Reunion Days 2 & 3 - San Diego

After a little French food in Hollywood, we loaded up and drove down to San Diego to meet up with both of my sisters and their families at the Navy Lodge, courtesy of my Colonel brother-in-law, Derek.  In fact, Derek pretty much master-minded this reunion, and had us all at attention as far as our schedule was concerned.    Here's a little photo I snagged from my sister, since it appears I didn't get one photo of Derek the entire trip.  Colonel Tolman is in the middle.  Good Man.

Anyhoo.. 

Day 2 was Sunday.  We attended church at a UCSD student ward and then stopped to visit the breathtaking San Diego LDS Temple.  We know what it's like to come up on the Washington D.C. Temple by freeway.  Makes we wonder how many accidents this one has caused over the years:

Sadly, our family picture did not turn out.  Here's a "Round-em-up" shot. 

And the Baros Family:

Strolling the grounds with cousins:

We left the temple grounds and headed to Old San Diego for a visit to the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. 

The tour was so well done- very interactive and interesting for everyone, and a little emotional for me (I cried).   At the conclusion, we were spilled out onto the grounds where they had pioneer activities and gold panning for the children.  My kids always fall for this- certain the've struck gold every time:

Following the museum, we went back to the Lodge for dinner and lounging in the corridor.  The men hauled out all of the armchairs from the hotel rooms for a family pow-wow right there in the hallway.  We skyped my parents back in Utah, who weren't able to come on the trip at the last minute due to sudden surgery on my Mom's eyes.  They were so so missed. 

Sunday night, my (not so) little brother Mark showed up after a brief jaunt he took to climb Mt. Whitney in Central California.  Just a little tidbit about Mt. Whitney:  It's the tallest peak in the United States at 14,505 feet.

Mark did not hike, he SPRINTED up and down this mammoth rock.  If I remember right, he said his time was a little over 3 hours.  Crazy Amazing brother of mine. 

We left Mark (dead to the world) at the Lodge the next morning and headed over to the U.S.S. Midway Aircraft Carrier in the San Diego Harbor. 

All I can say is:

1. That ship is MASSIVE.

2. I kept having Top Gun flashbacks.

We almost lost one of the twins in the gargantuan maze below deck. 

Love this ponytail.

(Abby)

And this view.

San Diego is a little bit of paradise.