Julian, Mira Mar, and Mitsuwa

I apologize up front for the amount of pictures you are about to be bombarded with. Well this last weekend we were so excited to have a chance to get away to beautiful San Diego for a visit with my mom. It was Deke's spring break so we headed out on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Cali later that night. On Friday morning we woke up and drove over to Julian this adorable little country town with rolling hills, farm animals, orchards, and quaint little shopping areas. It is known mostly for it's orchards and famous apple pies, in the fall you can go there and have a chance to pick the apples and make your own cider. We went into downtown Julian and walked all the shops and had fun taking pictures in all of the great little photo spots around town. I loved some of these pictures that we took of the kids. I don't know why but the one with Hunter standing by the red and blue barn door is just so cute, I love it. It was absolutely gorgeous there it was so green and I again wondered why we live in Arizona? We stopped by the Julian Pie Company and picked up an apple pie which was flaky and delicious. They make cider doughnuts that are supposedly amazing, we asked to try one and were shocked when the lady told us that you have to reserve a dozen if it is a Friday or a Saturday in order to get any. I then was even more interested in trying one and of course it was Friday so...no doughnuts for us. We spent all afternoon just walking the shops and then headed home for the evening. Deke wrestled the children while my mom and I snuck away for some fun one on one time shopping together. The next day we went to the Mira Mar aviation museum which was very cool and fun for both of my boys, both the little one and the big one. The old helicopter's were really neat and it was great because they actually let the kids touch the planes so they could really experience it. Then we headed to a huge park across from Sea World and had a picnic which was great until a guy crashed his kite into the tree right above us. Then Deke had to help him untangle it all which was quite a task. Marley took us to Mitsuwa a very neat Asian market. We went through a bookstore, a neat shop with all sorts of ornate tea sets and tea pots, aisle after aisle of new foods and vegetables and a giant room totally devoted to every type of rice you can imagine. It was really interesting to be somewhere where everything was in a different language that you couldn't read and people were talking in a language that you couldn't understand. I guess it was my first time being in a place that I was totally surrounded by another culture, it was very eye opening. We then headed home and let the kids play and we just relaxed. We relaxed and visited on Sunday and then headed back to AZ. It went fast of course like it always does but I just love love love going to California. It is such a fun place to get to go away for the weekend and let the kids get to spend time making some memories with Grandma and "the auntie's" as Hunter calls them.