Balch Family Blog

We left bright and early Wednesday morning headed for San Diego. We had to turn around just after passing Higley Rd (right by our house) to go back home and get our Legoland tickets that I had forgotten. After grabbing these we were on our way again.

The drive was easy and the boys did really well. They were entertained with movies and small toys as well as some candy and other treats.

Upon our arrival, we unpacked and headed down to the beach. It was so nice. The sun was shining and the water wasn’t too cold. Both boys were eager to get wet. They were a little surprised with how powerful the ocean waves were. We had dinner in a little beach side grill and then went next door to the bakery for a treat.

Thursday morning it was back to the beach. We had fun building all types of sand castles and cities. Neither one of the boys really got very wet that day. After a couple of hours we went back to the hotel, got cleaned up and headed to Legoland. The boys really liked it. We saw the shows and rode several rides. Camden got a Junior Drivers License. The whole family got a work out with the fire fighter challenge ride. That night we had dinner at TGI Fridays. Carsten slept in the booth the whole dinner. He was so tired.

Friday was Camden’s 5th Birthday! We got ready and were at Legoland when it opened. We only rode one ride each that day. We let Camden chose what we did. He wanted to dig for dinosaur bones and play at the Duplo play area. We also went to the test and drive area where they build their own cars out of Legos and race them down a ramp. I was able to get Carsten to take a nap in the stroller for about an hour. We left the park about 6 pm and went to Marie Calendar’s for dinner. The boys were so naughty during dinner. One clue we tried to do too much in one day.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the bakery and I grabbed 4 cupcakes. We took them back to the hotel and sang Happy Birthday to Camden. He also got to open a few presents too.

Saturday morning we went back to the beach for our last visit there. The boys got busy digging and building in the sand. They really liked it. They made friends with other boys and girls quickly and had fun digging big holes in the sand. My Dad and Betty met us at the beach and hung out for about an hour watching the boys play. We got cleaned up and went to the San Diego Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. Camden liked the N-scale display the most and Carsten really liked pushing the buttons to make some trains move. After that we drove out to Point Loma. The view there is beautiful and the boys liked being able to see the big ships leave the harbor. We ate dinner at The Fish Market and the boys did really well! (That was a relief!)

Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel with Dad and Betty. They played with the boys while we packed up. Mark wasn’t ready to come home so we decided to visit the San Diego County Fair. That was fun! We saw a lot of different animals, rode on some rides, and ate a bunch of fair foods! We left San Diego about 3 pm and arrived home about 9:45pm. Carsten was screaming and kicking the last 15 minutes of the drive. He was fed up with being in the car.

We all slept really well and we are getting things unpacked and laundry cleaned. Overall it was an AWESOME trip!

Camden will be 5 on Friday and the celebrations have already begun. Last Thursday we went to Tucson. Ken’s daughter (my step-sister) Cheryl and her new husband Ben were in town from Georgia. It was also Dakota’s (Ken’s grandson from Stacy) birthday. My mom and Ken decided to have a birthday celebration for their grandsons and they were thrilled to have their 3 daughters all together. We drove down Thursday morning and the party was that afternoon. Here are some pictures:

Ben is in the Army and just returned after being injured in Iraq. He was able to take us onto Davis Monthan Air Force Base. We went to the Base Exchange and looked at some neat airplanes and helicopters.

We will be taking Camden to Legoland this week and then he will celebrate with his Gran and Granpa on the 4th of July.

I believe Mark had a nice Father’s Day yesterday. It was certainly exciting at times. Mark went to church in the morning. I kept the boys home as Carsten was getting over croup, again! We had a nice lunch when he got home and hung around the house while Carsten napped. Then we went to Mark’s parents house. We swam for a bit. Both boys are quite the fishes! Carsten jumps in with no fear and Camden is holding his breath and going underwater. He even took off his floater and swam a couple times between Mark and I all by himself. He is doing really well! After a yummy dinner of ribs and corn on the cob we went to the greenbelt area across from the house. Camden got a Mentos/Soda geyser set and we decided to shoot it off. It was neat. Then Mark’s dad decided to fly his new electric plane. He usually flies it at an air park, and we know why now. The plane took off and was going so fast it flew right into a 100+ foot tree. After much discussion as to who was going to climb the tree, Mark went up a tall ladder with a very long pool pole to try and knock it loose. That plane was really stuck. It took Mark doing some real bashing and jabbing to finally knock it free. The plane will require some minor repairs, but it is fixable. We then set off for home and bed for our tired boys.

We hope all father’s enjoyed their special day!

That is how I have categorized (and color coded) our summer activities. I decided to plan several activities to do this summer so we didn’t just sit around all day. Last week we went to Arizona Museum for Youth and then for a swim at Gran’s (Mark’s mom). We also went to Bounce U. The boys really enjoyed bouncing around and going down the gigantic slides. This week we have a visit to a splash park, a movie, visit to the library and more swimming planned. So far, so good! We want to have as much fun as we can before Camden starts school in the fall!

My grandma celebrated her 84th birthday today. We took her out for lunch at The Weather Vane. It was a nice lunch and I think she enjoyed herself. Here are some pictures from lunch.