Love, Southern California Style

Guess what we did for Valentine's Day?

We flew to San Diego.

First-class.

Which might have ruined Natalie for future air travel. Thirty minutes into the flight, as we were eating our hot meal with real silverware, she turned to me and announced, "Mom, we should always fly first class. This is awesome." I know kid. Don't get used to it. We just blew the frequent flier stash.

It's always amazing to fly away from dull, gray winter and land in bright, sunny spring. It's like Dorothy going from black-and-white Kansas to technicolor Oz -- literally. We when got off the plane Saturday, our senses were assaulted with green hills, masses of orange poppies, tiny purple and white daises and brilliant pink bougainvillea set against a sky as blue as a robin's egg.

Upon leaving the terminal, Natalie sighed and said rather loudly, "Now this is more like it."

So far, we've had an amazing time. I'd give you a day-by-day breakdown, but I don't really want to lose readers while I'm on vacation. It's bad ju-ju.

But here are a few snapshots.

Check out this sunset that we saw Saturday night. I took this from the car, so my apologies for the lack of focus. But tears of happiness make it hard to hold a camera.

Sunday, we went to church with my brother and sister-in-law and then spent the afternoon at Legoland, thereby earning our Parents of the Year badge from Connor.

Warning: taking a five-year-old boy who is obsessed with Legos to an amusement park dedicated to Legos may cause excessive joy.

The most fascinating part of Legoland (for me, anyway) was Miniland, where entire cities are recreated using Lego bricks. Las Vegas is the newest attraction.

Treasure Island was the most popular with the kids, because the pirate ships out front would do battle, just like they do in Vegas.

New York was another cityscape that amazed us. My favorite bit of the the Lego Big Apple was the new (yet to be built in real life) World Trade Center ...

... which stood solemnly next to the (yet to be built in real life) 9-11 memorial.

Besides theme parks, we've also enjoyed sweet times of reuniting with longtime friends. Does it make me sound old if I say I remember when all of these kids were born?

We've also gone teary-eyed a few times at the thought that we left this place.

I mean, I used to be the newspaper editor for this beach community, for crying out loud. I saw this every day.

For us, the song should say we left our heart in San Diego.

But we also know (ginosko, if you know Greek) that God has guided us to where we are today, and He has reason for that. So we trust.

But we also miss the beauty and even the personality of Southern California.

More later. We're off to SeaWorld today. (I'll say hi to Shamu for you, Amy Beth.)

Do you think heaven will be like one long vacation -- only better?