The girls and I decided to visit a new discount store that opened up near us. It turned out to be brought to you by the same people that own Ross. Danni found some cheap sunglasses (cue ZZ Top), Shannon a pair of jeans, and Kylie came out with this Strawberry Shortcake travel desk thing with paper that rolls across the flat part you can write on, and six smelly Shortcake markers. Markers. You would think by the time a child is five, the issue with the markers would be over. But not my child.
Yesterday afternoon, we're just kind of hanging out. Danni had to be back at school at 4pm to go to the away football game. I got back from taking her over to school, and Shannon was going to go to the mall for a bit and meet some friends. Into my room walks Kylie, her face covered...and I do mean covered, with red. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but imagine someone who had taken the time to cover every inch of her little face with red marker.
"Kylie! What is that? Why did you color your face?"
"Mom...it's for crazy face day."
She's thinking about the kids who paint their faces for the football games, I think. Or, they just had crazy hat night at Awana last Wednesday, so maybe that's where this is coming from.
"Ummm...as far as I know, there's been no official Congressional declaration of Crazy Face Day on October 12th."
"Mom!"
The markers came with a kid's toy, so they must be washable, right? Right??
Turning to dear husband, I say, "Can you throw her in the tub while I run Shannon over to the mall? Or...you can take the mall trip, and I'll throw her in the tub."
Hubby, knowing a break when he sees one, quickly says, "I'll take Shannon to the mall."
"Coward."
I looked at my small, red-faced child. "Get your clothes off while I start the water, ok?"
I get her in the tub, and tell her to close her eyes tightly, and I start scrubbing her face, along with arms and legs which have also received a few stray marks. After scrubbing and rinsing a few times, her face is still slightly red-tinged, but it's barely noticeable. I can live with that.
She wants to play in the tub, and we still have some time, so I let her. She is five now, and a good swimmer, so since I'm past the point of worrying about her drowning in 12 inches of water, I decided to go downstairs, get some laundry out of the dryer, check on dinner, etc. I'm gone for about 10 minutes. I should know better than this. Not because she's in any danger, but because of some sort of mess that always ensues whenever she's left alone for any amount of time, anywhere.
I go back upstairs to get her out of the tub. Pull the plug, get a towel, and wrap her up in it. There was a hand towel lying on the counter, so I picked that up to dry off her hair. I immediately noticed that it was quite wet. Upon further inspection, my entire bathroom counter is covered with water, and Kylie is quietly trying to sneak out of the bathroom.
"Kylie!!", I said sharply. "Why is there water all over the counter?"
She looked back at me over her shoulder, and just shook her head. "Mom, it's a long story," she said solemnly. "A long story."
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
In The Blink Of An Eye
Normally I like to keep things rather light, or at least sarcastic, when I'm writing here. But this has been on my mind, so I needed to write about it.
Anyone who knows me or has read my blog probably knows that hubby and I are huge football fans. Now that we have a daughter in high school and she is part of the band, we attend all their games and cheer mightily for our beloved Wolves.
Last Friday night, all was normal. They played their first divisional game of the season, and squeaked out a 14-13 win. It was exciting. We cheered, we celebrated.
Then early on Sunday morning, on my way to work, I stopped at the coffee shop that my parents hang out at every morning, to visit with them before I headed to work. As I sat down, my mom was already pushing a section of the newspaper at me, saying "Did you know about this?"
The "this" she was referring to, was this article: Chandler High Star Hospitalized
I read with disbelief about how on Saturday afternoon, our star player had been at a teammate's house, when the group of boys had decided to siphon some gasoline out of a non-running vehicle in teammate's garage, presumably to put the gas into a functioning vehicle. The boys decided to siphon the gas with a vacuum cleaner. Yes, a vacuum cleaner. The vacuum caused a spark, setting off a small explosion that left Dion Jordan with third degree burns covering his arms, hands, lower legs and feet. He will spend a month in the hospital before he can even begin rehab.
Of course, the first reaction upon reading this (or at least mine was) is really? A vacuum cleaner? What were they thinking?? The answer, of course, is that they weren't thinking. They are 16 and 17 year old boys. As anyone who has a teenager knows, they quite often don't think before they do things. How many of us did dumb things when we were teenagers? Things that could've gotten us badly hurt or even killed? I know I did. And not just once, but several times. The only difference is, I was lucky. Dion Jordan was not so lucky.
And now, I am sad beyond words for this boy that I only know because I have watched him catch touchdown passes on the football field. My heart aches for his mother, for his whole family. I want to cry because tonight, while we are at the game, he will be sitting in his hospital bed, when he should be out on that field. I am crushed for a boy whose future held so much promise, and in the blink of an eye, his whole life changed. No one knows yet if he will ever be able to play football again. He was considered one of the top high school prospects in the state of Arizona. At this point, I'm sure his family is just praying that he will be able to walk again.
You can't help but compare someone else's situation to your own. All of us who have children either have had, have now, or will someday have teenagers. Teenagers do dumb things. They always have, and they always will. Parenting teenagers is like trying to guide someone through a minefield with a minefield map...only not all of the mines are marked on the map. You can warn them of certain areas, you can preach, and you can talk, talk, talk with them about sex and drugs and drinking and driving and all kinds of big and small dangers that teenagers may face. But no matter how much you warn and talk, things happen. Things that no one ever expects. Things that happen in the blink of an eye, and change people's lives forever. Things from which there is no going back.
I will be at the game tonight, cheering for the Wolves. The boys who are the team captains for this game will head out to midfield for the coin toss, carrying Dion's jersey with them. I'm sure I will cry. And I'm sure I won't be alone. I will be thinking of you tonight, Dion. We all will.
Anyone who knows me or has read my blog probably knows that hubby and I are huge football fans. Now that we have a daughter in high school and she is part of the band, we attend all their games and cheer mightily for our beloved Wolves.
Last Friday night, all was normal. They played their first divisional game of the season, and squeaked out a 14-13 win. It was exciting. We cheered, we celebrated.
Then early on Sunday morning, on my way to work, I stopped at the coffee shop that my parents hang out at every morning, to visit with them before I headed to work. As I sat down, my mom was already pushing a section of the newspaper at me, saying "Did you know about this?"
The "this" she was referring to, was this article: Chandler High Star Hospitalized
I read with disbelief about how on Saturday afternoon, our star player had been at a teammate's house, when the group of boys had decided to siphon some gasoline out of a non-running vehicle in teammate's garage, presumably to put the gas into a functioning vehicle. The boys decided to siphon the gas with a vacuum cleaner. Yes, a vacuum cleaner. The vacuum caused a spark, setting off a small explosion that left Dion Jordan with third degree burns covering his arms, hands, lower legs and feet. He will spend a month in the hospital before he can even begin rehab.
Of course, the first reaction upon reading this (or at least mine was) is really? A vacuum cleaner? What were they thinking?? The answer, of course, is that they weren't thinking. They are 16 and 17 year old boys. As anyone who has a teenager knows, they quite often don't think before they do things. How many of us did dumb things when we were teenagers? Things that could've gotten us badly hurt or even killed? I know I did. And not just once, but several times. The only difference is, I was lucky. Dion Jordan was not so lucky.
And now, I am sad beyond words for this boy that I only know because I have watched him catch touchdown passes on the football field. My heart aches for his mother, for his whole family. I want to cry because tonight, while we are at the game, he will be sitting in his hospital bed, when he should be out on that field. I am crushed for a boy whose future held so much promise, and in the blink of an eye, his whole life changed. No one knows yet if he will ever be able to play football again. He was considered one of the top high school prospects in the state of Arizona. At this point, I'm sure his family is just praying that he will be able to walk again.
You can't help but compare someone else's situation to your own. All of us who have children either have had, have now, or will someday have teenagers. Teenagers do dumb things. They always have, and they always will. Parenting teenagers is like trying to guide someone through a minefield with a minefield map...only not all of the mines are marked on the map. You can warn them of certain areas, you can preach, and you can talk, talk, talk with them about sex and drugs and drinking and driving and all kinds of big and small dangers that teenagers may face. But no matter how much you warn and talk, things happen. Things that no one ever expects. Things that happen in the blink of an eye, and change people's lives forever. Things from which there is no going back.
I will be at the game tonight, cheering for the Wolves. The boys who are the team captains for this game will head out to midfield for the coin toss, carrying Dion's jersey with them. I'm sure I will cry. And I'm sure I won't be alone. I will be thinking of you tonight, Dion. We all will.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
It's My Bill in a Box
As soon as I thought of this title, I immediately thought of this: Dick in a Box. I'm sure most people have seen this Justin Timberlake skit from Saturday Night Live this past Christmas, but if you haven't, and you're not offended by off-color language, it's really hilarious.
Anyway...this post isn't about an Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live digital short, it's about my cell phone bill. My cell phone bill from AT&T, that came to me in not an envelope, but a BOX. A Priority Mail box no less. It cost them $4.60 to send me my bill, which I find a little bit ridiculous. So here's a little lesson for everyone:
Here is a cell phone bill:
Anyway...this post isn't about an Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live digital short, it's about my cell phone bill. My cell phone bill from AT&T, that came to me in not an envelope, but a BOX. A Priority Mail box no less. It cost them $4.60 to send me my bill, which I find a little bit ridiculous. So here's a little lesson for everyone:
Here is a cell phone bill:
Here is a cell phone bill on steroids. Any questions?
Well, maybe just a couple. The first one being, is it really necessary to spend $4.60 and kill three trees just to send me my cell phone bill? Why is it so big, you ask? Well, because they insist on listing every single incoming and outgoing phone call AND text message individually, of course. I have a teenager, and an almost-teenager. Although I must admit, the almost-teenager doesn't have much to do with the size of this bill. I will say, thank goodness since Cingular has been taken over by AT&T, they've come up with a family unlimited texting plan, where we all get unlimited texting for $29.99 a month. In my house, this is a bargain. How many text messages did Danielle have last month? *Drumroll* 9,091!! Yes, almost 10,000 text messages in one month! I realize those are both incoming and outgoing texts, but holy crap.
So me being me, I decided to do some math. I like math actually, as long as it's not geometry. Just keep your damn triangles away from me, and we'll all be fine.
Basing my calculations on a 30-day month, there are 720 hours in one month. Subtract 7 hours a day (this is an average, a little less on weekdays, more on weekends) for sleeping, which is 210 hours, bringing our total down to 510 hours. I also subtracted the hours a day she spends at school (5 days a week x 4 weeks), which is 140 hours a month, bringing the total hours down to 370. 370 hours a month when she is not sleeping or in class. 370 hours is 22,200 minutes. Divide that number by 9091, and you get 2.44197558. Yes, that's an average of one incoming or outgoing text message every 2.44 minutes that she's awake or not in class. Is it just me, or does that seem insane? I realize that a lot of them are just "ok" or "lol" or whatever, and that she can send about 30 one-word messages in 60 seconds, but come on.
In any case, I called customer service and said that I didn't want them killing three trees every month just to send me my bill. I already pay the bill online, I can see it online, and I see no point in getting a big box of paper every month. The idiot lovely customer service rep stammered that I should go to my account online, and check some box to opt out of the paper bill. I hung up the phone, went straight to the computer, and did just that. I feel like calling Al Gore now and telling him that I've just done my part to save the environment.
Panda Bears, Koalas, and the Sunset That Wasn't
So, are you all sick of reading about my vacation yet? Because honestly, I'm pretty sick of writing about it. Thank goodness we are on the fourth and final day, so this will be my last vacation post. I'm really going to try and make it a Reader's Digest condensed version.
I'm putting in this picture just because I think it's cute:
We saw panda bears, koalas and we petted goats. We saw a lot more actually, which you can see by clicking the picture link at the bottom, if you really want to.
"Hey, since we're not that far from the Coronado Bridge, why don't we go over to Coronado Island (or as Kylie would say, Corndogo Island) and watch the sunset on the beach before we head home."
Everybody was on board with this idea, especially if it meant one last trip to the beach, so we headed in that direction. There was only one problem with my brilliant plan. Well, two problems but first things first. The first problem is that the sky looked like this:
Thursday morning, we load up all our stuff, check out of hotel and head to the zoo around 11am. We did the guided tour bus thing, and also rode on the skytram. That was fun!
I'm putting in this picture just because I think it's cute:
We saw panda bears, koalas and we petted goats. We saw a lot more actually, which you can see by clicking the picture link at the bottom, if you really want to.
Panda Bear!
Isn't he cute? Koalas aren't bears, they're actually marsupials. Did you know that? I didn't. See, this trip was educational!
We spent some time in the Childrens' Zoo, and Kylie made friends with a goat. I think we spent about 6 hours total at the zoo, and I doubt if we even saw half of it. Place is friggin' HUGE! The zoo closed at 5pm, and the original plan was to grab a fast food dinner and head directly home. I figured if we were lucky, we'd make it home before midnight. But then I got this bright idea. We're on the west coast right? And really, there's nothing more beautiful than seeing the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. I had planned do that while we were here, and we just never got around to it. So in my brilliance, I said,
"Hey, since we're not that far from the Coronado Bridge, why don't we go over to Coronado Island (or as Kylie would say, Corndogo Island) and watch the sunset on the beach before we head home."
Everybody was on board with this idea, especially if it meant one last trip to the beach, so we headed in that direction. There was only one problem with my brilliant plan. Well, two problems but first things first. The first problem is that the sky looked like this:
This is a view from the Coronado Bridge. As you can see, it's totally overcast. Doubt we'll be seeing much of a sunset, but we decided to go see the beach one last time. So we crossed the bridge onto the island, and headed for the beach. Parked the car, grabbed a sweatshirt for everyone (because it was windy and cold, y'all!) and walked out towards the water. Steve brought the football. He and Danni tossed the ball around, Kylie and Shannon played down by the water, and I sat up under a lifeguard tower and covered my legs with sand, took pictures, and tried to stay warm. Ok seriously, it was COLD!
My feeble attempt at staying warm was to pull my hoodie totally around my face. Attractive, no? Here's a picture of the famous Hotel Del Coronado (or Hotel Del Corndogo)
So we goofed around for a while, and decided yeah, we won't be seeing any sunset tonight. We trudged up to the car, and after changing Kylie into some dry, non-sandy clothes, we reluctantly left San Diego. We grabbed a fast food dinner in El Cajon (your mom), and then got on the highway. The second problem with my brilliant "let's see the sunset" plan was that it was around 8:30pm by the time we finally got going. Steve drove to Yuma, which is just on the Arizona side of the CA/AZ border. By that time it was probably about 11:30 or closer to midnight, and we had to decide: Do we grab a cheap motel room in Yuma, of all places, or do we just keep going? I did NOT want to stay in Yuma, wake the kids up early and still have another three hours of driving in the morning to get home. Not to mention the money for another motel room. Well, Steve had had enough driving, so I'm all "I can drive!" I downed a couple of bottles of my liquid crack (ok, Diet Coke), and booked it down I-8 like a woman possessed at about 85 mph. Steve was totally snoring. Stopped about 100 miles later in Gila Bend (I had to pee, all that Diet Coke, you know), grabbed another bottle of the stuff and I was off again. Everyone even slept through my pitstop. I pulled into our driveway at about 2:15am. And thus endeth the tale of our vacation.
I wish I was still there. I would so much rather be on the beach right now. I miss it.
For all the pictures of the zoo and our trek to Corndogo Island, click here:
THE END. Whew.
Monday, October 8, 2007
The Joys of Boogie Boarding and Reasonably Priced Wetsuit Rentals
Day 3 of our vacation, and our only firm plan was a two hour harbor cruise that was set to leave the dock at 3pm. The rest of the day was open. We decided to leave the room early (9am) and head to Mission Beach. Shannon had some money she had saved up, and what she really wanted to do was go boogie boarding, and we had promised her that she could. So we loaded up towels, sunscreen and sand toys and headed off. We got to Mission Beach and got all set up on our little patch of sand, and Steve and Shannon went here and rented a boogie board.
After about a half hour, she got pretty cold and came and asked me if she could please rent a wetsuit. She was having so much fun and I really wanted her be able to keep at it, so I said yes, thinking yet again that this would probably cost a lot. But, how often do they ever get to do something like this? Steve and Shannon went back to the surf rental place to get her a wetsuit. Steve called me from his cellphone from the rental shop to ask me something, I forget what, but I finally asked the price. I about dropped the phone in shock when he told me it was only $7 an hour for the board, and another $7 an hour for the wetsuit. I thought it would be so much more. So I told him for that price, I was sending Danni up to the shop too to get her outfitted with a board and wetsuit. In the meantime, Kylie had found friends. There was a family of four boys, I'm guessing their ages at about 2, 4, 6 and 8. She had fun playing with them.
Back from the surf shop, Danni and Shannon are now outfitted in proper boogie boarding gear:
They stayed out for two hours, and when they went to return the boards and wetsuits to the surf shop, the owner of the shop only charged us for the first hour, and not the second. So, two boogie boards and two wetsuits for two hours? $28. Watching my kids ride the waves? Priceless. I know this wouldn't be a big deal to anyone that lives anywhere near an ocean, but since we live in the desert, this was heaven for them.
The kids also wanted to browse the shops near the beach, and they wanted to ride on the roller coaster. So we packed up our stuff, and got a quick lunch on the beach, shopped a little bit, and headed over to the roller coaster. Danni and Shannon took a ride on the coaster:
While Kylie went for a spin on the merry-go-round.
After that, we headed back to the room so the girls could change. We got over to the harbor downtown in plenty of time for our cruise. On the cruise you see a lot of navy ships and other things I couldn't even begin to identify. I had to have Steve help me make captions for all those pictures, because if left up to me, they would all say "Navy Ship", or "Another Navy Ship". Shannon took most of the pictures from the boat, so there are a lot of ships. I did take a beautiful picture of the San Diego skyline though:
After our cruise, we went to dinner at ... Outback of course, because we had that gift card. It was actually a $200 gift card, and somehow I thought the five of us would get three meals out of that. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but we did get two nice meals. :) We also watched the first part of the first NLDS game, Diamondbacks v. Cubs, since Outback has TVs in the restaurant. After dinner, we went back to our room to continue watching our Dbacks beat the the Cubs. Woohoo! Once again, no fighting with Kylie to go to sleep, as she crashed soon after we got back to the hotel.
For all the pictures from the beach and the cruise, click here:
Mission Beach and Harbor Cruise
Up Next: The San Diego Zoo and Coronado Island
or
Panda Bears, Koalas and the Sunset That Wasn't
I had no idea how much it was going to cost, but I figured ok, tourists are the only ones who rent this stuff, people who live here have their own stuff, this place is right on the beach, it's going to be expensive. Steve and Shannon came out with the board, and since she was spending her own money, I didn't even ask how much it was. Shannon took her board and went out, in the 60 degree water. That kid is nuts, but she was having a great time.
After about a half hour, she got pretty cold and came and asked me if she could please rent a wetsuit. She was having so much fun and I really wanted her be able to keep at it, so I said yes, thinking yet again that this would probably cost a lot. But, how often do they ever get to do something like this? Steve and Shannon went back to the surf rental place to get her a wetsuit. Steve called me from his cellphone from the rental shop to ask me something, I forget what, but I finally asked the price. I about dropped the phone in shock when he told me it was only $7 an hour for the board, and another $7 an hour for the wetsuit. I thought it would be so much more. So I told him for that price, I was sending Danni up to the shop too to get her outfitted with a board and wetsuit. In the meantime, Kylie had found friends. There was a family of four boys, I'm guessing their ages at about 2, 4, 6 and 8. She had fun playing with them.
Back from the surf shop, Danni and Shannon are now outfitted in proper boogie boarding gear:
And they hit the waves. They had such a great time. I think if you asked either one of them what the best part of the vacation was, they would both say this was it. Here are a couple of short video clips of them riding the waves:
They stayed out for two hours, and when they went to return the boards and wetsuits to the surf shop, the owner of the shop only charged us for the first hour, and not the second. So, two boogie boards and two wetsuits for two hours? $28. Watching my kids ride the waves? Priceless. I know this wouldn't be a big deal to anyone that lives anywhere near an ocean, but since we live in the desert, this was heaven for them.
The kids also wanted to browse the shops near the beach, and they wanted to ride on the roller coaster. So we packed up our stuff, and got a quick lunch on the beach, shopped a little bit, and headed over to the roller coaster. Danni and Shannon took a ride on the coaster:
While Kylie went for a spin on the merry-go-round.
After that, we headed back to the room so the girls could change. We got over to the harbor downtown in plenty of time for our cruise. On the cruise you see a lot of navy ships and other things I couldn't even begin to identify. I had to have Steve help me make captions for all those pictures, because if left up to me, they would all say "Navy Ship", or "Another Navy Ship". Shannon took most of the pictures from the boat, so there are a lot of ships. I did take a beautiful picture of the San Diego skyline though:
After our cruise, we went to dinner at ... Outback of course, because we had that gift card. It was actually a $200 gift card, and somehow I thought the five of us would get three meals out of that. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but we did get two nice meals. :) We also watched the first part of the first NLDS game, Diamondbacks v. Cubs, since Outback has TVs in the restaurant. After dinner, we went back to our room to continue watching our Dbacks beat the the Cubs. Woohoo! Once again, no fighting with Kylie to go to sleep, as she crashed soon after we got back to the hotel.
For all the pictures from the beach and the cruise, click here:
Mission Beach and Harbor Cruise
Up Next: The San Diego Zoo and Coronado Island
or
Panda Bears, Koalas and the Sunset That Wasn't
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Don't Sit In the Soak Zone If You Don't Want To Get Wet!
Day 2 of our vacation was a trip to Sea World. The weather was perfect: Sunny and warm, but not blistering hot (you know, like Arizona). We got there when the park opened at 10am, got our map and list of showtimes, and saw that the first show was the dolphin show, at 11am. We decided to head first to the dolphin feeding tank, which is neat because you get to see the dolphins very close up. They sometimes swim close enough to the edge that you can put your hand out and touch them, but they didn't seem to be in the mood to be touched when we were there, as they were swimming around the tank a few feet from the edge, just out of reach.
After this, Kylie wanted to go to the tidepools where you can pick up the starfish. Luckily it was near, so we went, and she picked up starfish:
Right next to the tidepools was an indoor aquarium. We walked inside there and saw all manner of sea turtles, small sharks, groupers, etc. When we came out of there, we headed over to the dolphin stadium to get a good seat for the show. My older children, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take their 5 year old sister and sit with her in the third row, which is clearly marked "soak zone."
I've been here before, and is it me, or did those signs used to say "splash zone?" Hmmm. If you look up at the top of the picture, you can see Steve's knees and Dbacks t-shirt a few rows up. That's where he and I were sitting. Still in the "soak zone", but I've been here before and I know that the odds of getting wet up there are slim. (Ha ha) So the show starts, and they have dolphins and pilot whales performing. There is one trick in the show that I think is particularly cool, which is when they have a dolphin jump really high, and I had to mention this just so I could show you my amazing camera work: (Yes, I really did take this picture)
So they do a few dolphin tricks and a couple of pilot whale tricks, and then they set about getting the audience wet. The dolphins swim around, whipping water out of the tank with their tails, and not surprisingly, the people in the first few rows, including my children, got soaked. Kylie didn't think this was fun at all, and quickly ran up to where we were sitting. I was smugly sitting in my seat, holding my wet daughter, because the dolphin splashes didn't reach to where we were sitting. But then, they send the pilot whales around to do the same maneuver. Apparently, pilot whales' tails are a bit stronger than dolphins' tails, because those whales were able to send giant waves of water up where we were sitting, and we got soaked as well. After they went around a couple of times, I was as wet as if I had jumped into a swimming pool. While I didn't really mind being wet, because the sun was right on top of us and I had been kind of hot up until that point, Kylie was NOT happy. She was shaking and shivering and she wanted to get out of that stadium! Luckily that was pretty much the end of the show. I just want to say right here that I was a little disappointed in this show and the Shamu show, which we saw later. It seems that a few years ago, the shows used to be primarily focused on the animals and their neat tricks. The focus now seems to have shifted so that the main point of the shows is to get people wet. I'm not upset that we got wet, because the "soak zone" was clearly marked and we chose to sit there. But, when did the shows become all about getting people wet, and not on the animals themselves? I remember that they used to have a whale that would jump up out of the water with a trainer on its nose and send the guy flying into the air, which was really cool. They don't do that anymore. But, I digress.
After the dolphin show, we headed directly to the sea lion show. We told Kylie we would sit in the sun and she'd dry and it'd be fine. This is Danni and Kylie at the sea lion show:
As you can probably tell, they are both quite wet, and Kylie is not very happy. The sea lion show was funny and cute, and we made sure to sit way up near the top, to alleviate Kylie's fears that she might get wet again. They had two sea lions named Seamore (yes, that's how they spell it, I looked it up, because I'm sort of anal retentive about spelling things correctly, and Seymour didn't look right to me, although that's probably the most conventional spelling) and Clyde, and a little otter. This picture is the otter running out with a can of Pepsi. Nice product placement, Sea World! In fact, I'm convinced that the whole city of San Diego is sponsored by Pepsi. Just saying.
After the sea lion show, the Shipwreck Rapids ride (which didn't open until noon) was finally open, so we headed over there. On the way, we stopped at a gift shop and got Kylie a Sea World t-shirt that she could change into. They didn't sell shorts or anything, so her pants were still really wet, but at least her top half was dry. I was worried that Kylie was going to feel left out at the rapids ride, because there is a 42" height requirement, and she is about 41 1/2". However, she had no desire to go on the ride, saving me from feeling badly, because the rest of us really did want to go. So, Steve and Shannon went first, while Danni and I waited with Kylie at the water cannons where you can shoot people as they go by. Of course, I got some quarters and we nailed their tube when they came by. Here are Steve and Shannon on Shipwreck Rapids:
Steve's in the white hat, and Shannon is next to him on his right. After they got done and gave us the what-for for spraying them with the water cannons (hee, they were really wet, again), Danni and I went. It was great because there was absolutely no line at all. On this ride, what happens is that water splashes into the part where you are sitting, totally soaking your shorts and socks and shoes. Awesome! I was expecting to be blasted by revenge water cannons, but luckily, Steve didn't have any quarters on him. That's ok, because Danni and I were thoroughly drenched by the time the ride was over. At this point, we had a family meeting and decided that maybe it would be best if we went back to the hotel, changed clothes, grabbed some lunch outside of the park (thus saving us from paying $70 for lunch inside the park), and then heading back.
We went back to our room, quickly got everyone dried off and changed into dry clothes, and we were off to find some lunch. We ended up at a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint called Rolberto's that Steve remembered from his days of living there. It had no air conditioning, only a few tables, and totally awesome food! It's right up there with Elmer's Taco Shop in my book. Reasonable prices (I think all 5 of us ate for $25) and HUGE portions. So, all dry and stuffed with Mexican food, we headed back to Sea World.
During the afternoon, we visited the Shark Encounter, the Penguin Encounter, and saw a really cute show called Pets Rule!, which has a lot of dogs and cats doing tricks, some ducks and a pig. Kylie LOVED this show, and even Shannon said it was cute. We also rode up the skytower, which gives you a great view of the bay, the city, and the ocean.
We ended the day with the last Shamu show. When we got into the stadium, Kylie kind of freaked because she was really afraid of getting wet again. The stadium has two tiers, and we made sure to sit on the top tier, so there was absolutely no chance of us getting wet. I know she was really tired by this point, because she kept wanting to leave because she didn't want to get wet. I was trying to explain that we were way too high to get wet, and see all those people down there? Those people might get wet, but we won't. I promise. Well, as you probably know, trying to reason with a tired 5 year old is a bit like banging your head against a wall, but heck, that never stops me from trying. She sat in my lap, and every 5 minutes or so she said, "I want to get out of here!" And this was before the show even started. When the show did start, every time Shamu jumped or splashed, I said to her, "Did you get wet that time?" She said, "No.." I was trying to show her that she wasn't going to get wet, but she's no dummy...she knew there'd be a part of the show where Shamu goes around whipping his tail to drench people. After he went around and did that the first time, and she saw the water was nowhere near us, she finally relaxed.
The Shamu show they have now is called "Believe", and it's about this boy who supposedly had an encounter with a killer whale when he was young, and so he grew up dreaming of being a trainer. The main trainer in the show was supposed to be this young boy, grown up now working at Sea World, his dream has been realized. When he was a kid he had carved this whale tail from wood and he wore it as a necklace. During the show they bring up some kid who's about 12 or so, and supposedly this kid came to Sea World today just to meet Shamu and he also has a dream of being a whale trainer. The show ends with the trainer giving the boy this carved wooden whale tail necklace. Awwwww. If you ask me, the whole thing was incredibly staged and corny, but maybe that's just me. Kylie kept asking me if that boy with the necklace was going to grow up and work at Sea World, and I was trying to explain to her that he was just an actor, part of the show. She didn't seem to grasp that, until she said "Oh, an actor, like on Drake and Josh?" Yeah baby...just like that. lol So here's Shamu:
After the Shamu show, we had about an hour until the park closed, but there wasn't anything else we really wanted to do, so we headed toward the exit, buying Kylie some promised cotton candy on the way out. Nobody was really hungry for dinner after that huge late lunch we had, so we went back to the room. Shannon took Kylie to the pool for a little while, but they were back within about 20 minutes. The nice part is that after the busy day we had, there was no fighting with Kylie to go to sleep. We turned on the TV, she laid down on one of the beds and she was out in about a minute and a half. Ah...a bit of peace for the rest of us.
If you want to see all the Sea World pictures, click here:
Sea World
(And believe me, I totally understand if you don't, that's why they're behind a link)
Next up: Mission Beach and a Harbor Cruise
or
The Joys of Boogie Boarding and Reasonably Priced Wetsuit Rentals
After this, Kylie wanted to go to the tidepools where you can pick up the starfish. Luckily it was near, so we went, and she picked up starfish:
Right next to the tidepools was an indoor aquarium. We walked inside there and saw all manner of sea turtles, small sharks, groupers, etc. When we came out of there, we headed over to the dolphin stadium to get a good seat for the show. My older children, in their infinite wisdom, decided to take their 5 year old sister and sit with her in the third row, which is clearly marked "soak zone."
I've been here before, and is it me, or did those signs used to say "splash zone?" Hmmm. If you look up at the top of the picture, you can see Steve's knees and Dbacks t-shirt a few rows up. That's where he and I were sitting. Still in the "soak zone", but I've been here before and I know that the odds of getting wet up there are slim. (Ha ha) So the show starts, and they have dolphins and pilot whales performing. There is one trick in the show that I think is particularly cool, which is when they have a dolphin jump really high, and I had to mention this just so I could show you my amazing camera work: (Yes, I really did take this picture)
So they do a few dolphin tricks and a couple of pilot whale tricks, and then they set about getting the audience wet. The dolphins swim around, whipping water out of the tank with their tails, and not surprisingly, the people in the first few rows, including my children, got soaked. Kylie didn't think this was fun at all, and quickly ran up to where we were sitting. I was smugly sitting in my seat, holding my wet daughter, because the dolphin splashes didn't reach to where we were sitting. But then, they send the pilot whales around to do the same maneuver. Apparently, pilot whales' tails are a bit stronger than dolphins' tails, because those whales were able to send giant waves of water up where we were sitting, and we got soaked as well. After they went around a couple of times, I was as wet as if I had jumped into a swimming pool. While I didn't really mind being wet, because the sun was right on top of us and I had been kind of hot up until that point, Kylie was NOT happy. She was shaking and shivering and she wanted to get out of that stadium! Luckily that was pretty much the end of the show. I just want to say right here that I was a little disappointed in this show and the Shamu show, which we saw later. It seems that a few years ago, the shows used to be primarily focused on the animals and their neat tricks. The focus now seems to have shifted so that the main point of the shows is to get people wet. I'm not upset that we got wet, because the "soak zone" was clearly marked and we chose to sit there. But, when did the shows become all about getting people wet, and not on the animals themselves? I remember that they used to have a whale that would jump up out of the water with a trainer on its nose and send the guy flying into the air, which was really cool. They don't do that anymore. But, I digress.
After the dolphin show, we headed directly to the sea lion show. We told Kylie we would sit in the sun and she'd dry and it'd be fine. This is Danni and Kylie at the sea lion show:
As you can probably tell, they are both quite wet, and Kylie is not very happy. The sea lion show was funny and cute, and we made sure to sit way up near the top, to alleviate Kylie's fears that she might get wet again. They had two sea lions named Seamore (yes, that's how they spell it, I looked it up, because I'm sort of anal retentive about spelling things correctly, and Seymour didn't look right to me, although that's probably the most conventional spelling) and Clyde, and a little otter. This picture is the otter running out with a can of Pepsi. Nice product placement, Sea World! In fact, I'm convinced that the whole city of San Diego is sponsored by Pepsi. Just saying.
After the sea lion show, the Shipwreck Rapids ride (which didn't open until noon) was finally open, so we headed over there. On the way, we stopped at a gift shop and got Kylie a Sea World t-shirt that she could change into. They didn't sell shorts or anything, so her pants were still really wet, but at least her top half was dry. I was worried that Kylie was going to feel left out at the rapids ride, because there is a 42" height requirement, and she is about 41 1/2". However, she had no desire to go on the ride, saving me from feeling badly, because the rest of us really did want to go. So, Steve and Shannon went first, while Danni and I waited with Kylie at the water cannons where you can shoot people as they go by. Of course, I got some quarters and we nailed their tube when they came by. Here are Steve and Shannon on Shipwreck Rapids:
Steve's in the white hat, and Shannon is next to him on his right. After they got done and gave us the what-for for spraying them with the water cannons (hee, they were really wet, again), Danni and I went. It was great because there was absolutely no line at all. On this ride, what happens is that water splashes into the part where you are sitting, totally soaking your shorts and socks and shoes. Awesome! I was expecting to be blasted by revenge water cannons, but luckily, Steve didn't have any quarters on him. That's ok, because Danni and I were thoroughly drenched by the time the ride was over. At this point, we had a family meeting and decided that maybe it would be best if we went back to the hotel, changed clothes, grabbed some lunch outside of the park (thus saving us from paying $70 for lunch inside the park), and then heading back.
We went back to our room, quickly got everyone dried off and changed into dry clothes, and we were off to find some lunch. We ended up at a little hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint called Rolberto's that Steve remembered from his days of living there. It had no air conditioning, only a few tables, and totally awesome food! It's right up there with Elmer's Taco Shop in my book. Reasonable prices (I think all 5 of us ate for $25) and HUGE portions. So, all dry and stuffed with Mexican food, we headed back to Sea World.
During the afternoon, we visited the Shark Encounter, the Penguin Encounter, and saw a really cute show called Pets Rule!, which has a lot of dogs and cats doing tricks, some ducks and a pig. Kylie LOVED this show, and even Shannon said it was cute. We also rode up the skytower, which gives you a great view of the bay, the city, and the ocean.
We ended the day with the last Shamu show. When we got into the stadium, Kylie kind of freaked because she was really afraid of getting wet again. The stadium has two tiers, and we made sure to sit on the top tier, so there was absolutely no chance of us getting wet. I know she was really tired by this point, because she kept wanting to leave because she didn't want to get wet. I was trying to explain that we were way too high to get wet, and see all those people down there? Those people might get wet, but we won't. I promise. Well, as you probably know, trying to reason with a tired 5 year old is a bit like banging your head against a wall, but heck, that never stops me from trying. She sat in my lap, and every 5 minutes or so she said, "I want to get out of here!" And this was before the show even started. When the show did start, every time Shamu jumped or splashed, I said to her, "Did you get wet that time?" She said, "No.." I was trying to show her that she wasn't going to get wet, but she's no dummy...she knew there'd be a part of the show where Shamu goes around whipping his tail to drench people. After he went around and did that the first time, and she saw the water was nowhere near us, she finally relaxed.
The Shamu show they have now is called "Believe", and it's about this boy who supposedly had an encounter with a killer whale when he was young, and so he grew up dreaming of being a trainer. The main trainer in the show was supposed to be this young boy, grown up now working at Sea World, his dream has been realized. When he was a kid he had carved this whale tail from wood and he wore it as a necklace. During the show they bring up some kid who's about 12 or so, and supposedly this kid came to Sea World today just to meet Shamu and he also has a dream of being a whale trainer. The show ends with the trainer giving the boy this carved wooden whale tail necklace. Awwwww. If you ask me, the whole thing was incredibly staged and corny, but maybe that's just me. Kylie kept asking me if that boy with the necklace was going to grow up and work at Sea World, and I was trying to explain to her that he was just an actor, part of the show. She didn't seem to grasp that, until she said "Oh, an actor, like on Drake and Josh?" Yeah baby...just like that. lol So here's Shamu:
After the Shamu show, we had about an hour until the park closed, but there wasn't anything else we really wanted to do, so we headed toward the exit, buying Kylie some promised cotton candy on the way out. Nobody was really hungry for dinner after that huge late lunch we had, so we went back to the room. Shannon took Kylie to the pool for a little while, but they were back within about 20 minutes. The nice part is that after the busy day we had, there was no fighting with Kylie to go to sleep. We turned on the TV, she laid down on one of the beds and she was out in about a minute and a half. Ah...a bit of peace for the rest of us.
If you want to see all the Sea World pictures, click here:
Sea World
(And believe me, I totally understand if you don't, that's why they're behind a link)
Next up: Mission Beach and a Harbor Cruise
or
The Joys of Boogie Boarding and Reasonably Priced Wetsuit Rentals
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Our Vacation to San Diego
Hi, we're back! This trip was a big deal for us, since we don't get to go on vacation very often. I want to write kind of a detailed log of the trip, for my own memories. I have lots of pictures and lots to talk about, and for my own sanity as well as you that read this, I'm going to divide up each day of the trip into a different post. If I didn't, I think it would be way too long to read.
Shannon - "Your mom?"
Ok, call me bad, but I cracked up at this. I mean, I laughed for like 10 minutes and I couldn't stop. I think what made it so funny for me was her tone, which was not snotty or sarcastic, but very offhand, in the same tone you would ask someone if they wanted a snack or something. However, my laughing, and the subsequent laughing from the girls made Steve more crabby, because he thought we were laughing at him. Anyway, I discreetly suggested that maybe he should take his meds, and that he'd probably be fine. He did, and after they kicked in, we were all much happier. In fact, the whole "your mom" thing became kind of a joke the rest of the trip, someone would just say it in response to something, and we'd all laugh.
Edited to add: Would you believe I did a Google image search for the Target cart escalator thing, and people have taken pictures of it! (Ok, I would have too, if I had thought about it) I found out the official name for it is a "cartveyor." Am I a total geek for being fascinated by this?
Target Cartveyor
So, day one. A six hour drive (approximately) to San Diego. We had a laptop for Kylie to watch movies, which was a tremendous help. Shannon and Danni slept a good deal of the way, as we roused them at the ungodly hour of 6am and we were on the road by 7am.
I was worried that Kylie was going to be a pain the whole trip, and she did have her moments, but the person who really got on my nerves that first day was...Steve. I wasn't sure why he was in such a crabby mood...I was the one dealing with all of Kylie's requests. I found out later that he hadn't taken his meds that day, because he didn't want to get sleepy while driving. While I found that noble, I think I would rather have him be sort of tired, and heck, I can drive...than be an asshole. I mean, seriously. There, I've said it. If he doesn't take his Xanax, he is just not a very nice person. With it, he's mostly fine. The girls were even texting me from the back seat, asking what the heck his problem was. When we got near the outskirts of San Diego, there's a suburb called El Cajon, where Steve lived for a few months, a long time ago. Because he lived there, he likes to show off pretty much the only Spanish he knows. So he said to no one in particular, "Hey, do you guys know what El Cajon means in English?" Well, because we've had this conversation before, I know it means "the box." No one said anything though. So he asked again. This time, the exchange goes like this:
Steve - "Do you guys know what El Cajon means?"
Shannon - "Your mom?"
Ok, call me bad, but I cracked up at this. I mean, I laughed for like 10 minutes and I couldn't stop. I think what made it so funny for me was her tone, which was not snotty or sarcastic, but very offhand, in the same tone you would ask someone if they wanted a snack or something. However, my laughing, and the subsequent laughing from the girls made Steve more crabby, because he thought we were laughing at him. Anyway, I discreetly suggested that maybe he should take his meds, and that he'd probably be fine. He did, and after they kicked in, we were all much happier. In fact, the whole "your mom" thing became kind of a joke the rest of the trip, someone would just say it in response to something, and we'd all laugh.
Anyway...we get to the hotel, which I guess is actually a motel, the Days Inn Hotel Circle. We got the room with a package that included the Sea World passes and tickets for a two hour harbor cruise. I'm not exactly sure what the price per night was, but it was a pretty good deal. We had one room with two queen beds, and we had borrowed an Aerobed (Thanks Jen!) With Danni and Kylie on the Aerobed and Shannon and me in one bed and Steve in the other, we were all very comfortable. It was a great room for the price, I think. It had a fridge and a microwave, and we had brought some food, so eating breakfast in the room every morning probably saved us at least $100. I would totally recommend this place...the beds were comfy and the staff was really nice.
After we checked in and got settled, we decided to go down to Mission Beach, which was only a few miles away.
We played around on the beach for about an hour, then went out for an early dinner. We went to Outback, because we had a gift card that Steve won at work that we had been saving for the trip. The restaurant was part of this really cool outdoor mall that the kids loved. It was called Westfield Mission Valley. It was like a regular mall with your basic mall stores, except the open part where you walk around was outside instead of inside. It was really cool, and the weather being what it was that time of day, which was about 5pm, I could have just stayed out there forever. The breeze felt wonderful. It also had a two-story Target (!) with an escalator that had a thing in the middle where you put your cart, and the cart goes up or down with you. Hard to explain, but Shannon was totally captivated by it. We finally were able to peel everyone away from this spectacular mall after a couple of hours, and we headed back to the room. We watched the end of the Padres/Rockies game, then tried to persuade Kylie to go to sleep. Trying to get a 5 year-old who knows she's going to Sea World tomorrow to go to sleep is not easy. She was kind of nuts, running and bouncing around, but eventually she finally did settle down and go to sleep.
Here are all the pictures from Monday, if you want to look: Mission Beach Pictures.
Up Next: Day 2 - Sea World
or
Don't Sit in the Soak Zone If You Don't Want To Get Wet.
Up Next: Day 2 - Sea World
or
Don't Sit in the Soak Zone If You Don't Want To Get Wet.
Edited to add: Would you believe I did a Google image search for the Target cart escalator thing, and people have taken pictures of it! (Ok, I would have too, if I had thought about it) I found out the official name for it is a "cartveyor."
Target Cartveyor
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