So long, San Diego!

WINGING AWAY: We had to leave beautiful San Diego today. The kids were bummed to leave, and they weren't alone.

We got to the airport a little after noon and then had 2.5+ hours to kill. We managed to grind it out, and our airplane ride was uneventful with one shining exception. Somewhere over Oregon, the pilot came over the intercom and said, "For all you space fans and star gazers on the right side of the plane, look out the windows and see the light heading east? That's the International Space Station."


I was bummed we were on the wrong side of the plane to see it, but SO happy he made the announcement. It created a bit of a buzz on board and I'd love to think maybe a few sparks were lit this New Years Eve and some new space fans were created!

We're too tired to unpack tonight, so we'll hit it hard tomorrow, during all the bowl games. Maybe I'll even get caught up on the blog.

Happy Thursday

SUN DIEGO: I don't think the skate rental company was too happy with the woman when she checked her skates back in. The dork was walking around in the sand and yes, even the water, with them on. Geez.

Not a lot to report today. No museums, no amusement parks, just a low key day leading up to watching (on TV) a fireworks filled night with the Huskies in the Alamo Bowl. Crazy game. All that offense is fun, but I'm a fan of defense, too.

We did visit sprawling Mission Bay Park today. Gorgeous place with two playgrounds.

We hung out at both of them. In the "it's a small world" category, there was only one other family at the playground and when she saw the kids' Huskies' the woman said she used to live in Ballard - that's just 2 minutes north of us in Seattle.

Around midday, we were at the bungalow where we're staying and CJ stared up into the sky and said, "Goodyear." That could only mean one thing - the blimp!

When we returned to the beach this

afternoon, Annabelle was thrilled to find a castle and volcano she built a couple of days ago was still standing. Here she is, celebrating!

Back to Balboa

Annabelle really got the hang of riding on her boogie board on her belly today. She had big fun. CJ, not so much. His board took a chunk out of the top of his foot, so his outing was abbreviated.

G&G had a front row seat for all the action. 


SCIENCE CENTER SAN DIEGO STYLE: We decided to make a return trip to sprawling Balboa Park today. Though we were out there yesterday to check out the Air & Space Museum, today, our sights were set on the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center and the San Diego Natural History Museum.

As good fortune would have it, our Pacific Science Center membership in Seattle got us into BOTH of the places today, thanks to a reciprocity agreement. Sweet! It saved us a bundle. (And yesterday, our membership at the Museum of Flight in Seattle got us into the Air & Space Museum for free!)

The kids loved the San Diego Science Center. There were so, so many hands on activities. They built an arch, climbed through sculptures, and scaled a geometric mountain.  There was an entire room dedicated to building marble runs (something they have lots of experience in from their science class). 

 They loved building sculptures with shapes that looked like star bits in Super Mario Galaxy.

From the Science Museum it was on the the Natural History Museum. 

 

There, we saw all sorts of prehistoric creatures. 

We saw lots of skulls and other skeleton parts. It was great - many the displays allowed viewers to manipulate body parts. Here, Annabelle's checking out the mechanics of a ball joint.

There were several sea creature models on display, including a very large and scary shark hanging in the atrium. 

We were about ready to leave the Natural History Museum when Christian consulted a map and noticed there was a mineral and gemstone display on the lower level. Perfect! The kids have both been so interested in precious metals and pretty stones ever since they began playing Minecraft.

So down to the basement we went, and boy, were we glad we did! The display was STUNNING.

There was a lovely mix of stunning jewelry and eye popping, huge gems/rocks/stones. Above is an enormous (about the size of four human heads) stone embedded with opals. And then there was this jade specimen. It was bigger than the two kids put together!

And then there were things like this lovely butterfly made with many gorgeous garnets.

Carved out of turquoise, "Neptune's Daughters" was a jaw dropper, to be sure.

CJ was just SO thrilled by it all. Just a day before we left for San Diego, he was combing the Internet, looking for a periodic table featuring gemstones. Imagine his delight upon finding an oversize, interactive one today!

Air and Space

SPACECRAFT SAN DIEGO STYLE:  Certainly the Air and Space Museum in San Diego would have been on our "to do" list no matter what, but knowing there was a limited time only NASA exhibit there made us extra excited to check it out.

There were many hands on displays, including one where people could build their own spacecraft. CJ chose to build a colony on Mars and he had to make a nuclear machine and he chose not to take all the supplies but to manufacture or grow some on Mars. His choices were good and the computer deemed his mission a success.

There were so many wonderful artifacts to view, but I think I enjoyed the quotes we encountered almost as much.

CLASS REUNION: This morning, we had the great pleasure of meeting CJ & Annabelle's BFF from Seattle preschool at Balboa Park. Their buddy moved here 1.5 years ago and we thought we might never see him again, but happily our paths crossed. It was great. The three picked up right where they left off. It was so cute. I sure wish we didn't live so far apart. :(

Down South

 

HIT THE BEACH:  While many Americans spent Christmas morning unwrapping gifts and lounging around, by 6:15 we'd crammed ourselves (four adults and two kids) into a Honda CRV, headed for Seatac airport, next stop = San Diego. 

Mercifully, our flight was uneventful and we arrived in San Diego just before noon.

Here, Annabelle enjoys a snack outside of the Enterprise Rental Car offices. 

Not long after we got to the place we're staying in Mission Beach, we walked a couple hundred feet to our west to make sure there was, indeed, a beach.

 

The kids got a little practice with a boogie board. They didn't catch any big waves today, but had lots of fun nonetheless.

MONDAY MADNESS: Today's number one on the hit parade was going to Belmont Park - a small amusement park conveniently located about a mile south of where we're staying.  They rode the bumper cars over and over and over.

CJ was a roller coaster riding fool, while poor Bee was just an inch too short. :/ But she had fun on other rides, like this one featuring a fun vertical drop.

 

 And the one, above, which tilted, whirled and rotated up toward the clear blue sky.