California Vacation Part 2

It is already a months since we were in California. I am trying to catch up, but the heat is not very conducive to work of any kind. Well, as you might remember, we spent Thursday morning at Disneyland and then Jason had to fly home, while Karla picked me and the girls up, to stay another week at her place in San Clemente. We had a lot of fun. There is something to be said about live in Southern California. Since it was a holiday weekend with July 4th coming up on Tuesday, we had to carefully plan our excursions, to not mingle with the biggest crowds. So immediately in Friday we drove to San Diego to visit Seaworld. I had not been there since my first arrival in San Diego 13 years ago. Seaworld was a huge disappointment after spending those days at Disneyland. The park has mainly restaurants and souvenir shops, offers just the shows and a few Aquarium views and looks all together run down. Off course the crowds, the heat and the fact, that you had to be at every attraction at least 30 minutes in advance,did not help the situation. The dolphin and orca shows were sappy and corny and you should think that a huge company like Seaworld would focus on animal preservation and not just salute the war on terror. Marlene liked the shows and now wants to be a marine biologist, so she can work with orcas (we are definitely at the right spot for that). Einar and Amelia were at first fascinated by the "fish" (how do you want to call a dolphin or whale in front of a toddler?), but 30 minute shows push it for the little ones. Oh, yes, did I mention there is no shade at the big amphitheaters? After less than 2 hours with the high point being a duck and her ducklings, we left to have a late lunch/early dinner at D.Z.Akins, the great Jewish deli by San Diego State, where Jason and I went to school. This is probably the best Jewish Deli outside of New York. We bought some Challah to make French Toast the next day as well. Not even 5 minutes on the freeway on the drive home all three children had fallen asleep. After those strenuous days we took it slow the next few days. We mostly went to the pool, the beach or the mall. Karla and I even got a movie in ("The devil wears Prada"), by taking turns watching the kids. It was quite hot down there, so we tried to get to the playgrounds early. Karla goes to several Mom's groups who meet at various playgrounds. I like, that a lot of the playgrounds down there have huge sail covers over the structures against the intense sun. finally on Tuesday, July 4th, we went on another excursion. This time to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We figured that this is a BBQ and beach day, so there might not be that many people there and we were right. Off course it helped, that we were there right for opening. We took the train ride through the open displays and afterwards walked around to see more. Again, the babies in the strollers and the heat put limits on things, but everyone had a great time. It was fun to go into the bird exhibit and see the Lorekets. When it got too hot we left to go home, cool down in the pool and bbq some hot dogs for dinner. Karla made an incredible potato salad. From Karla's place we were able to see two fireworks. On the front there was a nice show over Dana Point and from the back balcony we looked due south towards a pier in San Clemente. Marlene and Einar love the fireworks (Amelia was asleep). Wednesday was our 3rd day for Disneyland. Since we were not good in getting out of the house early, we decided to get there in the early afternoon, when a lot of the morning people leave to cool down. We started out at California Adventure with the "Aladdin" musical, but the babies only lasted 5 minutes inside the theater, so we had to leave. We rode the "Monsters Inc." ride, danced with Pluto and headed over to Disneyland. Since we were still missing a picture with "Sleeping beauty", because the batteries of the camera had given out, we were lucky to see Aurora just as we entered the park. Our walk down mainstreet lead us to the castle again. Marlene and Karla went on the "Peter Pan' ride while I waited with the sleeping babies by the carousel. Afterwards we cooled down in the "small world". Some ice cream, a few characters and rides later, we feasted on the famous smoked and roasted Turkey legs. Our last ride was "Winnie the Pooh", before we headed over to see the parade. After that it was time to go home. We were all tired and exhausted from the day. Thursday was the day to head back to Seattle. Since it was an afternoon flight, we had enough time in the morning for packing and getting ready. Karla had recommended that I take the carseat inside with me instead of checking it, in the hope we might get an extra seat for Amelia. It worked and so we had a whole row for ourselves. All would have been great if Amelia would not have decided that carseats are for cars and the airplane is for playing around. She was not happy. The first hour she screamed in several minute intervals, which made us a lot of friends. The sleeping aide did not help, she just stayed awake until landing (yes, she fell asleep as we touched down), and kicked the seat in front of her. It will be a while until I fly with both of them. This flight was not a good experience. Altogether we had a great time in California. It was a fun trip and we loved like always staying with our gracious hostess Karla. Thank you so much.