Scripps Aquarium and EBSP Children's Pool

Scripps AquariumSammy blowing fish kisses

We met my sister Amy at Scripps Aquarium with her son Brian to see the interesting sea creatures and play in some of the little tide pools they have there. The boys really enjoyed looking at all of the colorful sealife and playing with all of the hands on kid-friendly exhibits where they could simulate earth quakes, make their own mini-quakes by jumping up and down and watching the Richter scale, learn about DNA sequencing etc. Sammy seemed to like playing with the abalone shells the most while Johnny was fixated on going to the beach.

Ellen Browning Scripps Park Children's Pool

In 1931 Ellen Browning Scripps created a little man-made cove for children to be able to swim safely without a lot of big waves. This area is now a haven for sunbathing seals, which is still fun to see, but apparently not safe for swimming due to prolific seal pooping. We walked down to the end of the curved walkway you can see in the top photo and watched the seals and surf and then headed to a little beach immediately south of the Children's Pool.

Beach South of Children's Pool

I didn't expect to go swimming at the beach in November, so I didn't pack any bathing suits. I had planned to go to the tidepools but this was apparently a bad day for that due to the tide being too high, so we made a spontaneous decision to go swimming even though we didn't have a change of clothes. Once Johnny started swimming in his Nascar briefs, another little boy stripped down to his underwear and they had a great time playing together. This wasn't the best place for Johnny to play in the water as it was a very short sandy shore which had an abrupt dropoff. Both boys loved playing in the sand and surf, so we made a mental note that we'd make sure to get back to the beach before our trip was over.

Dinner at Teri's House

To top off a nice day at the beach we went to one of my oldest and very best friend's house for dinner. Teri and I were best friends in high school and thankfully have stayed in touch (some years we've done a better job than others). Teri made us a delicious meatloaf and saffron rice dinner with sauteed zucchini and sliced cucumbers. Mmmm! This was a yummy break from the lame dinners I had fixed us where we were staying. It was great to see how much her daughter Hannah has grown and changed. I still have vivid memories of her singing a song from Oklahoma to me as a little girl. Now she's quite a beautiful young lady ... takes after her mama in that way. Teri is one of my 4 very best friends and has been incredibly supportive and caring to me and helped me through some of my toughest times. She's so funny, sassy, warm and considerate ... I count myself very lucky to be her friend.