps, Lee went surfing, and Sara laid out (see a pattern here?) Later that night Lee, my dad, mom, and I went to the restaurant Phil manages right on the beach called "Jake's". This is a restaurant similar to an Eddie Merlots only with a more casual atmosphere. Phil called in for us and hooked us up with lots of good appitizers and drinks. As we were leaving Phil and Jenny actually came in to say hi to us. So nice!

San Diego (Day 5)

I spent a good part of the morning packing up while Lee went surfing one last time :) My mom took the boys so I could get everything done in time. Next, we all ate at a restaurant called "The Americana" for breakfast. We then headed to the airport to go home.

The Flight Home

Okay, this is were it gets interesting. I should have known things were about to get crazy because I wasn't nervous about this flight at all! I figured, the flight out went pretty smooth...what else could happen?

The flights home were 3 1/2 hours to Chicago and then a quick 45 flight to Ft. Wayne. 3 1/2 hours is VERY long for two little boys. The first 2 hours went well...Krue watched his videos and Kiefer slept and ate. The next thing I know, Krue has a dirty diaper. No big deal (I thought). I've done this before. I took him to the small, cramped airplane bathroom and changed his diaper. I walk him back to the seat and see Kiefer crying and Lee panicking. He hands Kiefer over and told me that Kiefer pooped too...only it was very runny and squishing out his diaper and down his leg! I run Kiefer to the bathroom (everyone is chuckling at me) and I attempt to change Kiefer. Now, changing a diaper with poop on the clothes is challenging even if you are at home...let alone in a small little airplane bathroom with limited baby wipes! Ahhhh! There was poop EVERYWHERE! Luckily I brought extra clothes and, after about 20 minutes and a lot of sweat, successfully changed Kiefer. I went back to my seat on the plane, about to describe the mess to Lee, when I sit in a puddle of water! Krue had spilled his water bottle on my seat! Ahhh! It only got worse from there. This flight happened to have extreme turbulence, which made us all scared for our lives, and Krue was on the verge of a meltdown...Kiefer was about to join him. Let's just say I was happy to get off the plane.

Once we were in the Chicago airport we grabbed a bite to eat and said good-bye to Sara :( We found our gate and prepared to board our next flight. That's when Krue had his meltdown! I have never seen Krue have a true meltdown before...but this definitely was one! It was 10pm at night, he hadn't slept all day, and he had had it. He sobbed, kicked, shouted...I had to remove him from the situation! We walked up and down the hallway for about 10 minutes until he settled down.

As we boarded our next flight (Krue was pretty much in zombie mode) the flight attendant asked Krue what is name was. He said "Krue Nagel". She said, "Well hi, Krue. We're the crew, too!" She took him up to the cockpit to meet the pilots and see the buttons and lights. Before we took off on our flight, the pilot made this announcement: "We'd like to welcome a special young flyer with us tonight. His name is Krue Nagel and is sitting in the back of the plane. Do us a favor, Krue, and keep an eye on your parents back there. We don't want any funny business." Krue just thought it was so cool that his name was announced. Every time they came on the speaker again he would think they were talking to him, and would talk back by saying, "Yeah, uh-huh, okay". It was too funny! Krue never did sleep until we got home at midnight!

So that's our San Diego story. Good times and great memories!