House of Estrogen

SoCal Day 9: Surf's Up Breakfast and Heading Home

For our last morning in Anaheim, we got checked out of our condo and headed over to the Surf's Up with Mickey and Friends character breakfast at the PCH Grill at the Paradise Pier Hotel.

Most of us had fun meeting the characters.

Nina would have been happier at a non-character meal, but she was a good sport when they came over to her.

The breakfast buffet was good - all the usual suspects - bacon, sausage, Mickey waffles, fruit, made-to-order omelets, muffins, and... uh... rice. I'm completely baffled at why Addie came away from the Danish/waffle/muffin/syrup/fruit filled table with a plate of rice.

We got final autographs in autograph books.

It was a nice way to say farewell to Southern California on our last morning.

After breakfast was over, we headed to John Wayne Airport in Orange County. That's a great little airport if Disneyland is your destination. It is really close to Anaheim, an easy drive, and the rental car parking is super convenient to the terminal. It is definitely better than the madness that is LAX.

We had such a great trip! Good-bye Southern California! Thanks for the memories!

SoCal Day 8: California Adventure and Mickey's Halloween Party

Our next morning at California Adventure was a bit more relaxed. We were mostly trying to knock out a few rides we had missed the day before. We rode Soarin' which is always a favorite. It was probably our last time to ride it as "Soarin' Over California" too as Soarin' is getting ready to undergo major renovations both at Disneyland and Epcot to become "Soarin' Over the World".

 We got warm hugs from Olaf,

and Nina and I went on Tower of Terror.

We were dying to try out the snacks at the Cozy Cone Motel, so we headed over to Carsland.

The Cozy Cone is just too cute. Each cone sells a different snack... Popcone, Cone Queso, Ice Cream Cones, Cone-Coctions, Cones, cones, cones! We tried just about everything.

Elise and J.C. got bread cones filled with chili or barbeque. Addison and Nina got ice cream cones. I got a cone full of mini churros with Mexican chocolate dipping sauce. Delish!

Carsland is all about the details... love it.

Despite all of J.C.'s protests about not wanting to get wet, we convinced him to go on Grizzly River Run which was a blast. Then we had lunch at Smokejumpers Grill and went back to the condo for our usual afternoon siestas.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

For the evening, we had purchased tickets to Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland. The Halloween Party is a separate ticketed event. The park closes at 6:00 to anyone who doesn't have a Halloween party wristband. I had always wondered how they actually enforce that, but they do it quite well. They are checking for wristbands everywhere you go... before you get on a ride, before you get in a trick-or-treat line, entering or exiting different areas of the park. They definitely manage to lock it down to just party guests and escort anyone out who doesn't leave on their own.

I was pretty sure I couldn't convince the family to go entirely in costume, but they were all completely onboard when I suggested that we wear super hero t-shirts to go along with Addie's Wonder Woman costume. I think we turned out rather festive looking even if a t-shirt is a bit of a costume cheat. We were certainly a lot cooler and more comfortable than some of the people we saw walking around in full-on furry or leather costumes in 90 degree heat.  People watching is half the fun of the Halloween Party. Guests go all out with their costumes.

Our first stop was the Little Red Wagon for their famous corn dogs. Holy awesome hand-dipped corn dog, Batman! Excellent dinner! We enjoyed people watching while waiting for the sun to go down, so it would start cooling off.

There is an overlap from 3:00-6:00 when party goers are allowed in the park and non-party-goers haven't left yet. It is very crowded during that time, but as soon as you start approaching 6:00, ride lines drop dramatically. We rode Star Tours and Astro Orbiter.

The Halloween Party was a bit of a mixed experience for us. The kids loved the trick-or-treating. It was fun seeing both party-goers and characters in costumes. The decorations were great, and the short lines for rides were a real treat. On the downside, the party specific things like trick-or-treating, meeting the villains (who are rarely seen in the parks), and meeting the characters in costume all had very long lines.  It was a strange mix of crowded and not crowded. If you wanted to meet Malicifent or Cruella de Vil, your wait was well over an hour, yet if you wanted to ride Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, your wait might be just 10 minutes. The Halloween Party is definitely a great way to ride lots of the popular rides that usually have long waits. The main goal for us though was the more Halloween-specific activities, and those were all more crowded than I had anticipated.

The castle looked appropriately creepy and Halloweeny. The lights and sounds on Main Street were fun, and the Halloween fireworks show is neat.

Rivers of America was spooky as well with fog and special lighting.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

It was all good. Everyone had a good time. Nina and I rode Haunted Mansion Holiday (Haunted Mansion at Disneyland gets redone this time of year with a Holiday overlay.). I think Addie rode the Winnie the Pooh ride 3 times in a row with no wait, and how cute is Pooh in his bee Hallloween costume?

Am I glad we went to the Halloween Party? Definitely.  Would I go again?  Not sure.  I think you have to go with the right expectations. You are not going to meet every villain. You may not meet any villains unless you are willing to spend a lot of your evening in line. You are not going to see every character in costume. You are going to have to battle bigger crowds at times than you feel like you should given the price you paid for the ticket.

We ended the night with this lovely photo of me on Splash Mountain (which was walk-on... no line at all). Nice.  This was another one that Addie had begged to go on but then came off declaring she would never ride it again.

It was a fun night. It definitely didn't quite live up to expectations, but it was fun regardless.

Day 8 Favorites:

Addison: Grizzly River Run and Trick or Treating

Nina: Grizzly River Run and Star Tours

Elise: Star Tours, Trick or Treating, and Splash Mountain

Ann: Grizzly River Run

J.C.: Star Tours

SoCal Day 7: Disney California Adventure

This day was the Disney day I was most looking forward to. I must have reworked our Ridemax plans twenty times to get the "just right" itinerary.  We got there for rope drop and carefully positioned ourselves to the far right to utilize the "wide right technique" which purportedly puts you in the right place to beat the crowds to the front of the line for Radiator Springs Racers. We were in the correct spot. We were pumped and ready. Then the crowd grew, and grew, and grew. We started questioning our sanity. Were we really up to the rope drop race to Radiator Springs?  Just before the rope dropped, we decided we weren't cut out for it. Instead, JC and the girls headed straight to Toy Story Midway Mania while I gave up our prized right-hand side position to head left to get Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses. (The fastpasses aren't located near the ride, so it is a completely different strategy if you are heading there.)  The line wasn't bad for fastpasses, so I started toward the others, assuming they had probably already ridden the ride. I texted JC to let him know I was on the way, and he told me that Toy Story Midway Mania had a delayed opening and they were still in line. What?  Doesn't he know the first rule of getting to the parks early?  Don't waste time in line! I got over there, and the ride was still closed. JC, Elise, and Nina headed over to California Screamin' while Addie and I decided to go meet Donald.

I then got another text from J.C. that California Screamin' had a delayed opening as well. WHAT? How is a rabid planner supposed to handle all these ride closures? They went back over to Toy Story which by now was open. They walked right on with no line at all and then went back over to California Screamin' which had no line either. I guess the delayed openings scared people off and worked to our advantage. Whew!

Addie and I hopped in line for Toy Story and had a blast. I love this ride.

 

Nina was feeling a bit queasy after California Screamin', so JC and Elise went on it again while Addie and Nina posed for their own California Screamin' picture!

I don't know that Nina was thrilled with Addie's suggestion of the carousel, but she was a good sport and went on it anyway.  It was certainly more tame than the roller coaster! We went on Ariel's Undersea Adventure too.

By now, it was getting close to our fastpass time for Radiator Springs Racers. We left Paradise Pier and headed over to Carsland.

Carsland is just beyond amazing. Disney totally outdid themselves on this section of the park. I had been super excited to see Carsland, and it lived up to my every expectation. The details and theming are just perfection.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

You feel like you're right there in the Radiator Springs, like you've been transported into the movie.

Radiator Springs Racers lived up to all the hype and expectations. People have called it the best themed ride at any Disney park, and that's the best way to describe it. So.Much.Fun! If you are contemplating a trip to Disneyland, it is worth it for Carsland and Radiator Springs Racers alone!

We visited Mater's Petting Zoo, and Elise and Addie went on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.

 
They said it reminded them of the teacups? After that, we left Carsland and headed over to Pacific Wharf for lunch at Cocina Cucamonga. It was really good. Disneyland beats Disney World hands down when it comes to quick service food.

After lunch, we saw the Aladdin show which was wonderful. Then, I headed off to get Anna and Elsa fastpasses and nighttime Radiator Springs Racers fastpasses while J.C. and the girls went to Tower of Terror.  We described Tower of Terror to Addie in great length, telling her again and again that it has "terror" in the name for a reason. We told her it was scary and that she probably wouldn't like it. She still wanted to go though. I have no idea why. She isn't terribly daring when it comes to rides. For whatever reason though, she really wanted to go on Tower of Terror.

It went about as badly as we had predicted. She spent almost the entire ride with her head tucked under Nina's armpit, nearly in tears. She came out and said, "I'm never, ever going on that ever again." We resisted the urge to say, "We told you so." It was so tempting though!

We then met up with Sully and rode Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue which was a cute ride.

At this point, it was crazy hot, and we made our usual family split. Nina and J.C. went back to the condo for naps. The rest of us soldiered on. Fortunately, the wait for Anna and Elsa was air conditioned. Even though we had fastpasses, we still had to wait quite a while. We couldn't complain though. The A/C was a welcome respite. Addie was so excited to meet Anna and Elsa - definitely a high point in the trip for her.

The heat was getting to us as well, so we stopped by Clarabelle's for hand dipped ice cream on our way out of the park. Yum!

 
Then we said hi to Oswald, got autographs and went back to join the others for naps.

 

When we came back in the evening, we had dinner in Downtown Disney at one of my favorite spots, Earl of Sandwich, and then we wandered around Downtown Disney a bit. Elise was pretty psyched to find Lego Hulk.

I had spent much of the day periodically calling the Ask Otto hotline to find out the fastpass return time for Radiator Springs Racers. My goal was to get a fastpass return time just after dark. I succeeded in that quest, so Radiator Springs Racers was our main goal for the evening. If I thought Carsland was neat during the day, it is absolutely spectacular at night. I loved it!  I wish we had gotten there at dusk to see all the lights turning on, but we'll have to try for that another time.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

Radiator Springs Racers almost feels like a completely different ride at night... an even better ride than it was during the day. Wow. Loved it.

Riding the Racers after dark was really our only goal for the evening. We ended up heading back over to Paradise Pier where we rode the Golden Zephyr

 

and the Silly Symphony Swings. Poor Addie looked like she was going to puke through the whole ride. I kept watching her, just sure she was going to hurl any second. When the ride finally came to a stop, she was looking a bit green. I don't think I'll take her on one of those swing rides again any time soon. This picture was taken before the ride, not after. She definitely didn't have a smile on her face after.

It was approaching bedtime for J.C. and Nina (are you sensing a pattern here?), so they went on back. The rest of us decided to stay for the World of Color show.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

As a slight aside, in the above picture of the ferris wheel, do you see how the cars of the ferris wheel are on individual tracks within the wheel? In preparing for our trip, I've seen this referred to as "Mickey's Death Wheel", "Mickey's Wheel of Terror", "Mickey's Wheel of Doom", etc.  It actually has barf bag dispensers in each car!  It is supposed to be completely unnerving and terrifying. We did not choose to attempt it. It looks like such a pretty ride, but apparently it is evil. Given that Addie and Nina had already gotten a bit nauseous on calmer rides earlier in the day, I'm pretty sure at least one of them would have lost her dinner if we attempted the Wheel of Death.

Anyway, World of Color was... well... colorful.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

We weren't that excited by it, so we bought some popcorn, and headed back to the condo before it ended to beat the crowds.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

Radiator Springs Racers was enough nighttime fun for us. We had a blast that day, even if World of Color was a bit of a disappointment.

SoCal Day 7 Disney California Adventure Favorites:

Addison: Radiator Springs Racers

Nina: California Screamin', Aladdin, and Radiator Springs Racers at night

Elise: California Screamin' and Aladdin

Ann: Radiator Springs Racers at night

J.C.: California Screamin'

 

 

 

SoCal Day 6: Disneyland

When it comes to Disney vacationing, I'm a planner. I like to plan strategically to maximize fun and minimize waiting in lines. Although we had never been to Disneyland before, I had done my research, created my itinerary on Ridemax, and we had a plan.

 

We arrived at the park prior to rope drop, excited to see all the Halloween decorations.

We rushed straight to Peter Pan's Flight, knowing that our only shot at riding it with a short wait was first thing in the morning. So much for my fastidious planning... we got there to find a 35 minute wait. We weren't hardcore enough Peter Pan fans to waste precious morning low-wait time waiting for that one ride, so we gave up on Peter Pan. We'll have to save that for another trip. Fortunately, every other ride in Fantasyland had no wait at all, so we were able to cram in a bunch in that 35 minutes when we would have just been standing in the queue waiting for Peter Pan.  JC ran off to get fastpasses for Indiana Jones Adventure while the girls went on the Teacups. They practically had the ride to themselves!

Next we went on the Storybook Land Canal Boats which I absolutely loved. It definitely ranks up there as one of my favorite Disney rides of all the Disney parks.

It is so beautiful.

(stock photo from Disney Photopass)

(stock photo from Disney Photopass)

We were trying to focus on rides that are exclusive to Disneyland that we can't ride at Disney World, so next we were off to Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Matterhorn.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

We had just enough time to sneak in a ride on the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage before it would be time to race to our Indiana Jones fastpass return time. I was a little worried I would get claustrophobic in the submarine, but I did just fine. I think it helped that I was one of the last ones in and first ones out.

It is a cute ride. Now that I've done it once though, I don't feel the need to climb down into one of those submarines ever again.

Indiana Jones was next. Most of the family loved it. One didn't. Poor girl... I think we scarred her for life. It wouldn't be the only time on this trip either.

To offset the trauma of the Indiana Jones ride, I took her on the carousel while everyone else went off in search of churros.

We had a mediocre lunch at Village Haus restaurant, took a few more pictures, and then headed back to the condo for naps. It was H.O.T.!

After wonderful naps, we came back refreshed in the early evening as it was finally beginning to cool off.

You may be looking at these pictures wondering if we lost Nina somewhere along the way. Posing with characters is like her own personal version of torture. You won't find her in any character pictures by choice (we did force her to get in a couple photos though later in the trip).

Dinner that night was our best meal of the entire trip. We all still start drooling a little if you mention it. Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. I would recommend it to you, but they are closing it in January to make room for Star Wars Land, so you'd have to plan a trip quick. It would be so worth it though. Seriously. Yum. Heavenly. Mmmmm.

I mean what's not to love about BUCKETS of BBQ?  J.C. thought he had died and gone to BBQ heaven.

Star Wars, Schmar Wars... it is criminal that they are closing this place.

I think we had planned to go on Big Thunder Railroad right after dinner, but that sounded like a big pukefest waiting to happen after our huge meal.

 

We opted for Jungle Cruise instead. Addie was very excited that it was now dark enough to turn on her ears.

(Disney Photopass stock photo)

J.C. and Nina don't have quite the Disney stamina that the rest of us do, so they headed back to the condo. Elise, Addie, and I planned on taking the Disneyland railroad to another part of the park to ride a couple more rides before the parade. The train was out of order though, and our feet were out of order as well. We just plopped down on the curb and hung out resting, waiting for the parade to start.

Addie got to see Goofy again. He signed her autograph book...

and then tucked her pen in her braid.

 

The Paint the Night Parade was fantastic. I'm normally not a big Disney parade fan. We usually skip most of the parades at the Disney World parks. It is Disney blasphemy to even admit that, but I'm just not much of a parade person. Paint the Night is a new parade this year for Disneyland's 60th Anniversary though. I had heard it was spectacular, and I'm so glad we staked out spots to watch it.

 

The fireworks were great too, but my pictures are awful, so I'm not even going to bother sharing them. The parade was really the big highlight for us though. After the fireworks, we headed back to the condo to get some sleep before our big California Adventure day.

SoCal Day6 Disneyland Favorites:

Addison: Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage and Mad Tea Party

Nina: Alice in Wonderland ride

Elise: Paint the Night Parade

Ann: Storybook Land Canal Boats, Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, and Paint the Night Parade

J.C.: Indiana Jones Adventure, and Big Thunder Ranch BBQ

 

SoCal Day 5: Coronado -> L.A. -> Anaheim

Day 5 was really just designed to be a travel day. The plan was to leave San Diego in the morning as soon as morning traffic had died down, get to L.A. around lunch time, have lunch, see the Chinese Theater, the Dolby Theater, the Hollywood sign, and then get out of town heading to Anaheim before traffic got bad.   Best laid plans...

The older two girls decided they wanted one more beach visit since they had missed the afternoon at the beach that Addie and I did. That was going to throw us completely off schedule, but who can resist one more beach trip? We went back to Coronado Beach this time. It is such a gorgeous, wide beach with the finest white sand.

It was early enough that we basically had the whole beach to ourselves. We could sit out there pretending we were classy enough and rich enough to be staying at the beautiful, iconic Hotel Del Coronado.

We spent the morning playing in the waves and the sand, enjoying our last day in the San Diego area.

This picture on the restroom on the beach made me giggle. Frank L. Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz, spent many winters at the Del during the years that he was writing the Oz books. Some say that the Emerald City was inspired by the Del. I wonder how Baum would feel about his characters adorning the bathroom doors!

After showering and checking out of the condo, a So Cal bucket list item could be checked off - lunch at In-n-Out Burger.

Our impression was... well... meh. We were underwhelmed. That's OK though. We can now say we've had an In-n-Out Burger.  The milkshakes were tasty. After lunch, we were Hollywood bound! This L.A. detour was Nina's idea.  She was dying to get a picture with the Hollywood sign in the background. Although neither J.C. nor I had any desire to brave L.A. traffic, it seemed cruel to come within 30 miles of Hollywood and not let Nina get her picture. Without further ado... happy girl.

 

Another So Cal bucket list item checked off!  After pictures, we did the world's fastest tour of the Hollywood and Highland area, bought a couple souvenirs and hopped back on the road to join L.A. rush hour traffic. It took us a full two hours to drive the 30 miles to Anaheim. We can all now say we have seen the Hollywood sign though.

We arrived at our condo in Anaheim and walked over to Downtown Disney for dinner. Our dinner at Napolini was a mixed bag. My salad was excellent, but J.C.'s pizza was inedible. He threw most of it away. Poor guy... it was not a great way to end a pretty exhausting day.  We all collapsed in bed right after dinner to get a good sleep before our first Disney day the next day.

SoCal Day 3: San Diego

In the early stages of planning this trip, I assumed we would hit the most well known and popular San Diego tourist spots - Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. As our planning came together though, it dawned on us that none of us really cared much about going to the zoo. Pandas are one of the main attractions there, and we had seen pandas recently on our trip to the Atlanta Zoo. I think we are learning over time that we just aren't a big zoo loving family. I initially felt a little weird parental guilt about taking my kids all the way to California and not taking them to the iconic San Diego Zoo, but I got over that. It was the right call for our family. As for Sea World, as much as I have enjoyed previous trips there, after seeing the movie The Cove and reading a lot about the movie Blackfish, I came to the conclusion that I just couldn't ethically in good conscience support Sea World any more. It was a fun, entertaining park in the past, but it needs to make some changes.

So... there went the two biggest San Diego attractions. My next phase of planning called for us to visit the U.S.S. Midway on our second day in San Diego, after the Seal tour. Then on the third day, we would hit the Safari Park.  The heat changed all that though. After the Seal tour and a visit to Old Town, we were all hot, sweaty, run down, and exhausted. The forecast for the next day was 85 on the coast (where the U.S.S. Midway is) and 95 inland (where the Safari Park is located). Nobody had any interest in walking around a safari park in 95 degree weather. It was an easy decision to drop the safari park completely and move the U.S.S. Midway to the morning when the weather would be cooler, and we would all be well rested. That proved to be a great decision.

I highly recommend visiting the Midway in the morning right when it opens if you choose to go there. It is a lot of walking, and you want happy, energetic, well-rested kids.

Also, when we first arrived, we spoke with one of the volunteers who recommended that we quickly head straight up to the island which is the section of upper most decks where the radio room, control deck, and captain's quarters are.

He said that first thing in the morning there is no line at all for the guided tour. Apparently later in the afternoon the line gets really long and often gets shut down well before the end of the day. We were so thankful for his advice. We quickly made our way over there and enjoyed our tour with very little wait.

The tour guide chose Nina as our captain for the day.

J.C. decided he was definitely too tall for an aircraft carrier. Despite repeated warnings about watching his head from every volunteer docent we passed, he still managed to bang his head several times. It was almost impossible not to.

All the girls enjoyed the visit to the Midway more than I thought they would. It was mostly on our itinerary because *I* wanted to see it. Everyone in the family got something out of it though, and I never heard "I'm bored" or "When can we leave?"  Nina, in particular, was really intrigued by all of it. Every time we turned around, she had her headphones on, listening to a part of the self-guided audio tour. She filled out the entire junior captain scavenger hunt. It is fun to watch your kids get completely absorbed in history or art or something a little unexpected.

One of the big highlights for me was showing the girls the SBD Dauntless, the plane that their great grandfather flew in WWII. They certainly came away from this visit with a much better understanding and appreciation of what his life was like while stationed on a carrier.

We had lunch on the Midway (surprisingly great food there...I recommend it), wandered around a bit more after lunch, and then headed back to the condo for naps.

Addison had other plans though. Apparently I had said that we "might" go to the beach or would "probably" go to the beach or some other such vague wording about our afternoon plans. She was not going to let me forget that. She begged and pleaded. Elise, J.C., and Nina stretched out on the couch to watch Star Wars while Addison gave me her best pitiful look, imploring me to take her to the beach.

The last thing I wanted to do was brave San Diego traffic on my own, but I didn't want to let her down. Plus, I'm a sucker for the beach. I told her we would drive to Mission Beach. If we found parking, we would stay. If we drove around for half an hour and never found a parking spot, we were coming back. That sounded fair to her, so off we went. Thankfully, a car pulled out of a prime parking spot shortly after we arrived.

I'm so glad she convinced me to go.  We had the most wonderful afternoon.

 

We spent hours playing in the waves, playing in the sand, and really cherishing the rare one on one vacation time.  It was magical.

I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the afternoon. As much as I thought I wanted a nap, my afternoon with Addie was so much better.

Perfection.

As we were leaving, we got a little taste of the quirky world that is the Mission Beach Boardwalk. This character was playing piano on the boardwalk. Addie will tell you that seeing him was one of her favorite parts of the entire trip.

Day three was a great day. The Midway was one of those sleeper hits that I had predicted the girls would tolerate but not necessarily enjoy. Instead, they all enjoyed it, and then the beach was fantastic.

SoCal Days 1 and 2: San Diego

Our Southern California trip got off to a bit of a rough start with a lost and a found. The house was in complete disarray with all the downstairs belongings moved either upstairs or to the garage for the hardwoods to get refinished while we were out of town. In the chaos of misplaced items, I couldn't find the charger for my good dSLR camera. The battery was completely dead, so we had to give up and leave for a beautiful destination with just an iPhone and crappy point and shoot camera for preserving our memories. Sigh. That disappointment was quickly forgotten though when I discovered the "found"... lice... or more precisely, louse. Is there any worse way to start a vacation? It was literally about 15 minutes before we were to leave for the airport. A child's head was itchy. I investigated, and found one lone louse. I suspect he had friends, but I wasn't able to find any other bugs or any nits. I may have caught them early, but it was still a lousy (or louse-y?) way to start a vacation. This is the second time I've had to spend vacation evenings doing lice treatments and picking nits. There are few things in life that repulse me more than lice. Anyway... despite lice and lost camera chargers, we were off.

 

I wasn't going to let our lost and found adventures spoil our fun. We arrived in San Diego Friday night, grabbed our rental car, navigated through San Diego traffic, found our condo, ate a quick dinner, and got to bed. Surely day two would be better.

Saturday morning, we headed to the Embarcardero for our Seal tour.

 

It ended up being the perfect start to our trip, and I highly recommend a Seal tour if you ever go to San Diego. We boarded the big open air bus and were treated to a nice guided tour through town.

After about a 30 minute land tour, the bus drove straight into the harbor for the 60 minute sea portion of the tour.

We learned all about San Diego history, the military presence in San Diego, seals, sea lions other marine life, and about all the landmarks and attractions around the harbor. Did you know that the U.S. Navy trains dolphins to search for sea mines? You learn all kinds of cool tidbits during a Seal tour.

The highlight of the Seal tour is seeing all the sea lions, cormorants, and pelicans up close.

(All those pictures would have looked so much better taken with my big dSLR camera... but I digress). After the Seal tour, we were all hot and hungry. What we should have done was eaten lunch right there at the Embarcardero. Instead, I steered our little family over to Old Town San Diego where both traffic and parking were much worse than I anticipated. That becomes a pattern for our whole trip. By the time we finally found a parking spot and the closest Mexican restaurant, we were all famished. San Diego with its famous "72 degrees all year round" weather was about 90 degrees that day. This poor little one was ready to collapse.

After re-energizing with some authentic Mexican tamales, we were able to have some fun exploring Old Town.

We saw the old one room school, studied every rock and mineral in the rock and mineral shop, learned about spinning wool, and came to the conclusion that living in San Diego back in the 1850's was HOT. VERY VERY HOT.  What happened to the freaking 72 degrees we were promised? We had sweat pouring down our backs. We explored Old Town as long as we could tolerate the heat and then headed back to the condo.

After a little rest time, we had our next adventure in the joy that is San Diego traffic. We decided to head across the Coronado Bridge to Coronado Island to show the kids where their grandmother was born, get some dinner, and spend a little time on the beach. It all sounded so simple.... Bridge, dinner, beach.

Instead, it was "Why is everyone in the universe going to Coronado Island RIGHT NOW???"  A quick google search, and we found out it was fleet week for the U.S. Navy. As part of the fleet week entertainment, there were all sorts of car races on Coronado. To add insult to the traffic insanity, we got lost trying to find the restaurant. After driving nearly to Mexico and turning around, we finally got to dinner with starving kids once again. We were 0 for 2 for feeding them in a timely manner that day. We finally got to the beach well after dark.

The kids ran around on the water's edge for a while, and JC and I and remembered it was our anniversary... seventeen years! I think that makes us old.

Whew... long day... lots of fun, but exhausting. We all conked out and got a good night's sleep ready for more adventures the next day.

SoCal Picture A Day: Day 3

Midweek Brain Dump

I feel like there are all these odds and ends going on that I should blog about, but my brain can't catch up. Lots of things are happening. A lot is on my mind, but between chasing sleep deprivation, my decaffeination continuing, and J.C. out of town, I don't think a coherent blog post is going to happen any time soon. Thus, the midweek brain dump.

• Nina had oral surgery on Tuesday. I don't think I slept at all Sunday or Monday night in anticipation. She had two baby teeth extracted and two permanent teeth extracted. That was the easy part of the surgery. The awful part that haunted me at night was the tooth exposure she needed. I'll spare you a graphic photo of her mouth and show you this model of the procedure instead.

She now has that freaky little gold chain coming out from her gums to pull her tooth down in the right direction. It sounded barbaric and painful, but she weathered the surgery much better than anticipated. She can't eat much yet, but otherwise, she is fine. I'm still recovering.

• Did you know that tea bags are good for stopping bleeding? Now you know.
  

• Elise had her first experience with playing in pep band at a middle school football game... a fun first.
• My friend Allison Tate wrote an excellent essay in the Washington Post this week. She is such a great writer and always nails her topics. Way to go Allison!  Go read it. Parenting as a Gen Xer: We're the first generation of parents in the age of iEverything
• Ebola - holy crap. 
• I moved to a new office building this week. It is cool, posh, and modern, but moving is never much fun. Also, my new building doesn't have a Starbuck's like my old one did. That's a problem.
  
• I upgraded to iOS8... turns out it isn't recommended for the iPhone 4S. My phone now rivals a paperweight in its usefulness. Good times.
• We went out to Noodles & Company this week. We looked at the menu, and Addison said, "I want barf." As her sisters laughed, she got angry and indignant and said, "That's what I order here. I order the barf."  More giggling ensued. Finally Nina recognized Addie's error and saved the day when she said, "Addie - you like the BROTH! Not BARF!"  I'll never be able to look at broth the same way again.
• This is closing weekend for downhill biking at Snowshoe. Can I get an Amen?

Snowshoe Exposed

J.C. spends several weekends of his summers up on Snowshoe Mountain, WV, downhill biking with a bunch of buddies. During the winter, he spends his weekends counting down the days until ski season is over and he can get back up to Snowshoe. For years, he has been saying, "We should go up there for a family vacation! I always see families up there having fun! The kids would love it!" No matter how many times he has said this, I had a hard time wrapping my head around the six hour drive. Call me a wimp. Call me spoiled. You won't hurt my feelings. I can own it. I just really hate being in the car. I have restless leg syndrome, and car rides are my own little personal version of torture.

Besides the drive, I just couldn't get past picturing Snowshoe solely as a place where grungy, muddy bikers...

ride their ridiculously expensive downhill bikes...

at breakneck speeds down the mountain. (I use the term "breakneck" very deliberately. Two of his biking buddies are out of commission this season - one for a broken collarbone, the other from a broken humerus last summer. On his trip up there last month, one of his friends came back with broken ribs.)

J.C. would tell me, "No! It isn't just for bikers! There are all kinds of things to do up there! There is a pool..."

"and a lake..."

"and the kids can bounce on the bungie thing!"

He would say, "The weather is gorgeous, and we can ride the chairlift! The girls will love it!"

Somehow, none of his arguments could convince me to take the trip. I don't fault him. He really did his best to accurately describe the place. I think I just had so many images ingrained in my head of the world of Snowshoe that is downhill biking. A lot of his biking buddies are my coworkers, so I have heard about Snowshoe from all of them for years as well. After years of seeing photos and videos of the rocks, mud, ramps, jumps, and biking gear,  "family vacation destination" was never what I pictured. Plus, there was still that six hour drive.

He finally convinced me to go though, and I'll go ahead and admit it now... I was wrong. There. I said it. J.C. now has it in writing. Snowshoe is absolutely a wonderful place for a family vacation. Don't let the scary jumps that my husband flies off on his bike make you think otherwise. (Yes, he really rides off that thing.)

We all had a blast. When we first arrived, as if eager to welcome us, deer were hanging out in the backyard of the condo.

As J.C. had promised, there were plenty of non-downhill-biking activities to keep us occupied. The older two went zip lining through the village, and...

a huge smile was plastered on Addie's face any time she was bouncing on the bungie thing.

The lake was loads of fun for swimming,

sliding,

paddle boarding,

and paddle boating.

Everybody tried out the slack line.

Mostly, we just enjoyed the cool mountain air,...

hung out in the village,...

rode the lifts,...

and took in the views.

In the evenings, we could relax in the hot tub with a view of the mountains,

make s'mores,

and enjoy the sunsets.

So... while Snowshoe is very much a Mecca for scrappy downhill bikers, it is also an absolutely lovely destination for families!

I even managed to survive the six hour drive there and back and would do it again.