We went to Coronado for the 4th of July.
It was our second year making that trip which pretty much solidifies it as a firm family tradition…at least in our kids’ book. I honestly don’t know if they could have had more fun or been more excited if we took a trip to the moon.

I know that Dave and I are fun. I mean, we can come up with a mean game of “golf” with some playing cards if you’ll let us:). But I think the real reason the kids were so excited was because we went with all these people:
You see all those cute kids in there?

Yeah, that is kid paradise.

Plus, what child would be unhappy with a beach and a shovel?
…and a human elastic-band thing? C’mon and agree with me that there’s not much better 🙂There are endless hours of entertainment on a beach, I tell you.(Claire’s face pretty much says it all.)


On Sunday we took a pause from the beach and went to church and to visit Dave’s cousin and his family who live close-by.
We love these guys and we hadn’t seen them for a long time.

They had a baby we hadn’t met yet and we were all enamored by him, especially Claire, my “baby” girl. (Sometimes I think she has I.W.A.N. as bad as I do!)
They fed us a delicious lunch in their beautiful home.

Then back to the beach:
I love to go back to the beach in the evening when the slant of the sun is so beautiful:

I think Lu is pretty funny in this series of pictures:
Lucy took it upon herself to make sure every sand castle across the beach was sufficiently demolished at the end of the day.

She didn’t have much luck with this one though.
(Click here for more about that one.)

And here are some clips to give a little snippet into how the 4th-of-July-building went:

What a nice friend to carry that girl all the way to the “Burger Lounge” like that!


On the evening of the 4th we gathered for pictures:
This was my favorite view:
It was like the paparazzi.

Then we walked over for the big firework show….

…and stopped at picturesque spots en route.

The traditional glow-sticks were handed out.
We tried to make the word “Coronado” this way:

But it worked out cooler this way:Gotta love those fireworks.
Picture that they were awesome even though I don’t have the greatest pictures of them…I was busy snuggling with Lu and Dave.
I’m so grateful for this country of ours.

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24 Comments

  1. looks like you all had a blast. how did you do the coronado with the glowsticks? was it the glowsticks alone or some computer imaging stuff?

  2. I'm so darn jealous!!! My husband was stationed in Coronado in the Navy about 10 years ago and I miss that place so much! Seeing your beautiful pictures makes me want to go back and visit again. I love that other close families get together for the annual trip. So much fun and I'm sure the kids are in heaven!

  3. Wow that looks like a really fun time! That baby is so cute. IWAN now (and I've got a 6 month old lol). Also love those 3 pics of Lucy and Dave- fantastic!

  4. Love all your pictures! My husband and I love Coronado…we spent the 4th of July weekend (and another week following) there just after we were married in 2002. We had a wonderful time there. One of our fun memories was every night we would walk from our hotel over to Moo-time Creamery to get a scoop of their AMAZING ice cream. We put on a few pounds on that trip thanks to Moo-time! 🙂

  5. So cool! We are stationed here in San Diego and that is the exact spot we go to as well every year! It is beautiful! My favorite firework this year was the big huge one that lit up the whole sky and everyone oooohhed and awwwwed! What a great trip you had! I love your blog! Thanks for sharing your life with us, it is a blessing…and I love your pictures too! 😉

  6. This makes me sad that I missed the 4th in San Diego this year. But at least I have your pictures to make me feel like I was there :]

  7. Shawni –
    I just wanted to let you know how much I love reading your blog! Your photography is absolutely stunning. I have picked up so many great parenting tips from your posts too. Thank you for sharing your amazing insights with all of us. I have four kids ranging in age from 10-3 and find so many of your posts so helpful! I hope you write a book someday!

  8. These pictures are beautiful. Were you using your 24-70 2.8? I'm about to do some family beach photos and I've been wanting to rent that lens to try it out.

    Thanks,
    Lindsay

    lindsaysalazar.com

  9. Oh my goodness- you guys play cage of death!!! That's what I learned to call the game with the giant swimsuit material rubber band thing- I have many great memories and a few scars from that game!

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