Spring Break 2012 Vacation

Earlier this year, our twins asked if we could take a vacation to Legoland California in lieu of a school birthday party. With as expensive as birthday parties have become, we thought this was a great idea, plus it would give us a great excuse to take our first official family vacation since our children were born.

This vacation quickly became a vacation of firsts for our boys as they visited their first beach, climbed a palm tree, rock (wall) climbed, watched dolphins swimming in the ocean from the pier, and Little C rode his first train. We couldn’t have had a more enjoyable vacation, and I know the memories we made will last a life time.

Moonlight State Beach, Encinitas, California

Our first stop when we arrived in Southern California was the family friendly Moonlight State Beach in Encinitas, California.

This would be the first time our children would visit a real beach and experience the surf and sand first hand. Luckily, the Easter Bunny got wind of our vacation and hid buckets of beach toys in our truck so our boys could build sand castles in the sand.

I love silhouette pictures and was able to get one of all my boys together on the beach. This is one of my favorite photographs from our vacation, and it now graces the cover of my computers and phones.

Legoland California

Our next stop, and the reason for our drive to Southern California, was to visit Legoland California.

We spent a day and a half at Legoland, which was the perfect amount of time for our three boys. The boys had so much fun at Legoland, and were in awe of all the amazing creations created from Legos.

Little M got to ride his first train in the Duplo Village at Legoland and he loved it. He was such a big boy sitting quietly next to his big brothers as the train went around the tracks.

Kevin climbed a palm tree with a little help from an attendant, a palm tree so high there is no way you would ever catch me up there.

San Clemente State Beach, San Clemente, California

We visited the adorable and quaint San Clemente State Beach with two of the boys cousins.

We were all surprised when we walked to the end of the pier to see dolphins swimming in the ocean. Sweet little Kevin still believes he saw sharks though, since according to him dolphins don’t have top fins.

All the kids really enjoyed playing in the sand building sand castles. The boys loved spending the day with their cousins, and learned new tips and tricks on how to build the ultimate sand castle.

Manhattan Beach California

Manhattan Beach was our last stop before heading home the next day. We took a leisurely stroll to the end of the pier and ate some lunch at a small café before heading to another cousin’s birthday party.

Before leaving the Manhattan Beach Pier, the boys couldn’t resist taking a photograph with a real great white shark. Of course, this shark had already lived his life so there were no worries about loosing a child for mom.

Rock Climbing Birthday Party

Before heading home, we celebrated a belated birthday party for one of the boy’s cousins. The party was held at a local adventure center where the boys tried their hands at rock (wall) climbing for the first time.

Lewis loved climbing the rock walls, and tried all five levels of difficulty. We could barely get him down when it was time for cake.

The days were fun, long and exhausting, but all our children couldn’t have behaved better. Baby was quickly whisked from two 3-4 hour naps per day down to one 45 minute to an hour nap, but he always kept a good attitude as long as he was included in the fun.

All in all we had an amazing Spring Break family vacation.

What is your favorite family vacation spot?

Note: You’ll have to forgive this post for being so long and with so many photographs. My blog is shared with our families and this is a convenient way to share family photographs. (Could you imagine trying to e-mail all of these? Yikes!)