San Diego - Day 3

Another day in beautiful San Diego. Were doing a great job at keeping it simple and staying away from any kindof schedule. woo-hoo! it's such a liberating feeling. it's like running down the hallway of your hotel with just a hand towel yelling woo-hoo, woo-hoo!!! ..um, not that i would know but i imagine it would be like that. :) So today we had breakfast caught up on our down time. jake read and sydney watched some tv. It's funny the kids would be completely content with staying in the room the entire time. if it wasn't for the parents out to show that what they would be missing they would definitely do that.

Today was pretty cool. we went to see the air and space museum in balboa park. at the entrance they have a replica of the the sr-71 lockheed blackbird. for those of you who may have forgotten, it's been around since the 60s and can go mach 3 past light speed, and when it's on the ground it bleeds fuel from it's tanks but only until it's airborne and the fuselage heats up. After that the segments expand and it seals right up. :) so it flys super fast and super high, something like 80000 feet. I'm kindof a fan. anyway i think it's final flight was in 1999, after being retired a couple of times. I actually impressed jake for a whole 20 seconds with that information. HA!! sydney was not impressed at all and kiley was too busy waving at strangers to be either impressed or embarrassed. you can read more about the blackbird on the wiki.








The rest of the museum had it's highs and lows for the kids. one of our favorite moments was sticking kiley in a couple of the small models build especially for the youngins and trying to put a play space helmet on her. very cute!! We had burgers, chips and soft drinks before leaving.

the kiddos were feeling a bit tired and uncertain about where we would drag them off to next. The beach was the obvious choice. We visited coronado island and the famous hotel del coronado. very nice resort type hotel on the beach. it's funny how the beach has such a powerful effect on kiddos. kiley was getting a nap in and we decided it would be best to let her do that instead of waking her so courts and i took turns having fun with the kids at the water's edge. it was way cool!

one of my favorite moments was seeing jake running back toward me after being at the waters edge just like a kid, with his hands waving around, a big smile on his face and very eager to tell me all about his adventure and what we needed to do next. there is nothing like that experience. i imagine he'll remember this beach over several of the others he's visited.

kiley finally woke up and we took her down to the icy water. :) it was quite cold but not icey and after a while she loved both the water and the sand. We stayed for a few hours and plan to make another trip over there before heading back to Austin.

it was a good day....no a GREAT day!!

San Diego - Day 2

we are enjoying not having a schedule and having the flexibility of going into many of the parks and other places with our "go cards". today we went to the san diego zoo wild life park. it was really cool. most of the animals in the park are not confined as in other zoos. they have wide open spaces to run and play and appear to be very well taken care of. they do have smaller habitats but most seem as close to a natural preserve as you can get when you have a bunch of people wandering through the area. Kiley has been holding up to our non-schedules very well. she naps when she can and hangs with us every step of the way when she can't. she's been pleasant and happy on the travels.

the exhibit i enjoyed the most was seeing the giraffe and rhinos and other various deer type animals. it was the largest of the fields and watching the giraffe walk out from behind one of the hills was really beautiful. I think kiley liked the elephant habitat the best. we were about 40 ft from a small one.

at the elephant exhibit

this is an elephant

notice the recommended first aid in case of a tiger attack

something to climb on :)

a gorilla

Kiley pumping water all by herself

mom and kiley with a tiger....GRrrrrr!

hanging with the cool kids

after getting back to the hotel for the day, sydney decided to take me out to the pool again. two consecutive nights. the pool is heated but the temp is reading 40 degrees so heated or not it's still very cold. but she loves it and i think it's important to do what the kiddos want within reason when they are on vacation. so I'm sure my nights in the pool are not yet over.

mostly the kids are having fun but every once in a while realize they are brother and sister and make each other's lives difficult. it seems to get better with each day that passes.

right now the kids are up with courtney, hopefully getting ready for bed. I'm out doing some laundry in the hotel. it's been very crowded. we thought it would be great to pack only a few days worth of clothes instead of bringing and checking larger bags. The kiddos like to pack and have their own bags for the trip. I don't really get that, but that's the way it is and it helps them learn to be responsible for their own stuff. if it were me i would prefer to have the parents lug my stuff around. Ha!!! ....anyway i'm on my last load of wash (just three) and the dryers are actually working well so i may be out of here soon. I hope so. :)

....although it's strangely relaxing sitting here with very little to do.

San Diego - Day 1

I'm calling this day 1 but actually it's the first full day. So Day 1, we had a fantastic time. We got up and had a great breakfast downstairs in the hotel lobby. It was very yummy. They had bananas which was extremely important to Kiley. :) She kinda loves them right now.

The time change has us all a little off our sleep patterns and that made for a tired day but we still managed to get in a few boat tours. There are a few boats and submarines that you can wind your way through. I think Jake enjoyed the subs the best but the old galley and storage vessels were pretty cool too. I have a great picture of jake in behind one of the cannons and some others of the rest of the crew too. I'll get them posted later this week.

Touring old ships

Jake below deck with a canon

Jake on a Russian sub

After a harbor tour which lasted an hour or if you ask jake and syd, an eternity we headed back to the hotel for some swim time in the heated pool. Kiley got a very very brief nap in. She is very excited about having been on her first flight.

We've had a few wonderful games of hot potato and some new board game that sydney just loves and seems to make it wonderful for everyone anytime we play it.

Kiley's first flight

Kiley helping to unpack

Kiley's killing some time on the plane

ciao for now!

The first few hours of Christmas at home

This year we decided to stay home for the holidays (in Austin). My parents went to see the new addition to our family (Rishi) in KY. I can't help but laugh as I type KY because all I can picture is Sam in the I <3 KY t-shirt and how funny that was....I can be somewhat of a child sometimes...back to Christmas.

We made a trip to SA last week so that we could see the ortiz grand parents, visit jacqueline, ryan, mia and reid, virginia and jonathon. It was a very short stop but it was the only time that we were going to see my parents before the left to KY. (hahahaha).

Courtney and I have been laboring a little because we wanted to give jake his first real desk and chair and that led to getting a few other things. Courtney used craig's list to vanish some of his current stuff and make some additional room that we still hadn't gotten to since I joined the familia. While there, she found a couple of perfect pieces for jake that needed a little work. Courtney has some expertise in refinishing and making things look really good so we agreed that was a good way to go. And she was right on. She's done most of the work on the desk and side table but I've been able to share in the experience as well. What a task? All the getting ready for Christmas, cards, gifts, gift wrapping, selling, buying, and planning a short jaunt to San Diego has left us feeling slightly tired. Last night we got all ready to go to church and realized that we messed up the time. It's the only service that we would have been able to go to at our own church and we missed it. We caught most of it online....because our church is so progressive, but really missed being there and seeing a lot of our friends that were sure to attend. It was kindof a bummer for the evening. So instead we got the kids up to bed a little earlier than normal and started back at our furniture duties.

...Veronica and Sam's new baby arriving, the extra time that I've had off from work and the time that we have been able to spend with family and friends has been such a blessing.

Since we're leaving early early the day after Christmas to visit the San Diego Zoo and Legoland and other sites, we let the kiddos start opening gifts today. They were thrilled, of course. Most of their gifts are modest which we like since they have so much already. Thank you to all that thought to send something. They kinda like it when they get extra gifts. :)

....just thinking, with the family so spread out this year everyone should be ready to skype. :)

Merry Christmas!!