San Diego

We spent last week in San Diego with Jeff's family.  The flight was short and uneventful (mostly), the rental house was awesome, the San Diego Franklins/Carlins were welcoming, the weather was cooperative, and the kids were well-behaved (more or less).  Some highlights of our trip:

The Flight
It's just a short 2.5 hour flight, so the kids did fine.  The only problem came when Marley decided that he needed to go pee "NOW!" about two seconds after the pilot turned on the fasten seat belt sign during our descent.  Luckily, I wasn't in charge at the time, so disaster was averted by stalwart Nai Nai, who came to the rescue with an air sick back.  This worked so well, in fact, that I almost grabbed a couple to stick in the diaper bag for future emergencies. 

Farmer's Market/Art Show
Okay, so these are actually not at all related, but we did them on the same day, so I'm grouping them together.  The La Jolla Farmer's Market is HUGE!  It's not just a place to buy fresh/local produce, but also has many food stands selling baked goods, and Mexican, French, and Asian cuisine, among other things.  I wish I would have gone there a little more hungry.  There's always next time:)

Later that day we had the opportunity to visit Gallery 4311 where Jeff's Grandmother (GG - a name she chose for herself when she became a great grandma) and Aunt Kathy have some of their paintings on display.  We were so lucky to be down there during the time their artwork was on display.  It was very inspiring!

Sea World
I think I can speak for Marley and Amelia, too, when I say, "We HIGHLY recommend a visit to Sea World!"  Marley names going on "Elmo's Flying Fish" ride as his favorite part of our San Diego vacation.  It was the first thing we did when we got to Sea World, and the last thing we did before we left, nearly nine hours later.  The shows there are AMAZING!  The first one we went to was the Shamu show.  Marley spent the first 5 minutes yelling, "I LOVE ORCAS!" at the top of his lungs:)  We also saw the Dolpin show (very circus like, with divers and trapeze artists), the Seal show (hilarious, even - maybe especially - when the seals and sea lions were not doing what they were supposed to be doing), and the Pet show (how in the world do they train those cats??).

The exhibits are really cool, too.  The day before our visit, Nai Nai told Marley about the Shark Encounter, and how we would be able to see the sharks through an underwater viewing tunnel.  That made him a little nervous.  He kept wanting to know how we were going to get out, and what to do if the sharks came in the tunnel.  When we finally arrived at the exhibit, he listened intently to the naturalist as she explained that sharks have such slow metabolism that they "only need to eat one percent" of their body weight each day.  His eyes got wide when he heard this, "They only need to eat ONE PERSON?!?!"  The poor kid was probably hoping he wouldn't be 'the one'.

The USS Midway Museum
We were very fortunate to get a FREE guided tour of the Midway, led by Jeff's Uncle Steve, who actually served on the aircraft carrier!  It was so interesting, and there was plenty for the kids to do, too.  They got to climb aboard helicopters and sit in the cockpits of several aircraft.  It was very cool!

The Loooonnnggg Walk
Jeff and I knew that at some point, we wanted to do the La Jolla Coast Walk.  We decided that our rental house was close enough that we could start our walk from there.  We ended up walking 6.2 miles, and it took all day (or so it seemed).  We went at a leisurely pace, and even stopped for gelato at one point.  We saw tons of harbor seals and pelicans along the coast.  Marley walked almost the whole way, and Amelia walked quite a bit, too.  But, by the end, both of them were seriously protesting.  They refused to walk any further and they did NOT want in the carriers, either.  The last half mile or so was pretty painful, but we made it. 

Su Casa
We ended our trip with a visit to GG's favorite Mexican restaurant.  We had a little scare earlier in the week, when GG took a spill at our rental house.  She went in the next day, just to get checked out, and they decided to remove some fluid from her knee (I think this was unrelated to the fall).  She was told to keep her leg elevated, but wasn't going to miss out on our dinner at Su Casa for anything.  Afterward, we all walked home along the beach.  It was the perfect way to end our vacation!

Pictures to come...probably.