San Diego Trip - Part 2

Thursday we decided to focus on the girls (like we hadn’t been already?) by taking them to the Children’s Museum, which was within walking distance. Overall, I have to tell you I was underwhelmed. I think I was spoiled by the Museum of Science in Boston, which I love for kids, but Ava seemed to enjoy it. One of the favorite spots in the museum – for both girls – was an area where kids could build a building using big cushions. Boy did they LOVE it! Just like when they take the couch cushions off at home, they rolled and dived and bounced on the cushions and didn’t want to stop. Eventually I knew it was time to go grab some lunch before afternoon meltdowns started, so we decided to head down the street a bit towards Seaport Village. We stopped for lunch at Kansas City BBQ (which was OK, but not Kansas City-style BBQ) which was also a filming location for “Top Gun” (fun factoid for you), then headed down towards Seaport Village. We walked around a bit, letting Ava run wild on the boardwalk before settling on a little grassy knoll where the girls ran around, up and down the lawn, while we watched the boats go by.

After a time we headed back to the museum to let the girls play in the cushion section again (which was just as hard to get them to leave the second time around) before heading back to the condo. On the way we stopped at the local mall so I could pop into Gap Maternity (nothing exciting that day) and pick up some dinner for the girls at the food court. Back at the condo we got the girls fed and let them burn off some of their energy in the living room before getting them down for an earlier bedtime. Once again, I finagled their sleeping arrangements a bit (Lily in the bathroom, Ava in our bedroom) so that Elliott and I could stay up and enjoy some alone time in front of the TV with some carry-out sushi, which was such a relaxing night for us. And much needed.

The next morning was checkout and I was so proud that we were completely packed and the place was picked up before our 10am checkout time and before the bellman arrived to help us get all of our stuff down to the car. Although we had to leave the timeshare, we decided we didn’t have to be home until that night (to pick up Jack), so we headed to La Jolla to visit the Birch Aquarium. Ava had been requesting to see dolphins and sharks since we arrived in San Diego, so I hoped we would get to see either or both at the aquarium. It was a very nice facility and the girls got their share of sealife viewing. Although they didn’t have dolphins, we did see some sharks, which of course by then Ava could’ve cared less about. Oh well! I ran out of steam about half-way through the visit, so I wasn’t too upset when Ava burnt out fairly quickly too. I had heard about a beach in La Jolla (and confirmed it with a Guest Services volunteer) populated by sea lions, so we decided to head into town for one last vacation adventure before heading home. We easily located the beach and an empty park bench with a perfect view of the sea lions, where we enjoyed just sitting and looking at all of the moms and pups frolicking on the sand and surf. After awhile we walked into town and lunched at a little Mexican place before settling back in the van for the trip back to Las Vegas.

I got the girls all settled for a nice naptime on the highway, which they both took (yeah!). We hit some traffic trying to get out of San Diego, but the trip for the most part was uneventful. The worst moment came when Lily woke up with a raging fever (something she had been battling for the last couple of days) and was simply inconsolable for a time. I climbed in the back and tried my best to comfort her, but we finally got her calmed down after a gas station stop for a warm bottle of milk and some crackers. Ava was completely happy watching “Monsters Inc.” three times in a row (which Elliott in turn grew extremely tired of) and enjoyed viewing the Las Vegas Strip lights as we drove back into town.

All in all, it was a great trip and one which created lots of fantastic memories of and for our little girls.