June 15th-19th 2021
It was worth waiting a year for! We had planned/paid to do it last summer, but Covid-19 changed that. The condo saved our reservation for this year instead. We drove down on Tuesday, June 15th to check in after 3 pm. It was a great, very secure facility. It had underground gated parking and keyed elevators to get up to the rooms and keyed gates to get back into the room areas from the city or the beach. The rooms were so nice and comfortable. I loved ours the best actually. We got the one on the ground floor. We all had rooms in the same building, but to get them all facing the beach, we were on 3 different levels. We had us, Supe, Beacher, Jem and Bean in our condo. Ferf and kids and Randalls and kids were in one on the 2nd floor. Jay, Brynn and girls and Juge, Lance and family were together also on the 2nd floor. Derek and kids and Brynnli were on the 3rd floor. (Paul and I got the master bedroom and it was really nice, looking right out onto the beach.) We had 35 of 44 possible in attendance. (Kaebri and Tavin are on missions, Braden couldn't get off work, Ryan, and Moss/Christie and family couldn't make it.)
The Randalls ran into a lot of car trouble with a borrowed Suburban and ended up getting there late after having to have Jay come up to Victorville and bring them and their stuff down. They had to leave the car there - it overheated in Baker, had to be towed to Barstow to be fixed, spent the night in Barstow and left thinking it was fixed and then broke down again in Victorville. The shop that was fixing it was closing leaving them sitting out in 100+ degree sun waiting for Jay to get there. We remembered some really nice kids from our YSA had parents close to Victorville. (I tried to call a nephew, but couldn't get either him or his wife on the phone.) The dad of those kids had a big work van and came and picked them up, took them to dinner, insisted on paying for it, and then took them to his home to wait for Jay to arrive and pick them up. They swam, visited and played with the dog while they waited and finally got to the condo about midnight on Wednesday night. Crazy times!
On Wednesday we could all just go to some nearby attraction we wanted to see. The Weavers, Borrowmans and Paul, Bean and I went to the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum in San Diego. It was so amazingly huge and interesting. We spent pretty much all day there. Derek and kids went to the San Diego Safari Park and had a great time. Supe and Beacher went to Little Italy. I think Jay and Brynn just hung out at the beach since they had left the week before and had been touring in central CA for a few days before arriving. The Randall's missed out, but on Friday, Jay and Brynn lent them their van to go to the Midway. When we all got back we went to the beach and played.
On Thursday morning we all got together and went to Balboa Park fitting Randalls into any extra seating in everyone's cars. Then people just went wherever they chose since there were so many places to see there. Paul, Bean and I decided to go to the Auto Museum which was really cool. Afterwards we had a little time left and made a fast (too fast) job of the Air and Space Museum which was also very cool! Then we headed back to hang out at the beach. On this day Paul and I tried out the Boogie Boards for our first time. It was fun, but we need more practice. Riptides were kind of a thing at this beach, so you had to get out and go to a different area every now and again when the lifeguards said to.
One thing Paul and I really enjoyed was taking our morning walks on the beach. It was cool and misty in the morning and you could find some really nice shells. Some of the others took their morning runs along the beach.
On Friday morning you could do what you wanted and then come back to play at the beach after lunch. Paul, Bean and I went to the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center. (Ferf and family came later.) It was such a fun place. Afterwards we drove to see the San Diego Temple and walked around a little bit. It's so pretty. Then we went back for lunch and more family/beach time.
We had great dinners together on W, Th, F evenings. We ate at our condo 2 nights and then at Ferf/Randalls one night. We could all fit in! We had good food and a good time visiting. We did our own breakfasts and lunches at our condos or out on the town as we chose. And some of us did play games one evening, but mostly people were tired from long days and went to bed.
Another attraction was the pool and hot tub. Some fun times were had in both places! One time we squished way too many of us into the hot tub that was really only supposed to have 6 people in at one time.
The weather was cool. It was better to wait until after lunch to go to the beach. Our high temperature day was 73. But, once you were in the water, it was fine. If the kids got too cold, they'd go and hang out in the hot tub for a while, and then come back for more boogie boarding. That was a really fun, popular thing. Some people brought wet suits which was a good idea. Derek rented one for Trigg and he stayed in the ocean boogie boarding all afternoon!
We all owe Brynn a HUGE THANKS for making this beach camp happen. She found and rented the condos and took care of taking our monthly payments for a long time. Then she rearranged it after Covid goofed things up so it could still happen this year. She did the organizing. We just made a Costco (and a few other stores) trip after we got there to get all of the food for our joint dinners. Then people in different condos worked together and took turns cooking the dinners. They were good, easy to make and plentiful. No one went hungry...as usual! And we all worked together to get the Randalls and their stuff back home again. The suburban is still out there as far as we know. (It was Bryan's boss' car and he may have just sold it to the mechanic.)
I can't think of anything that would have made it better other than not having the Randall's car break down...or if we could have just stayed another week or so!
