San Diego for Christmas and Beyond

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!



Heading down the California Coast

We had about 20 days before we were due to arrive at our "Christmas Spot."  It was time to head south towards San Diego. 

Before we left though, it was time to start our Christmas Crafting! She loved decorating the foam gingerbread men with glitter and glitter glue.  It turns out that she really, really missed have "shakey" glitter since we moved into the RV.  So much for keeping the mess to a minimum. 

Our first stop was a fantastic town called Half Moon Bay.  Our friends, who also watched Izzy while we were on the cruise, live there and said we'd love it.  There were right!  We did!

The Ritz, on the bluff, was our neighbor!

We got to have our first real beach day in California.  We packed up the buggy and we were off!

She wasn't excited at all....

 

Daddy is perfecting his cliff jumping.  He has a really good teacher, she went pro at 3.

Mae felt the need to let me know that she wants Internet, via a note in the sand, written with a feather quill.  Sorry kiddo, no wifi here.

The barn animals came.  They had quite a set up!  There was also heron stalking.  She came amazingly close!

 

 

The outgoing tide left us this beautiful gift.

 

There was more Christmas Crafting.  I love that it could be done outside!

Daddy is also working on perfecting his glittering techniques.

 

There is always time for shenanigans.

A trio of monkeys were in the wrong place at the wrong time!

We visited the local library for some more Christmas Crafting.

 

 

 

We also went to a great Christmas sailboat parade... but I seem to have lost the pictures in digital mislabeled land.  

 

Our next stop down the coast was Morrow Bay.  Morrow Rock was huge and beautiful.  More amazing sunset pictures, courtesy of George.

 

 

Another example of why we are beach people.

 

 

Enjoying the dunes in the moonlight....

 

 

 

 Morrow Rock State Park.

 

Running on the beach is always fun!

 

 

Mae found her first sand dollar. 

 

We also stopped in Malibu, but we were running Christmas errands, so I don't have any fun pictures.  We saw lots of hummingbirds between Morrow Rock and Malibu.  It was great!  They make a buzzing sound, their wings go so fast.  The first one we saw, when I first heard it, I thought it was a bumblebee. 

 

We will see you in our Christmas Spot!  We will be there for 21 days, so we are very excited to settle in and really get to know the area.



Cruising to Hawaii

Settle in and get comfy, like this lizard on a park bench in Hilo.   It was a long cruise, so I have a lot to share.

I was excited, but not totally surprised when, one August day I got a text from George asking what I thought about taking a 15 day cruise to Hawaii.  He is known for radical, awe inspiring travel plans.  I said yes, and went to the library to check out books about the islands.

So now we had a deadline of sorts, from which to make our fall travel plans.  We had to be in San Francisco by November 25th, so that we could get on the Grand Princess.  We traveled quickly up to San Francisco after we left Las Vegas.  We had a couple days to check out the area before we left.  We had to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

And, of course, we had to put our toes in the Pacific Ocean for the first time.  It was very cold!

The day we boarded the ship, we saw sea lions, in the wild, at Pier 39 in San Francisco!  It was an amazing, loud, smelly sight!  We could have stayed there all day. 

 

We also spent some of our waiting time, at the aquarium.

 

 

Mae and Daddy were petting some sting rays and checking out some starfish.

 

 

Do you see Mae in the bubble that's within the octopus' tank?  How much fun is that?

Before we knew it, it was time to board the ship!

 

 

Mae was in the pool, before the ship even left port!

 

                

 

It's such a shame that she doesn't like to swim!

 

There is always something going on, on the ship.  We had 4 days at sea before our first port of call.  One morning we watched a food carving demonstration.

As soon as it was warm enough, we put in a lot of pool time.

 

 

Mae also loved spending time in the kids' room.  Most of the children on the ship spent a lot of time in there, so it was the easiest place to play with your new friends. They taught some great lessons to the kids as well: sharks, space and sea turtles were some of the topics that they covered. 

 

 

Each morning that we were at sea, Mae and I attended a 45 minute Hula class!  Mae was the only child in the class.   The women were all very accepting of her.  Mae made friends with one of them. One of the last days of the cruise, we performed our Hula dance on the ship's main stage!  George took ukulele lessons on board.  He was part of the Hawaiian show.

 

 

There was a lot to remember, but I was very pleased with how much of the information Mae retained.  She learned as much Hawaiian vocabulary as I did!

 

 

We had to skip Maui, the seas were too rough for the tenders to safely take the passengers into port.  We spent the day at sea instead.  It was warm, so Mae swam with Daddy and played in the kids' room.  I was so very sick that day!  I had a fever and the worst sore throat I've every had.  The Dr. on board was able to get me back on my feet after one day in bed.

 

 

The first Hawaiian town that we visited was Hilo.

 

I just have to say, that I did not alter that picture in any way!  Doesn't that green pop? 

We visited the farmer's market.

 

We enjoyed coconut water and the coconut itself.  We should have gotten some papaya.  There was a large group of people digging in, they must have been delish!

 

 

Doesn't she look so worldly, munching fresh coconut ,in the middle of the market, with her backpack on?

 

 

We used the Hoppa Ona, hoppa offa bus to get around town.

 

 

 

All public transportation should have a potty trained scarlet macaw on board. 

 

 

The next day we got to go to Waikiki Beach!

 

 

 

That's me, eating my Hawaiian shaved ice while floating in my raft.  It totally, just had to be done. 

 

 

Mae had been telling everyone that she was going to learn to surf while she was on her trip.  Today was the day that dream came true!

 

 

 

 

Here she is heading out for her private lesson with her teacher and Daddy.    

 

 

It was great!  The teacher stood out where she could catch the waves.  George stood about halfway to the shore, so that when she jumped off or the wave died, he could help her back out to the teacher.

 

 



She did so well!  It was an hour lesson and she loved every minute of it.  She stood up a whole bunch of times.  Let's just say that she was way better than Daddy.  Here's a video of her in action.

 

 

http://youtu.be/X6a6hgDIwCc

 

 

Thank you to her teacher!  It was a wonderful experience, and pretty cool bragging rights to say she first learned to surf on Waikiki Beach.  George says if she wants to go pro, we'll follow her around the world on the surf circuit.  I don't know about that, but I can see a wet suit in her future.

 

There was more fun to be had.

 

 

 

 

We are clearly, beach people.  It was one of the best days of my life.

 

Our next stop was in Kauai.  We did some shopping and put in some more beach time.  Look what we found...

 

 

 

 

 

We found a naturally occurring "lazy river," created by fresh spring water that was flowing into the ocean. We all took turns going for a ride. Needless to say, Mae was best suited for floating down the river. She spent a good portion of the day floating down and then running back upstream.

After lunch, at a very cool, open air spot, right on the beach, we did more swimming.

There was too much sun for a good picture, but it gives you an idea of how cool this place was!

             

Mae and Daddy also played around a little with his new ukulele.

Then we walked back to the ship. It turns out that our amazing beach spot was only a few minutes walk from the port.

We spent our sea days on the way home taking it easy. There was pool time, bingo session, hula, lei making and ukulele classes.  Mae spent plenty of time in the play room with her friends.
 

This is my lei, as I was working on it.

Mae also went down to dance in the piazza most of the nights. She really enjoyed the attention from all the grownups. 

One night, her new friend joined her on the dance floor.
 

Some nights she'd draw pictures for her audience and pass them out.

 

We were very surprised how quickly the temperature dropped as we left Hawaii. Come to find out, the whole US was experiencing very cold temperatures. Mae really likes having "home days." These are days when she doesn't have to leave the house. On the cruise ship, this meant not leaving the room, unless it was to go get food. She did a lot of drawing and watched a lot of movies. She is really enjoying making movies of her stuffed animals with my phone. It's just the right size for her to hold in one hand, and move the toys with the other

The day that we arrived back in San Francisco was a bright, clear day.

Now it's time to go home and get ready for our next adventure!