Legoland, CA

Our next stop was Legoland in Carlsbad, California. We had a lovely overcast day to tour the park and the sun came out midday, but the crowds did not follow. The girls had great fun riding roller coasters, building cars out of Lego, and exploring the city models built out of tiny plastic building blocks.

After replenishing our sugar stores with ice cream, we ventured over to the nearby Sea Life Centre Aquarium. The girls marveled at a variety of jellyfish, sting rays and their absolute favourite exhibit of Black-tipped Reef Sharks.

San Diego Zoo

We met up with Opa and Nana McMullen in San Diego following the American Thanksgiving weekend. After contending with intense crowds in overpriced campground parking lots, it was delightful to settle into a real home for a week in La Jolla.

We spent a rainy day at the San Diego Zoo and got to see all of the animals up close without any crowds. The massive line-ups for the Giant Pandas were next to nothing and the kids loved watching these giants lumber around their enclosures and chew away on stalks of bamboo.

Los Olivos, San Quintin, Baja, Mexico

On our way back to the States, we spent a few nights camping in an olive grove called Los Olivos. This beautiful sanctuary in the crime-riddled village of San Quintin was a safe haven of hard working individuals, many of whom were visiting from Canada to build a shelter for abused girls. The kids had the place to themselves and enjoyed hours of silliness on their trampoline and zip line. While we were there, Heidi lost her first tooth at the ripe old age of seven and she befriended a cat which she named Lala after the brand of milk we fed her.