California Dreamin'

Actually, the whole time I was in California, that song was in my head, but it didn’t quite apply. I sang it for the “all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey,” but it WAS California, so I guess I was dreamin’ of someplace else. The whole time we were San Diego it was grey, overcast and cool.


We spent 4 full days in San Diego, discounting travel time, which was somewhat significant. We saw Legoland, SeaWorld, SeaLife, the U.S.S. Midway, and the San Diego Zoo. We dined at the Corvette Diner and the kids tried seafood (calamari, swordfish and clam chowder) at a local restaurant. The kids swam outside in a heated pool, but the air was only about 61 at best (CRAZY). We Brick or Treat-ed at Legoland, to which Sam responded that he thinks we ought to do that every year.

A couple of fun things:

- Sam and Kate got along great most of the time. They held hands on the way into several places, and in the airport I overheard Sam say, “I’ll take care of you Kate. Just stay with me.” It was really special to be able to take them to new places and have them enjoy together.

- Kate walked the whole time—no stroller for us. That meant that each night, despite the fact that we were usually done by 5 or so, she was TIRED. Of the 4 nights there, she fell asleep before we got her into bed 3 times. The funniest was when she fell asleep on my lap at a Mexican restaurant and she was so asleep that she didn’t wake at all, even when we tried to put her in her booster seat in the car and she fell to the floorboard. Oops. Oh, Dad says that wasn’t funny, but it kind of was.

- Over the summer, our friend Beth gave the kids the movie Free Willy. So, when we went to SeaWorld, we had two interested whale-lovers. So at the big Shamu extravaganza, when a whale with the same fin as Willy came out to do his tricks, mine were the only kids in the stadium who said “WILLY!!!” We even tried to get up close to watch Willy swim, but he was kind of a solitary guy.

- Brick or Treat was fun, but semi-crazy. Big crowd, all these little kids dressed up for Halloween and a trick-or-treat line a mile long. Maybe not quite a mile, but at least a half a mile. Kate’s favorite part was the “Boogiemonster” party, where they had two young ladies dressed in fancy (friendly) witch costumes who were dancing with these preschoolers. Music, lights, fog machine, all in effect. Then a little “boogiemonster” singing group (3 women) came out and sang popular songs with Halloween themes. If it sounds cheesy, that’s because it was, but Kate LOVED it. She cried when it was time to go, and she was most proud of her “Boogiemonster” prize ribbon. I hope the video turns out.

Pictures will be posted soon!