Spring Break 2019 - Day 6

I woke up at 12:51 to crazy coughing sounds in the bathroom and realized that one of the girls was throwing up.  Misha.  Poor thing.  I found her hunched over the toilet again at 2 am and 3 am.  Chris found her there around 4.  I went to check on her at 5 where she promptly threw up in a bowl I had set out for her.   She finished throwing up around 7.  The area under her eyes was dotted with petechiae from throwing up so much and she was wasted and tired.

We had to be out of the apartment by 10 am and began packing up.  Chris and Kristen made a quick trip to McDonalds for some breakfast.  We tried to make Misha comfortable in the car as we decided a change of plans was in order.  We had planned to drive around in the morning to explore and then do a scavenger hunt in Balboa Park in the afternoon.  Instead, we spent the day leisurely driving through the rolling hills up to Palomar Mountain State Park and around to San Diego.

Apparently you should never throw snow balls in California.

We stopped at San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside, Palomar Mountain Observatory, Santa Ysabel for lunch, Dudley's Famous Bakery for cinnamon rolls, and a quick stop in Julian to check out the Main Street.

These flowers are called Crown of Thorns.

Observatory

Misha hung out in the car most of the time and rested.  She walked around Old Town San Diego with us but sat every chance she got.  We toured the Mormon Battalion, had dinner in Old Town, and stopped for gas before dropping off the rental car and heading to the airport.  Our flight was about 15 minutes delayed.  We didn't get home until about 2 am.  Phew.  Tired.

Spring Break 2019 - Day 5

Our first day in California without Amy.  We miss her.  We decided to visit the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Though we arrived a little after opening, we still found a relatively close parking spot.  We got smart today and stopped at Subway on our way to the park.  The condo had a styrofoam cooler that we borrowed, and we filled it with apple slices, drinks, veggies, and treats.  We were set for a nice picnic lunch later in the day.

We opted not to visit the butterfly section of the park since the wait there was about an hour long all day long.  We did see goats, elephants, rhinos, giraffes, condors, birds of all kinds, lions, tigers, cheetahs, and koalas.

We even got to see a baby mountain goat ten minutes after it was born.

The park itself was incredibly beautiful with it wide open ranges.  It was a nice way to spend the day though we walked and walked and walked.  We were really grateful for the half hour respite on the safari train later in the afternoon.

We followed up the train ride with a small snack—2 slushees and a pretzel for $18!  So glad we brought our own lunch today to enjoy and save a lot of money.  We were pretty tired around 4 pm and decided we had seen our fill of animals for the day.

The WAZE traffic app routed us around the freeway and we meandered along some back roads back to Oceanside.  The area was so green and lush.  I am glad Spring is on its way at home.

Using gift cards, we enjoyed dinner at Olive Garden that evening.  Kristen followed that with a trip to the hot tub while Chris and I took a moonlit stroll along the beach.  (Chris photo credit).

With warmer jackets, it was perfect.  Kristen was just getting out of the shower as we returned saying that most of the people in the hot tub were old people.  She didn’t stay very long.

She's An Aggie

Amy is excited to be attending Utah State University in Logan, Utah in the Fall.  She has decided to skip the Spring semester at BYU-Idaho and come home to work.  She will be studying Aviation and is thinking seriously about joining Air Force ROTC.  She'll have a year to decide if that is the path she wants to take.

Spring Break 2019 - Day 4

We had a fun day planned for San Diego Sea World and told the girls we wanted to leave by 8:45 am.  Even Amy was up early enough for us to be out the door on time.  She had to pack up her stuff since she was leaving to go back to Idaho later in the evening.  She did not want to go back to school and cold weather.  

The traffic wasn’t too bad so we made it to Sea World in about an hour.  We found parking that was relatively close and found our first line to stand in at the entrance.  We started with a few rides before attending our first show of the day with the dolphins.

Chris and Kristen opted to sit in the "Splash Zone" for the dolphin show.  Good thing they brought their rain jackets!

The weather was perfect.  I can imagine it gets pretty hot in the summer time.  And crowded.  Our wait at most of the rides wasn’t terribly long.  Now lunch, that was crazy.  $110.  It wasn’t even that good.  I would recommend you pack a lunch and return to you car at lunch time to eat it.

Chris, Amy, and Kristen went on a water ride and got totally soaked.

Misha and I opted not to join them for that bit of wetness.  Our final show of the day was the killer whales.  So amazing how they can be trained.  But wait, here's Amy pretending to be a...turtle?

Misha and Amy missed the helicopter simulator, but it was short and sweet and really geared for the under ten crowd.  Besides, Amy wanted to get some pics in her new Utah State shirt.  Yay, she is going to be an Aggie.  Already there is a contest between her and Misha as to which school is better—BYU or USU.  Should be interesting during football season.

We left the park around 5:40 to join one of Chris’ dear family friends for dinner. Chris has known Joanie McKenna since he was two and she and her family were such a support to Linda and Chris and Kevin as Linda began life as a single mom with a new baby.  

Joanie is one of the most gracious, kind people you could ever meet.  I had a chance to talk with Joanie while Chris and Misha took Amy to the airport to drop her off for her flight.  I was talking with Joanie about the book I am writing about feeling as though our hidden talents and gifts make us more than enough.  She said that she, at 90, doesn’t feel as though she has made much of a contribution or difference in people’s life.  She wondered what she had really accomplished.  I may have only had the opportunity to be with Joanie only a couple of times, but I know from all that Chris has talked of her that this dear lady has made a difference in Chris’ life and in his family’s life.  I told her that my girls, after only meeting Joanie once, mentioned what a neat lady she was and wanted to adopt her as another grandmother.  She has made a difference in so many ways and so many lives.

Chris and Misha returned from the airport.  We took Joanie back to her assisted living apartment and hugged her goodbye.

The drive back to Oceanside was much quicker tonight.  We had no traffic delays to slow us down.  It had been a long day and we were all happy to call it a day.

Spring Break 2019 - Day 3

Monday was our chill day at the beach.  The girls wanted to do a little shopping as well, so we scouted out a few tourist shops.  We turned right out of there condo complex, but we should have gone left.  We drove around for about a half an hour when we decided to find the Harbor Shops.  Turns out it was just around the corner from our apartment complex—we could have walked there.  We took our car back to the complex to park it and then walked over to the shops.

We walked along the beach to the wooden pier where the girls were more than ready for lunch at Ruby’s on the pier by the time we arrived.

It was spendy and the service was slow but a fun place to eat.  I had been there during a college trip 30ish years ago and didn’t realize that Oceanside was the place where Ruby’s was located.

We spent the afternoon at the beach.  Our condo was well stocked with beach chairs, sand toys, towels, and boogie boards.  Misha soaked up some sunshine while Amy and Kristen took a few tentative steps in to the chilly Pacific Ocean.  It didn’t take long for them to take their boogie boards into the bigger waves and have some fun riding the waves.  Chris and I sat on the beach with our jackets on.  It really wasn’t terrifically warm, but the girls enjoyed themselves.  

We watched a dad and his teenage son build a huge sand castle and finally give it over to some young boys when it was time for them to leave the beach.  The boys destroyed the sand castle in no time at all.    

Amy and Kristen retired their boogie boards.  Amy lay in the sun alongside Misha, though I don’t know that she ever warmed up as she had goose bumps all over every time I looked over at her.  Kristen played in the sand, but got bored after awhile and headed back in to the ocean.  I don’t know how she handled being cold for so long, but she had a great time catching waves.

We were all in agreement when I finally suggested we go back to sit in the hot tub at the apartment complex.  I limped along all day as my feet hurt more and more throughout the day.  Some of us had to change in to our swim suits to enjoy the hot tub, but we met the girls there and relaxed in the warmth.

The girls still wanted to do a little shopping, but by the time we found some other tourist shops to peruse, most of them were already closed for the day.  Amy wanted me to take some pictures of her by the beach as the sun went down.  Not sure how great they will turn out, but I always enjoy trying.  We were close to a fast food type shop and all got fish tacos for dinner.  

We returned to the condo (thankfully Chris brought the car closer to the restaurant so I wouldn’t have to walk so far).  He and I worked on making travel plans for our summer holiday.