Not a whole lot of interesting new things to report for this blog post. Life is going along busily but otherwise pretty smoothly. However, I noticed the camera was getting kind of full of cute pictures of the girls, so I thought I would share a few.
Right after getting home from our trip to San Diego, it was time to celebrate Read Across America Day in school/preschool (where is was celebrated with various activities spread out through the week!). Coincidentally, this celebration of reading occurs on the birthday of one Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss. All the more reason to celebrate, if we get to read a bunch of Dr. Seuss books in the bargain!
Lorelai dressed in her "whimsical best," for Dr. Seuss dress-up day at school. She looks "straight outta Whoville."
Like many families, we have several Dr. Seuss books on our bookshelves (not nearly enough, in my opinion!). Despite the current market being flooded with many wonderful children's books (written by many talented authors), I still feel that no one has ever really matched The Seuss. He had a killer combination of whimsy, creativity, energy, and subversive social messaging. That, combined with his prodigious lifetime output, makes him the gold standard in children's literature in my opinion.
My little "cats in hats"
So any holiday that involves Dr. Seuss is one I am happy to celebrate! Luckily, we managed to find a huge omnibus collection of twelve Seuss books at our local library. This has given us a lot of great additional reading in the last week or two! And besides Dr. Seuss, we managed to read a lot of books by other authors throughout the week-long celebration. My personal favorite activity was a "reading picnic" held by the school; I brought a blanket and snacks, sat out on the school green, and read books with all my kids in the warm late-winter sun. It was both relaxing and emotionally fulfilling!
Although I am an avid reader myself, I sometimes forget to take a little time and read to my kids to "infect" them with the same passion for books Nathan and I have. It has been refreshing to be reminded how fun it is to read out loud to my girls; this holiday has been great at getting me back in the "reading habit" with my family!
Now to segue into some non-book-related whimsy: a few cute, random pictures of our girls having fun over the last few weeks. I took Celeste and Aurora on a long walk around the lake last week, and they found all sorts of ways to goof off:
Perhaps Dr. Seuss would have loved the images of cute little girls on turtles as much as I do (despite none of the turtles, to my knowledge, being named "Yertle").
Here's one more picture I loved:
Celeste wanted a "spa day." She recently watched an episode of the show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, in which some of the main characters visited a spa to relax (complete with towels, face masks, and cucumbers on the eyes). Celeste, being the incredibly feminine creature she is, wanted to try a spa day for herself...and as luck would have it, I had an extra cucumber in the fridge this weekend. She even spent the whole day at church bragging to her Primary teacher about how she would be going to a "spa" that night! Lorelai wanted to join in, too...it was fun to catch her doing "girly" stuff for once!
After laying around for a while, the girls ate their eye-cucumbers, and found them delicious! I suspect this will not be their last spa experience, though...experiences like this make me really excited to see them as teenagers!
Our San Diego trip was almost over already! We were a little sad to be heading home so soon, but Real Life was beckoning us with its darn obligations and responsibilities. However, Nate and I were kind of tired out from driving and hiking all over San Diego, so driving home was a secret relief, as well!
The morning we checked out from the hotel, we decided to take another trip to Old Town San Diego, to see the sights there that we'd missed on our last visit. Most notably, we wanted to visit this place:
The Mormon Batallion Historic Site! It had come to us highly recommended by several trusted sources; it was located right inside Old Town; and best of all, it was free! (Can you tell that our family likes free things?)
Westward ho!!
The tour was about 40 minutes long, and it involved visitors moving from one room to another, while a narrative of the Mormon Batallion's march played out in various semi-interactive ways. The story of the Batallion's journey was told by several actors, each of whom portrayed a character who participated in the Batallion march in some way (I am not sure if the characters were real historical figures or merely amalgams from several accounts).
You first "meet" the characters in the waiting room, where a worker dressed in period clothing welcomes you to the center. After a couple of minutes, the framed photos behind her on the wall actually come to life (through the magic of digital video, of course!). The characters in the portraits welcome you and offer to tell you the "story" of their journey with the Mormon Batallion. It's all very cute and kinda Harry Potter-esque (if Hogwarts was populated by Mormons).
Anyway, the tour takes you through several rooms decorated like various stops on the journey; there's a pioneer encampment in Iowa, where members of the Batallion were first recruited; next, you journey to Fort Leavenworth, where you are "outfitted" for the march to San Diego...
Lorelai made a very adorable soldier!
There was another room "on the road" (it was an undefined camp in the wilderness that showcased the hardships faced by the Batallion soldiers & crew). At one point, the furniture in the room actually started shaking, and Lorelai started freaking out, thinking we were in the middle of one of those famous California earthquakes she'd been reading so much about lately. But no...it was all part of the show! Turns out, the Batallion was "menaced" by a stampeding herd of cattle, and that's what the shaking represented.
The final room on the tour was a replica of the Old Courthouse, a longtime San Diego landmark that Batallion members actually helped build! It was very fun (and inspiring) to see the journey these brave members of the church took, all in service of a country that hadn't always treated them fairly. It was nice to see how the legacy of the Mormon Batallion's march left imprints not just in San Diego, but in Salt Lake City as well.
After the official tour ended, there were still several activities to do in the center. There were several interactive activities & games on computer screens in the area:
In one activity, you can learn the actual names (and biographical information) about all the soldiers in the Mormon Batallion.
In another, you can virtually stake a claim on a portion of the hills, then "mine" them for gold:
Celeste and Nathan both racked up quite the load of cash playing that game!
Lorelai attempted (unsuccessfully) to wrestle an old-timey cannon.
After our antics indoors, we went outside to "pan for gold." There was a cute little stream and well provided for just this purpose.
The family with our tour guide...one of the sister missionaries who works at the site (she also happens to be related to my piano tuner back home...small world!)
Celeste took the sample bricks from the brick oven, and decided to build a tower, because why not?
There was a small tower atop the center which gave us a nice view of Old Town...and a nice view of the activity courtyard connected to the historical site.
We even got a great family picture to commemorate the event:
Yes, we are honest-to-goodness members of the Battalion now, or something! Anyway, it was a really clever, funny, and moving tour. I highly recommend it as a short, easy family activity in San Diego.
After the historic site, we walked back downhill into the thick of Old Town, to search for a delicious lunch. We had heard good things about the Old Town Mexican Cafe...
We got to watch the abuelas make fresh tortillas for the cafe..fun!
...and it did not disappoint! Their handmade tortillas were very delicious, and we ate like pigs. The atmosphere was loud but friendly, and the food was very satisfying.
Yum.
There's not much to report after that. We "walked off" our meal by checking out a few other sites in Old Town--mostly old-time candy stores, courtyards, and blacksmith shops. Sadly, I didn't think to photograph any of those sites...silly me! We will have to document them next time we go to Old Town...because there WILL BE a next time! There have been many great discoveries in San Diego this time around, and we hope we will be able to fit them all in on future trips.
When we decided we could walk no more, we reluctantly piled into our car and headed home for Arizona. The drive was mostly uneventful, with one big exception: when we stopped for gas in Yuma, the van suddenly refused to start! Somehow the car battery had completely run out of steam. Luckily, a good Samaritan at the gas station helped us jump-start the car, and we were on our way again, with no further incidents (even managing to stop for dinner). We didn't get home until about 10 pm, at which point Nathan, the kids, and I all crashed and burned pretty hard for the rest of the weekend!
It was a whirlwind weekend, but we are all so glad we were able to go to San Diego! It is such a beautiful, green, lush city (at least compared to our desert paradise!). It is a city we felt safe in, and welcomed. We hope we will feel that way again on our next visit.
Another photo-dump blog post, YAY! But at least they are a lot of pretty photos, right?
After a long day of theme-park goodness at Legoland, we decided to do something slightly different the following day...something a little more "diversified." We ended up spending the morning wandering around Balboa Park, and the afternoon and evening walking along the beach and riding carnival rides.
When Nathan and I visited San Diego for the first time, we visited Sea World and the San Diego Zoo...both very fun, of course. But we also unexpectedly fell in love with Balboa Park, after visiting it on a whim. I have been surprised by the number of people I've talked to that have never heard of Balboa Park before. Strange, considering the world-famous San Diego Zoo is literally next door to the park. In fact, it's officially considered a part of Balboa Park! For such a large and prominent park, it seems to fly under the radar of some tourists. Well, allow me to educate you!
Although it's called "Balboa Park," it's much more than simply a "community park," although it does have several gardens and a few playgrounds. But nor is it an "amusement park," despite its several museums, theaters, and other attractions. Balboa Park is best described as a huge "cultural center," with a little something for everyone. Maybe the easiest way to describe it is as a sort of west-coast Smithsonian Institution, except with lots more outdoorsy stuff, because you know, southern California! We especially loved Balboa Park because it was the perfect "cool-down" visit after an intense day (or two!) visiting major tourist attractions. Although there is certainly a lot to do at the park, it's very easy to come and go, picking and choosing which things you're in the mood to see.
We started out our morning with a stroll through the Desert Garden, a mile-plus loop with a lot of plants we see in our own Sonoran Desert back home. Last time Nathan and I visited Balboa Park, we had yet to move to Arizona, and the Desert Garden was exotic and strange. Now, almost ten years later, it all looks pretty commonplace! However, the desert plants all look very "well-fed" to me; most of the cactuses and the ocotillo plant below looked engorged with water, very unlike their counterparts back home in the real desert:
There were still several other oddities to look at, like this freakishly bulbous tree that has room inside for all three of my kids. It looks like it could be a home for magical creatures!
After a gentle walk through the garden, we headed for the first of the two large museums that would make up the majority of our visit here:
The San Diego Natural History Museum. It has the usual assortment of dinosaurs...
...geodes...
...and big, scary animal mock-ups.
Just look at that shark! There was also a small exhibit on various animal skulls that the children enjoyed.
I LOVE the goofy-looking little "skull" Lorelai drew on this chalkboard!
There was also a dinosaur-themed play area on the bottom floor which helped the girls get their wiggles out.
My favorite part of the museum was their temporary exhibit on the history of chocolate, from its use among the Mayas to its near-universal global love today.
The exhibit was interesting by itself, but the museum was piping the actual smell of chocolate throughout the entire exhibit using cleverly placed fans.
It made us all really hungry. And of course, the exhibit loop ended in...a chocolate store. Of course. We managed to resist buying any, though.
After a short break playing by one of the park's fountains...
...our family headed across the plaza into the other large, kid-friendly museum in Balboa Park...the Ruben H. Fleet Science Center. Think of it as two full floors of nothing but all-ages, hands-on science experiments. It was noisy, crowded, and very exciting.
One of the girls' favorite activities was this little trip inside a hurricane simulator:
They also enjoyed this build-your-own cantileverd arch. We built it on the wood panel, then raised the panel up to make the arch stand up!
Then, to prove the importance of the keystone brick, Lorelai removed it...
...crash!
The kids probably could have played here all day if we'd let them.
...but after a while Nathan got overwhelmed (big noisy crowds aren't his thing), and everyone got hungry. So we left the park for a little while and got some pizza.
Mmmm...Nathan and I split this pizza. Half of it is barbecued chicken, the other half is Thai chicken (I was in California, and I wanted to try something weird!). The girls were very happy with their huge slices of cheese pizza!
After filling our bellies, we drove back into the park (but we had to park in a different place; I guess some parking lots are more popular than others!). At this point, we mostly strolled around and looked at the beautiful sights:
Sorry I'm not identifying all the buildings by name; there are so many buildings in the area that I lost track of what was what. We only went into one other museum (partly because it was free!)--the Timken Museum of Art.
It was a very small museum (only about two galleries!), but it made up for its size with its substance. Several works by Great Masters were contained inside (including a Rembrandt!), and they had one whole gallery filled with Russian icons and other church artwork. I had seen much art of this type on my mission in Moscow; however, most Russian icons are protected jealously in their own country, and not many of them make it out of Russia. To see so many (in such good condition) in one place was very impressive. Earlier that day, Lorelai had insisted on visiting an art museum, so this was the perfect place to start her out on a lifelong appreciation of art!
After all this, the girls were getting a little burned out, so we got back into the car and drove to Coronado. It is an absolutely gorgeous town, but I shudder to think about the cost of living (we drove by a gas station or two, and just looking at the prices was enough to raise the ol' blood pressure!). Anyway, we pulled over at Silver Strand State Beach, hoping for some peaceful seashell-hunting time:
Poor Aurora does not like beaches anymore...
Nobody got wet this time! This beach was much quieter, cleaner, and more peaceful than Mission Beach, our first stop. Everyone (except Aurora, of course) enjoyed the visit. And we got a lot of seashells collected, too!
This is maybe the cutest picture ever of Celeste...and that is saying something.
After crashing for dinner at the hotel for a little while, we decided to give the kids a few more "thrills" to take home with them. So back to Mission Beach we went! Specifically, we visited Belmont Park, a small "carnival-style" amusement center. There, the kids had their turns on the merry-go-round...
...and for Lorelai, who is our adrenaline junkie, a turn on this "spinning you in a circle while flinging you in the air" ride...
As you can imagine, everyone was pretty tired out after this day, too! Just one more morning in Old Town San Diego, and then we'd be on the road home...
