The San Diego Saga
My people and I spent last week in San Diego. The week started on a rocky note and unfortunately ended that way too. But the middle parts sure were great! Let me share our story with you.
Sunday, Handy Hubby (HH) got a text asking us if we had recently charged a few questionable items to our credit card. At a glance, it's easy for us to know what has been charged as we only have one credit card. And we knew the charges weren't ours. What now was questionable was this text. Was it legit? HH researched the number, found it was legit and we then logged on to the credit card website. Some naughty person took our credit card on a quite-expensive-jaunt down to Tucson. Talked to some very nice people at the credit card company, and they were gracious enough to remove those pesky charges as well as they closed our credit card account. Now our problem is - we are about to go on vacation and we have no credit card. UGH! The credit card company agreed to express deliver our new credit cards to the hotel, but now we had to come up an alternative way of paying for our travel day expenses. Talk about scramble! We made some adjustments which allowed us to move on to......
Travel day!!! We have travelled distances with our oldest daughter (OD), but the younger one (YD) was the wild card. We have travelled with her to Williams, AZ and back and forth to Strawberry, AZ on more than one occasion, but the AZ to CA trek was just a tad bit longer. I am happy to report that she is a pretty good traveller. I had loads of noisy toys to keep her occupied the first half of the trip, and she slept through most of the second half. The OD had plenty to do as well - though we did have to listen to "Are we there yet?" too many times to count!
We did very quickly realise that the most challenging part of this trip was going to be food for YD. She has two bottom molars and five front teeth. She loves to eat and is adventurous, but finding food that is easy for her to chew up became a challenge. Well, that coupled with kids menus at restaurants. They are all the same (grilled cheese sandwich, mac n cheese, hot dog, hamburger, chicken nuggets or strips). And almost all of them do not offer any type of veggie options, and limited fruit options. We can't go through an entire week with both daughters eating only grilled cheese sandwiches! So then HH and I had to comb through menus for our meal picks to help supplement their meals. Ended up taking 20 minutes just to order!!! But we survived the travel day....
Day Two! We are in San Diego and ready to play!!!! First stop - Old Town San Diego. What a fun little tourist trap!!! We checked out old rusty jails, sheriff offices, courthouses, the first school in San Diego and a still-standing home from the late 1800's. Oh, and the smell of authentic Mexican food just made your mouth water (too bad it was only 10am!)!
Second stop was Seaport Village for lunch and some mindless shopping. Also had to stop for the obligatory Starbucks chai tea latte.....
Final stop of the day was the most anticipated - the beach!!!! OD had been waiting not-so-patiently all day for the beach visit. Sand toys, towels, chairs, beach umbrella all loaded up - check!!!! We travelled over the Coronado Bridge (scary high bridge!) to Silver Strand Beach. Beautiful beach that didn't have loads of people - just right for us! The afternoon was overcast, windy and a bit chilly, but that didn't stop us from having fun!
OD and HH had a great time collecting shells and building sand castles. I was a little surprised that YD did not want to join in. Sand was not enjoyable for her. I set her down in the sand, the sand enveloped her little feet, and she freaked! HH took her to the water line thinking that since that sand was more compacted, she would start enjoying herself.
Yeah - not so much. She probably could have dealt with the sand, but now we have water. Loud, rolling, cold water. Overloaded her senses. So, the rest of the afternoon, YD spent snuggled up in my lap. We played with shells, watched the birds, watched OD and HH make sand castles and still had a fun time!
Day Three - SeaWorld!!! A new experience for all four of us! We got there at 9:30am and didn't leave until 8:30pm. Quite a feat with a 5-year-old and a 20-month-old! The first show of the day, Blue Horizons (dolphin show) was definitely the best!
OD insisted we sit in the 'Soak Zone' and she was not disappointed. We all got wet, but HH got soaked!
Once or twice we got lost - good thing YD is good with maps!
OD was fascinated with the sharks - we did that exhibit twice!
We ended the day on the SkyRide. It was a good day!
Day Four - heading home! This day started out a little rocky. OD felt very connected to our hotel room and cried for a too-long period about having to leave it. She loved that room. It had a lot of lamps and she did not have to make her bed. She will miss it. Though it is amazing how quickly the tears dried up when I suggested watching a DVD to pass the time!
We thought - whew, we are home-free and smooth-sailing all the rest of the way home. Stupid me! It is never that easy on a vacation with small children! Thirty miles outside of El Centro, in 106 degree weather, the compressor on the air conditioner in our vehicle blew. Four and a half hours of searingly hot! Most.Miserable.Day.Ever. OD bore it well, but YD did not. She became red like a beet. Poor baby! I randomly happened to have a spray bottle with us. Cold water sprayed over us every few minutes probably saved the day from being disastrous. Now comes the bill from having the compressor replaced.......JCMT
Sunday, Handy Hubby (HH) got a text asking us if we had recently charged a few questionable items to our credit card. At a glance, it's easy for us to know what has been charged as we only have one credit card. And we knew the charges weren't ours. What now was questionable was this text. Was it legit? HH researched the number, found it was legit and we then logged on to the credit card website. Some naughty person took our credit card on a quite-expensive-jaunt down to Tucson. Talked to some very nice people at the credit card company, and they were gracious enough to remove those pesky charges as well as they closed our credit card account. Now our problem is - we are about to go on vacation and we have no credit card. UGH! The credit card company agreed to express deliver our new credit cards to the hotel, but now we had to come up an alternative way of paying for our travel day expenses. Talk about scramble! We made some adjustments which allowed us to move on to......
Travel day!!! We have travelled distances with our oldest daughter (OD), but the younger one (YD) was the wild card. We have travelled with her to Williams, AZ and back and forth to Strawberry, AZ on more than one occasion, but the AZ to CA trek was just a tad bit longer. I am happy to report that she is a pretty good traveller. I had loads of noisy toys to keep her occupied the first half of the trip, and she slept through most of the second half. The OD had plenty to do as well - though we did have to listen to "Are we there yet?" too many times to count!
We did very quickly realise that the most challenging part of this trip was going to be food for YD. She has two bottom molars and five front teeth. She loves to eat and is adventurous, but finding food that is easy for her to chew up became a challenge. Well, that coupled with kids menus at restaurants. They are all the same (grilled cheese sandwich, mac n cheese, hot dog, hamburger, chicken nuggets or strips). And almost all of them do not offer any type of veggie options, and limited fruit options. We can't go through an entire week with both daughters eating only grilled cheese sandwiches! So then HH and I had to comb through menus for our meal picks to help supplement their meals. Ended up taking 20 minutes just to order!!! But we survived the travel day....
Day Two! We are in San Diego and ready to play!!!! First stop - Old Town San Diego. What a fun little tourist trap!!! We checked out old rusty jails, sheriff offices, courthouses, the first school in San Diego and a still-standing home from the late 1800's. Oh, and the smell of authentic Mexican food just made your mouth water (too bad it was only 10am!)!
Second stop was Seaport Village for lunch and some mindless shopping. Also had to stop for the obligatory Starbucks chai tea latte.....
Final stop of the day was the most anticipated - the beach!!!! OD had been waiting not-so-patiently all day for the beach visit. Sand toys, towels, chairs, beach umbrella all loaded up - check!!!! We travelled over the Coronado Bridge (scary high bridge!) to Silver Strand Beach. Beautiful beach that didn't have loads of people - just right for us! The afternoon was overcast, windy and a bit chilly, but that didn't stop us from having fun!
OD and HH had a great time collecting shells and building sand castles. I was a little surprised that YD did not want to join in. Sand was not enjoyable for her. I set her down in the sand, the sand enveloped her little feet, and she freaked! HH took her to the water line thinking that since that sand was more compacted, she would start enjoying herself.
Yeah - not so much. She probably could have dealt with the sand, but now we have water. Loud, rolling, cold water. Overloaded her senses. So, the rest of the afternoon, YD spent snuggled up in my lap. We played with shells, watched the birds, watched OD and HH make sand castles and still had a fun time!
Day Three - SeaWorld!!! A new experience for all four of us! We got there at 9:30am and didn't leave until 8:30pm. Quite a feat with a 5-year-old and a 20-month-old! The first show of the day, Blue Horizons (dolphin show) was definitely the best!
OD insisted we sit in the 'Soak Zone' and she was not disappointed. We all got wet, but HH got soaked!
Once or twice we got lost - good thing YD is good with maps!
OD was fascinated with the sharks - we did that exhibit twice!
We ended the day on the SkyRide. It was a good day!
Day Four - heading home! This day started out a little rocky. OD felt very connected to our hotel room and cried for a too-long period about having to leave it. She loved that room. It had a lot of lamps and she did not have to make her bed. She will miss it. Though it is amazing how quickly the tears dried up when I suggested watching a DVD to pass the time!
We thought - whew, we are home-free and smooth-sailing all the rest of the way home. Stupid me! It is never that easy on a vacation with small children! Thirty miles outside of El Centro, in 106 degree weather, the compressor on the air conditioner in our vehicle blew. Four and a half hours of searingly hot! Most.Miserable.Day.Ever. OD bore it well, but YD did not. She became red like a beet. Poor baby! I randomly happened to have a spray bottle with us. Cold water sprayed over us every few minutes probably saved the day from being disastrous. Now comes the bill from having the compressor replaced.......JCMT
