San Diego Trip 2009 - 2 Weeks in 10 Posts

My wonderful, fabulous, dear sister AmySwimming with Amy's kids Brian and Kayla in their pool
Painting a VW bug at the Children's Museum
Making clay pots
Watching the trolleys go by
Hungry Sammy
Adorable Kayla
Sweet Johnny
Smiley Brian
Romping in the soft room ... bottoms up Johnny!
Sammy amazed the wind blew a bubble by itself
I lucked out capturing this shot
Sammy's hiding since I asked a stranger to take this photo

We got back a few days ago from a two week trip to San Diego. The boys and I are some really lucky duckies as everything on this trip went right (well, everything except Keith not being able to come with us ... bah!). We worked hard to get healthy before we left and with the help of massive amounts of germ killing gel and wipes and an Adrian Monk like approach to traveling, we managed to stay healthy the entire trip. I got some pretty funny looks as I wiped down every single surface with antibacterial wipes on the plane rides (I used a whole travel pack of wipes per plane ride - LOL!). My phenomenal sister Amy and her fabulous husband Andy set us up in their sensational guest house for our entire stay. Their guest house is about the nicest accommodations I could ever imagine staying in. They also had great ideas for things to do and access to some really sweet deals. Thank you both! I tried really hard to stay on Texas time, but the boys just couldn't get to sleep before dark so our schedule got later and later as the trip went on. My mom and Bill were also specatacularly helpful at the airport arriving and departing ... I really don't see how I could have managed with all the bags, car seats and rental car shuttles without their help. Thank you both too! We got to spend a lot of fun time with everyone and it was quite the activity-packed trip. This suited me and the boys just fine and we had an absolute blast! We swam in Amy's pool only one time as we were so busy the rest of the days. Amy & I took our kids to the Children's Museum downtown (I've tried to go a couple of trips in the past but it was closed due to remodeling). The CM was super fun and after we finished up there we took a Harbor Cruise on a Hornblower something or other boat. Sammy was fascinated by the ships and really wanted to go on the giant museum ship with all the jets on top. Johnny stuck to Aunt Amy like glue and had a nice time with her and her kids while Sammy & I watched the water over the side and took photos.

Del Mar Fair #1

So many rocks ... decisions, decisions
I love how excited Johnny is!
Minerals glowing under special lights
Petrified poop ... for real!Yehaw!
Ride 'em Cowboy!
This is the monster truck we got to ride at the end
These are Rocks and Minerals that Johnny got on this trip for his BDay
From grab bags
From Harmony Grove bookstore
Gifts from Grandma

We had planned to take a trip to San Diego for a vacation and to visit my family later in the summer, after mid-July. However, because of Johnny's quickly growing fascination with rocks and minerals ... and the one week this summer that my sister Amy's kids were out of preschool ... I ended up making a rather precipitous decision to move the trip up so we could make it out to the Del Mar Fair before it ended on July 5th. The really unfortunate part was that Keith wasn't comfortable making plans that quickly to join us for a part of the trip. We missed him, and held out hope that he'd make it out there, but no such luck this time. Our next trip will be all four of us for sure! We missed the once yearly Gem & Mineral show in Houston this year and I knew from experience that the Del Mar Fair has a fantastic one and would be a great place for Johnny to start building his own collection. As soon as we got to the Fair the first time, we headed directly to the G&M building and ended up spending at least 3 hours there that day. Sammy was a trooper, and was quite patient, considering this isn't really his hobby (although he really does like it too). After a bit of running around trying to figure out where different activities were, we watched a camel show, missed the swine race, walked thru the livestock barns, had a pony ride, listened to live jazz music while eating an ice cream cone, and walked through the bottom floor of the Fine Art building. We tried for the 3rd time of the day to catch the swine race, and missed it again! Arrghh! The good news is that while we were sitting in the empty bleachers we heard the sound of engines growling and walked into a big semi-enclosed arena to investigate. We were delighted to discover there was a Tuff Truck race going on and watched a bunch of really loud trucks race around a dirt track making tight turns and jumping dirt hills. One inexperienced driver fishtailed and his truck rolled onto its side ... and yes, I did get it on videotape! At the end of the race the three of us were able to ride on a firetruck monster truck for a fast and bouncy ride around the track. Needless to say, the boys LOVED it!

Coronado Beach

My toothy cutie pie!
"Acck! It's freezing!"
Sammy checking out the military helicopter
Sammy wanted to be buried ... probably to stay warm
Grandma & Grandpa being silly ... "Toro!"
My sister Amy and my Mom ... A.K.A. "Grandma"
Kayla & Sammy playing in the surf
Brian, Johnny and Kayla working on one of many castles

Amy & I took our kids to Coronado Beach and met Grandma & Grandpa there. We used to go there as kids and I loved watching the military helicopters, jets and airplanes fly overhead. As I suspected, the boys loved this part too. It is a really pretty beach, but the water was freezing cold. I'd stand in the water ankle deep for about a minute and my feet ached so badly from the cold that I couldn't stand it. There was NO way I was getting into this ice cube far enough to go swimming. Johnny, who can tolerate super cold water, didn't end up spending much time romping in the surf either. Brrr! The boys had a great time playing with their cousins in the sand, building various castles that kept getting washed away by the climbing tide. It was pretty chilly with the breeze and sitting in the sun baked sand sure felt toasty. The bad part of this trip out is that Grandma (my mom), Amy & her two kids all got sunburned. My mom's burn was so bad that she had to avoid the sun as much as possible for the remainder of our trip. Poor guys! I feel badly that were at the beach to be with us and ended up getting torched. I guess our skin is a little more sun tolerant since we have been wearing shorts for months in Texas.

Del Mar Fair #2

All four cousins in the first two carsJohnny spun Sammy so hard he couldn't walk straight afterwards
Riding a very fast roller coaster ... in reverse - note the G-forces
Notice how much smaller Sammy is than the rest of the kids
The boys did this ride 3 times they loved it so muchMy Supermen ready to take off
Flying through the air with the greatest of easeSammy going down the 100' drop slide - two images side by side

Our second trip to the Del Mar Fair was mainly focused on riding the carnival rides with Johnny & Sammy's cousins Brian and Kayla. I was truly amazed by the rides Sammy was willing to go on ... he is quite a thrill seeker. Any confidence he may lack in socializing, he makes up for physically. Sammy was exactly 40" (which was the height requirement for most of the fast rides) so he got to go on all but one of the fast rides and tall slides with Johnny. He smiled and cackled with delight on rides that I thought for sure would terrify him. After Amy & her kids tired out, we went back to the Gem & Mineral building and ate some dinner from the various food stands. We were racing the sun and barely made it back to the car while it was still light enough to find our parking space in the enormous dirt lot.