San Diego Vacation Day 5 - Zoo, Padres

Spencer was really itching to spend a day at the beach on Wednesday, but we talked him into waiting until Thursday for reasons I'll explain in the next post. So we were up and at 'em early and headed to the San Diego Zoo. We were kinda on the fence about spending another day walking and looking, but we just felt we couldn't pass on the world-famous San Diego Zoo.

When we first arrived, we looked at the reptile exhibit and saw all sorts of cool snakes and such. But after that, we soon realized that we made a mistake by not having a hearty, protein-filled breakfast. Spencer didn't have much energy and wasn't excited about being there. To try to change up the mood, we rode the SkyFari gondolas to the other side of the zoo. That helped for a little while. Then we decided to catch an early showing of a 4D Ice Age movie. But after that he started saying he wanted to leave. So we rode the SkyFari back to the beginning of the zoo and then hopped on a guided bus tour. After that, we let Spencer get his face painted, ate a big lunch in the Outback section, and looked at a map to see what animals we just *had* to see before we left. These included the pandas and of course the gorillas.

 

 

 

How cute is Mr. Woo???

This is Mr. Woo's mom, whose name I can't remember. But she's a cutie, too.

I love gorillas, but seeing them in a zoo makes me so sad.

So, we were fine not seeing every single thing at the zoo - we enjoyed our time there nonetheless.

Our next stop after the zoo was taking in an afternoon San Diego Padres game. Daddy got us some killer seats on the 3rd base line. The game was relatively short and we were treated to some pitching at the end by UT alum Huston Street. Spencer got a big kick out of going to a "real" baseball game. He also decided that if he becomes a professional baseball player, his walk-up song will be Motley Crue's Kickstart My Heart. Parenting win!

Daddy helped him get a commemorative ball that was thrown our way.

Next up: Coronado Island

San Diego Vacation Day 4 - Birch Aquarium, USS Midway

On Tuesday morning we headed to La Jolla to visit the Birch Aquarium at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. We loved this place - lots of good sea creatures plus interesting exhibits on solar power, recycling, etc. We saw the leopard sharks and rays being fed and then caught another feeding demonstration with a guy in a big tank full of all sorts of fish and eels. There was also a "touch tank" outside with sea stars, crabs, urchins, anemones and other sea life you could touch.

Great view from the touch tank area

Some type of sea dragon

Leafy sea dragon - freakiest creature I've seen lately!

I nerded out when I saw these BigBelly Solar cans b/c my company makes a product used inside them.

Sidebar: We watched a video about how seahorses reproduce. The daddy seahorse carries the eggs in a little pouch, and when they're ready to be born he just starts shootin' babies out of his pouch. It is fascinating and has been a topic of discussion ever since!

After eating lunch at the aquarium we headed to the USS Midway Museum, which was one of the things Daddy was the most excited to see. This was the longest-serving Navy aircraft carrier of the 20th century and it was decommissioned in 1992. We did a self-guided tour and also saw a few sections while led by a docent. One of our guides told us that they jokingly call the Midway "a daycare for retired Navy officers."

Spencer having a Top Gun moment.

This doll/mannequin thing in the commissary was SO CREEPY

E-2 Hawkeye pilots ready for takeoff

Even though we enjoyed both of our activities this day, in hindsight there was a little too much walking/looking and not enough doing to keep Spencer really engaged. We were all exhausted at the end of the day and I think we ate cereal at the house and called it a night!

San Diego Vacation Day 3 - LEGOLAND Water Park & Moving to PB

Day 3 started with breakfast in the hotel, followed by packing up and checking out. Then we walked over to the water park for a day of splashing around. We decided not to mess with our cameras much and just enjoy the day, so I only have a couple of pictures to share. You can check it out online if you're curious.

Overlooking the new Chima section

This was our little family's first water park adventure and we had a total blast. The new Chima area had just opened a few weeks before, so we started there at the Lion Temple Wave Pool and then spent some time building a racing LEGO boats. Then we headed to the area above with the crocodile head. That was more of a big splash pad, so after not very long we relocated to where the big slides are.

Spencer was so excited to try big water slides for the first time and he was instantly hooked. There was a pair of side-by-side enclosed slides called Twin Racers; a single open slide called Splash Out; and the most fun of all, Orange Rush where we got to ride together in a big round raft. We spent a good hour or hour and a half riding those three things over and over before the park got busier. We had some lunch and then cruised along the Build-a-Raft lazy river for a long time.

Oh yeah, there's a water ride in LEGOLAND that also has an entrance from the water park. It's the kind where you get completely soaked, and it has a pretty tall drop. My tender Mommy heart was nervous for Spencer once we got on, but he was just fine (though he said once was enough!). That plunge started really high...

When we finished at the park we made a last trip to the gift shop (and now that I think about it, maybe it was this day that we had ice cream...), then we said goodbye to LEGOLAND. What a great two days!

We took the short drive down the coast to our new location for the rest of the trip: Pacific Beach. Spencer absolutely crashed out during the drive.

I found a great little house on Airbnb that was perfect for us and just a 2-minute walk from the beach. Of course I didn't take a bunch of pictures... if you're really interested you can see it here.

For the life of me I can't remember what we did for dinner (fish taco place?), but Spencer and I took a quick stroll to the beach that evening while Dave made a grocery run. We got settled into our home base for the rest of the week and enjoyed a good night's sleep with the windows open!

Next up: Birch Aquarium and USS Midway.

San Diego Vacation Day 2 - LEGOLAND!

We woke up Sunday morning (VERY early - did I mention the time change?) and had breakfast in the hotel. Can I just say that it amazes me to see people treating a hotel breakfast area like their home? Adults were eating in their pajamas! Little kids, sure, no problem. But adults? Very odd. But I digress...

The whole reason we chose San Diego as our destination was to take Spencer to LEGOLAND. After breakfast we told him that we were going to have to pack up our stuff because we were changing hotels that day. The picture below, albeit blurry, is his excited reaction when he found out we'd be checking in to the LEGOLAND Hotel! I didn't realize he knew the hotel existed, but the week before we left he said, "Did you know there is a hotel in LEGOLAND?" I played dumb, but I think he suspected something...

We took a short drive over to the LEGOLAND and did sort of pre-check-in since our room wouldn't be ready til the afternoon. I didn't take many pictures of the hotel lobby for some reason. I think Dave has some on his phone, so maybe I'll add them later. Our room included admission to the park, so we got our tickets, checked our bags and headed over to take advantage of early admission for hotel guests. Spencer was given a "slap bracelet" that showed he was a LEGO VIP, which let us ride a couple of things before the park opened.

Wall behind the check-in counter.

Pool area (view from our room)

Yeah, I cut off the top of the sign!

We heard it was imperative to ride Sky Coaster first, so we took advantage of early entry for it.

Spencer and Daddy in their coaster - I was in my own.

LEGOLAND is really geared toward the younger set, which was perfect for us. There are plenty of tame rides and a few big ones (which hopefully we can ride if we ever go back!). And this place really has the whole waiting for rides thing figured out. Each ride has a waiting area full of LEGOS for the kids to play with while the parents stand in line. Genius, I tell you! We rode some boats, some little safari jeeps, climbed the "power tower," slid down a big slide, of course the sky coaster mentioned above, a little bitty log ride, played putt-putt, mined for gold, operated a boat in MiniLand, and just enjoyed all the special things along the way. We had so much fun walking around looking at everything and didn't put pressure on ourselves to "do" everything.

This was a neat fountain - when you step on a pad in front of an instrument, it joins in the song.

Spencer collected some Fool's Gold and got a medal in return.

Go Daddy!

Spence was super excited to operate the boat by himself.

This itty bitty log ride was a good warmup for the big, scary one we did at the waterpark...

Fun little putt-putt course.

You probably know about the MiniLand - all sorts of famous landmarks made out of LEGOS. Dave took a bunch of great pictures, but I'll only include a few here.

Hollywood Bowl

Mardis Gras Parade on Bourbon Street

Empire State Building (right?)

Guggenheim Museum

There was a whole Star Wars area - not sure if it's permanent?

Spencie and Chewie

Mommy and Elvis

After a delicious ice cream cone and a stop at the gift shop, we headed back to the hotel around 4:00 to see our pirate-themed room.

Excited to have his own "room" and more importantly, his own TV! What a treat to watch a couple of Chima episodes in bed.

He solved some clues to get a code to open the monkey-guarded safe, where inside he found gold chocolate coins and some other stuff that I can no longer remember...

Solving a puzzle to get the last number for the safe...

5!

Oh, the hotel has the neatest elevator. When the doors open you hear "The Girl from Ipanema" playing. But when the doors shut, it's a different vibe...

There are little surprises everywhere, including a giant Whoopie Cushion in the carpet outside the lobby elevator.

We headed to the lobby for the nightly "show" and LEGO castle building competition. You can see in the pictures below that the hotel lobby has a big castle and pirate ship to play in and there are LEGO blocks everywhere. Spencer and Dave entered their creation, but sadly did not win. There might've been a little too much adult help with the project. :)

He's not part of the show, just decided to stand there with his sword and shield.

The agony of defeat!

We ate dinner in the hotel's Bricks restaurant - outside in the upper 60-degree temps! - then went back to our room. Funny story: The dinner was a buffet. When I came back with my plate, we got a lot of funny looks when Spencer loudly inquired, "Mommy where did you find that cauliflower? Will you get me some?!" Ha! Anyway, after we were in our room a little while, Spencer decided he wanted to go to the movie at the pool. He had said earlier that he didn't want to go, and since I had just taken a shower, he and Dave went down to watch it and I spent a few minutes checking on some things for work. (I only had to work for a few minutes the first 2 days to make sure a new project I had started right before I left was going according to plan, then I didn't open the laptop again!)

We had a great night's sleep and woke up bright and early again (still on Texas time) Monday morning. Next up: LEGOLAND Water Park!