Wednesday, February 4, 2015

June 2014–Southern California Trip (Part Two)

For part two of our Southern California trip, we left LA and headed down to San Diego for a few days.  The first place we went was the San Diego Zoo. 

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Some of the fun things at the zoo included feeding goats:                                                        2014 06 18_2847

Getting to see a giant panda:IMG_0803

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And a two-headed snake:2014 06 18_2866

I have written before about how fun it is to be at the zoo with Henry (really, it’s fun to be anywhere with Henry – he just gets so dang excited about everything).  Anyway, this time was no exception:

Here’s Daniel and the kids studying the map to see where to go next:2014 06 18_2920

Cindy took this job very seriously:2014 06 18_2881

At the end we got to go on the Skyfari tram, which was very exciting.  The kids loved looking down and trying to spot different animals. 

Girls in one car:2014 06 18_29412014 06 18_2942

Boys in another:                                                                      2014 06 18_2944

After the zoo Daniel and the older boys went to Petco Park to watch the Mariners play the Padres (We had planned the dates of our trip for when the Mariners were in town so we’d be able to go to a couple of their games):IMG_0809

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The younger kids hung out at the hotel with me and played their favorite swimming pool game, called “let’s see how many sweet jumps we can do into the pool while Mom takes pictures.”  They never get tired of this game.  2014 06 18_29942014 06 18_29622014 06 18_29562014 06 18_29672014 06 18_29702014 06 18_30062014 06 18_29722014 06 18_29772014 06 18_29812014 06 18_29872014 06 18_29852014 06 18_2992

These are some of my favorites.  They’re such goofballs.                                    2014 06 18_30032014 06 18_3014

Also, some underwater posing:2014 06 18_3023

And Cindy had to take a break every once in awhile to do some important organizing of the pool toys:2014 06 18_3016

After swimming we warmed up by the poolside fire pit:2014 06 18_3026

Then baths, jammies, and books.  The kids have our hotel routine down solid by now.  I love it.  2014 06 18_3027

The next morning we started out by walking around Seaport Village.

Here is Oliver pushing Cindy in the stroller and Daniel pointing out some crabs on the rocks:IMG_08222014 06 19_2746

And you can’t point out little creatures to some of my children without them feeling a desperate need to go try to catch them.  I don’t know why.  Except that I know for sure it comes from Daniel.  2014 06 19_2750

Ha!  I love this picture.2014 06 19_2755

Success!  A little tiny crab.                                                    2014 06 19_2759

More Seaport Village adventures:                                                                  2014 06 19_27622014 06 19_27662014 06 19_2767

Next up was a tour of the U.S.S. Midway, an aircraft carrier that has been turned into a museum at Navy Pier.  It’s a really neat museum, and the self-guided audio tour is great.  The kids loved being able to press the buttons that corresponded with each exhibit or area to find out more about it. 

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Next up was another Mariners/Padres baseball game, this time with the whole family.  Petco Park is not too far from the pier, so we all walked over together.  We got there with lots of time to watch batting practice and also get signatures from our favorite Mariners. 

Here are the kids after talking with Felix Hernandez;  he signed so many things for them.  Cindy didn’t have a baseball for him to sign, so she handed him her sun hat and asked if he would sign that for her. 

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Henry with his Felix ball.  It was pretty fun talking to Felix this time, because he remembered our family (especially Henry) from other Mariners games we had been to earlier in the season in Texas (I guess a family with six kids all wearing Mariners gear at several of the away games got his attention).  He was very friendly and chatted with the kids for awhile.  2014 06 19_2821

Also exciting was me getting my Robinson Cano jersey signed (this one was a little trickier to get and involved some scrambling up on top of the dugout, but it was worth it).  2014 06 19_2825

Petco Park:IMG_0863_edited-1

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Cindy enjoying a nice long nap on my lap during the game:IMG_0872

Playing around on the trees near the USS Midway on our walk back from the game:2014 06 19_28282014 06 19_2843

Happy Mariners with our signed jerseys:                       IMG_0881

After the game we headed over to Lucha Libre, a gourmet taco shop in San Diego that we saw years ago on Man vs. Food, and have always wanted to try.  Lots of good burritos with french fries on them.    IMG_0882

The next morning we went to the La Jolla Cove beach.  I think this was one of our favorite places of the whole trip.  The kids had so much fun.

There were seals everywhere:2014 06 20_26492014 06 20_2653

At first Henry was so focused on looking for crabs on the rocks below that he didn’t even notice the seals.  Then when he saw them the first thing he asked was if he could try to catch the seals, too.  2014 06 20_2647

We didn’t know if it was going to be a great beach for swimming, because it seemed so rocky and looked so different from the beach up in Santa Monica.  It ended up being perfect though.

There was a nice shallow cove area for wading/swimming:

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And a small beach area with enough sand to get buried in (if you are Tristan), or to cuddle up in the beach tent on (if you are Cindy).                                                                                                        2014 06 20_27272014 06 20_2675

There were also rocks and caves with crabs all over.  The kids thought this was the best thing ever.  They were going crazy.  2014 06 20_2664

Crab excitement:

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We waded/swam across the cove to climb up on top of this rocky area.  There were so many crabs up there!  The kids took a bucket up so they could start collecting them.                          2014 06 20_2676

Daniel and Henry hanging out and watching a seal swim around the rock:2014 06 20_2692

My boys with a bucket full of crabs:                                           2014 06 20_2695

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After awhile we had them turn the bucket over to release all the crabs back onto the beach.  Oliver and Henry couldn’t resist the sight of so many crabs on the sand, and started catching them right away again.  2014 06 20_2708

Pure joy:                                                                                2014 06 20_2712

Those hands!  So much excitement!

Kind of reminds me of this picture, back when Henry was introduced to sprinkles for the first time:

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When it was time to pack up and go, I sent Tristan and Oliver out into the water to clean off all the sand, and they realized that they could see tons of cool fish swimming around.  They grabbed their goggles and went back out for a few minutes.  We wished we had discovered that earlier so they could have spent more time swimming around;  I guess we’ll have to go back now!

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After the beach we left San Diego and drove up to Anaheim, stopping first for lunch in Irvine.  One of Daniel’s friends from Dell lives near there, so we met her and her husband for lunch at a fun grilled cheese restaurant.  Then I headed to our hotel with the younger three, and Daniel took the older boys and Rachel to an Angels game. 

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Back at the hotel we were doing our usual routine:

Lots of swimming:2014 06 20_2740

Followed by baths, jammies, and some drawing lessons from Lizza:2014 06 20_2744

The next morning we started the long drive back to Texas, stopping on the way at Daniel’s sister’s house in Phoenix again, for one last baseball game (Diamondbacks vs. Rangers) and another fun night with cousins. 

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Crafting:                        2014 06 21_2644

Questionable hair styling:                                                           2014 06 21_2642

And Cindy’s favorite – getting cozy with some books and a dog to keep her company:                     2014 06 21_26452014 06 22_2637

The end!