Trolley Trains and Hotel Swimming Pools for Riley's Fourth

As Riley's 4th birthday approached, we began thinking about what to do. Sure, we could have a big party for a couple of hours, but wouldn't it be better to have a whole weekend of fun? On New Year's Day, we spent one night in San Diego, and Riley still talked about riding the trolley train and swimming in the hotel pool. When we asked if he wanted to celebrate his birthday like that, there was no hesitation!

We drove early on a Saturday to downtown San Diego so we could ride a train to Old Town. (You'll see some different pictures here. I've been experimenting with the Hipstamatic App for my iPhone - it creates some fun effects and easier to juggle when on-the-go with the kids).


At Old Town San Diego, we soaked in some of the culture. And by culture, we mean mediocre, over-priced bland Mexican food served to the tourists. We looked to buy some Mexican jumping beans, but they were out of season. Who knew?

Yes ... margaritas at noon. Cause that's how we roll.
From Old Town, we took the trolley train back to our car and drove through Sea World traffic to Belmont Park - an old-time boardwalk. It was a beautiful day and we had a ton of fun, even though we didn't meet some of the height requirements!

Riley was scared of the carousel, which was weird, since our last few merry-go-round adventures were a hit. After it started, though, he settled in and had some fun.


He wanted ice cream and DEMANDED a cone. He barely made a dent in it before we, uh, HAD to come along and rescue it.

After Belmont Park, the kids didn't nap in the car during the half-hour ride up to La Jolla. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and had been checked in for about four minutes when we headed to the pool. After a quick rest, we went for an early dinner at the Rock Bottom Brewery. The kids were zonked!
Little did we know, that, in addition the exhaustion, Riley was re-lapsing a fever he had had several days before. He fell asleep in the car after dinner and barely flinched as we brought him inside and got half his jammies on. He awoke in the middle of the night screaming and, by later that day, had a 104-degree fever.
We had planned an after-dinner walk along La Jolla's beautiful coastline, but settled for some "magic hour" pictures in the hotel room. Sigh.
The next morning, it was back to the pool, despite barely any sleep for anyone but Holden.

We made a quick trip to the coast to see the seals before heading up to Del Mar for lunch with Jessica, Rob and Rowdy.
Kevin's self portrait (look closely):
In Del Mar, we played at a park near the tracks and got a few pictures before heading home.