San Diego

This week has gone by so quickly. Two days

of doing nothing more strenuous than Grade 2 (which can be quite stressful at times!) and walking across the street to play in the sand at the beach of Mission Bay, here in San Diego at the beginning of the week did wonders for my energy levels.  I built a little sandcastle, which survived the overnight tides, but was then thoroughly vanquished by busy beaver children.  (What is it about my two that makes them want to smash and destroy!?) And I finally felt rested. 

Snowball fight!

Which of course meant it was time to be busy again! Off we went to visit SeaWorld, since it is included in the So. California City Pass, which we had purchased at Disneyland (and which would expire on Sunday). We spent the day riding rides and taking in the myriad of animal shows. The Sea Lion show was entertaining, the dolphin & whale show mesmerizing and the dolphin & seal/sea lion exposure tanks were quite interesting. We missed the iconic “Shamu” show mainly because my own monkeys were much more interested in playing in the artificial snow in the winter area (which was admittedly, great fun).  Actually, I think the snow was my favorite part of the whole place.

After visiting SeaWorld we met up with an ex-work friend of Bob’s from his old workplace (and said friend’s family) for sushi at a local restaurant.  The restaurant was quite busy, and due to a hiccup in our navigational skills we ended up out of sync with them (and thus ate at separate tables).  We still had a nice, if brief, visit. 

These 2 belong in the zoo!

We were all set to pull out the next morning, but after looking at what we still wanted to do in the area (and where), we decided to stay put for three more days. So Friday afternoon, after getting some school done, we went to the San Diego Zoo because they have pandas, you know.  Lily has wanted to see pandas ever since she discovered that the Toronto Zoo has them. I was all set to wait until we were there for her to see them, but Bob wasn't having any of that! The Zoo is also world-renowned, and we were curious to see what made it so.  It is quite interesting, and there is a lot of growth and trees within the zoo. The paths meander and the enclosures tend to blend with the outer environment, giving a bit more of a natural feel to the place (the birds are in real (tall) trees & the forest seems to surround the big cat pens.  At the same time, the animals also feel more accessible than some of the other zoos I have been to.  The elephants have room to roam & all the animals seemed pretty content. One thing I noticed was that many of the animals were Right There in front of us, and if we had really wanted to, we could have reached out to touch many of them (note: don’t do this, unless you’re in the petting zoo!) We chatted with a keeper as she gave the spider monkeys a veggie snack and I had a nice little chat with a cougar, who sounded surprising like my old neighbours’ cat, Tigger (who has the teeniest meow you ever did hear), and was no more than five feet from me. 

After visiting the zoo, we drove over to Bob’s friend’s place for a more relaxed supper & visit and spent the rest of the evening swapping stories and enjoying the company. I never truly realized how huge a network of contacts/ friends from his old work days Bob has. Getting to meet some of them as we travel, has been quite interesting for me, as it gives me a whole new insight on what work was like, and the relationships that formed through the continent (through meetings/ conferences and the like). 

We stayed out a bit later than ideal for kid bedtimes, and I got to drive the truck home in the dark, through the unfamiliar city (high on my list of things I hate to do), and arrived back in time to pour the kids into their beds before doing the same for ourselves. Good thing Saturday was a planned quiet day. 

No matter how much fun & busyness we’re having this is life, not a vacation. Basic things like groceries still need to be shopped for, and since this is December, Christmas is just around the corner, and there are preparations to be made. Silly me, all of our Christmas decorations & items are packed neatly and tidily in a Rubbermaid tub in the storage unit. I know what I was thinking back in July when I tucked them away – I wanted them safe and secure and I didn't want to pack around the extra weight in the trailer. But now that it’s December I really wish I had brought some of our ornaments & lights with us. If I was thinking, I would have grabbed a handful when I was there in November (but it still wasn't on my radar). So, we picked up a few decorations to make the trailer a bit more festive

There was one more reason we didn't move campgrounds on Friday – Legoland. It is 30 minutes north of our current location and once this place was on the kids’ radar there was no way we were getting out of the area without going (either that or listen to the complaining for days!). Morgan noticed the signs on the way down from Los Angeles and then asked daily when we were going. We purchased our tickets on line, and got a decent holiday deal (way better than at the gate admission). Legoland is definitely geared for younger kids (12 and under), and there were plenty of rides to keep the kids busy. At some of the busier rides, Lego stations, where kids could play & build while parents stood in line, kept them entertained.  The kids donned their mittens to play in the snow area and then Morgan got soaking wet on one of the rides (and then subsequently stood under a big fountain of water in the spray park area). Good thing we had brought his jacket along so he could wear it instead of the (wet) long-sleeve shirt he was wearing! His favorite section of the park was the Star Wars mini scenes, while Lily enjoyed the dragon roller coaster the best. 

What a week (big tired huff). After all this,we need to focus on some regular life, and look at how the rest of the month is going to play out. We really need to get some school work done before Christmas holiday is upon us (and I want to take a complete break from school for a little bit) and I don’t even have a clue if we’re ready for Christmas or not! Time to move out of San Diego...