We had a great spot in a county park in the town of Bonita, in Sand Diego County. We were just a few miles from the Mexican boarder. Our spot was very wide, close to the playground and a nice trail up a hill.
Our spot was big enough for us to put out our "craft tent" for the first time. This was only the second time we've used that tent. We bought it when Mae was a few weeks old and I was selling baby onesies, that I'd painted, at a craft fair in Florida. We also had out our hammock. We really spread out because we were there for 21 days. It's the longest that we've been in one spot, with the RV, since we left the Vineyard. It felt nice.
The Christmas Crafting continued with a gingerbread house. This is Mae's gingerbread RV. :)
There were only a few days until Christmas by the time we got to San Diego. We put the kitchen table outside, under the tent, and put the tree in its usual spot. I happened to have 2 red blankets that we used to "slipcover" the kitchen table benches. I had an extra white towel for the "tree skirt." We were in business! On went the lights and the ornaments that we'd spent the last couple of weeks making and a few special ones that Papa mailed to us. It was perfect.
One night we slept under the tree after watching a classic Christmas movie marathon.
Mae found these snails one morning. She really enjoyed watching them and the slime trails that they left.
We went up the coast to Pacific Beach one day to go to the beach.
In this picture, she was dancing and singing a very heartfelt song to one of her dearest friends. I took a short video clip of it and emailed it. I love that technology can help me capture these totally sweet moments.
Here is another heart melting image from the end of our day.
More Christmas Crafting! She worked steadily on these cups for Daddy for about an hour. He will be the owner of the fanciest coffee cup in any town that we are in.
On Christmas Eve, Mae sang songs for us at the campground's amphitheater.
Christmas Morning!!!
We got Mae her own ipad touch (refurbished) so that she could take pictures and movies whenever she wants to. And... now I can have my phone back!
She spent a large portion of Christmas Day, and all the following days, inside the tent that her cousins sent her. She loves her secret hideaway.
It was a nice change of pace to be able to take a bike ride to the park on Christmas Day. Please note that most of the new babies and stuffed animals that she received are in attendance for our park trip. It was a wonderful Christmas.
One day, we went to Black's Beach.
Little did we realize what a hike it would be to get down to the water.
It was worth the hike to enjoy such a beautiful day at the sea side.
We all made it back up the cliff at the end of the day.
We spent a magical day at San Diego Botanical Gardens, on the first Tuesday of January. FYI, a lot of museums are free to the public on the first Tuesday of every month. It's worth checking into if you can be flexible. We spent the whole day in the Children's Garden portion of the park. Of that given space, it was spent almost 50/50 between the
TREE HOUSE
AND THE BALL RAMP BUILDING SPACE!
We both made a new friend. The children played together for hours and the mamas got to know each other and totally connect. It was delightful to watch the children build and experiment with their ramps.
For a long time they worked together to perfect the leap that the balls would take from one ramp to the other. The changed many of the variables. It was fantastic to see the Scientific Method at work during their play.
There were lovely nooks for reading and hiding out within the tree house.
A woman had brought her pet parrots to the garden for some socialization. The children flocked to her and her feathered friends. We have encountered a few parrots on our trip. She knows all about the parrot that we owned before she was born. Mae is always fascinated with the birds and she wants to hold them, but she's been afraid of their talons or the beak hurting her. This is not a bad thing. At first she was one of the first children in line to hold the parrot, she quickly moved to the end of the line. She warily watched the other children go before her.
This time, she was ready! Ahh, the pride...
As we were leaving, along with another family, this was the sight that greeted us above the parking lot.
mackerel sky
n. Chiefly Northeastern U.S.
A sky covered with many small cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds, resembling the markings found on a mackerel. Also called regionally buttermilk sky.
The Dad of the family told us that it was called a mackerel sky because the clouds look like fish scales. He also told us that it tells of a change in weather coming. He was right, the next day was a lot colder. Weeks later Mae and I saw something similar and she said it's like the mackerel sky. I asked her about what it meant and she remembered all the information that had been passed on to us as we walked to the car that day. It's always amazing how much learning can take place, anytime and anywhere!
This was a our last full day of fun in the San Diego area. We found out when we got home, late that night, that somewhere along with way we'd lost Nani- Mae's blanket that her Mimi made for her.
Daddy immediately went out to retrace our route...of course it was the only day that we had played an hour from home. We made phone calls and retraced our steps again the morning to no avail. Nani was lost. Luckily I had about 1/2 of a skein of the yarn that was used to make the blanket in with my craft supplies. We mailed it to Mimi and she quickly made a new one and mailed it to Florida, so we could pick it up when we got to the East Coast. There were extra snuggles for a few nights at bedtime. Daddy and Mae used a little bit of yarn and some scraps of Nani to make a little substitute lovey while we were waiting, it worked like a charm.
Now it was time to start heading East!
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