So. Cal Days 4-6: Beach Time

The next 3 days we spent at the local beaches and in the pool. It was perfect weather, even warmer than usual for San Diego and we soaked it all in. From our condo, it's just a short walk to the beach. Plus we spent one day down on Mission Beach in San Diego.

I bought a cheap Boogie Board with plans to use it for the three days, but Caleb shut down that idea after I showed him how to surf the waves. He was hooked. He surfed the shallow breakers for hours without as much as a short visit to the rest of us. We learned to set up our towels near a life guard station after the first day since Caleb would be gone for so long and by the time he was ready to come in, he'd be 1/2 mile down the beach. So we made sure he knew we were next to station #12, and he found us every time.

Abby gave boogie boarding a try, but it didn't interest her much. She spent a lot of time jumping in the waves, taking naps on the beach and collecting sea shells. She was very cute while hunting for shells. Every time she found one, she'd pick it up and hold it to her ear in an attempt to "hear the ocean". Even the shells that were the size of a dime, she said that she could hear the ocean....."psst..Abby, you could hear the ocean because it's 15 feet away from you"....Ahh kids..

Monica took in the days by being a hotty, catching some rays, and taking pictures. I think she was also spending a lot of time thinking about eating at the Crab Shack Restaurant since we seemed to end up their for dinner.

With my boogie board hijacked, I rented a surf board and tried surfing for an afternoon. I knew surfing for a beginner would be difficult, but I figured my wake-surfing experience would help some...I was wrong. The boards they rent are the long boards, and made of foam. So I started out among 20 teenagers looking like the surfing equivalent to a grown man, waiting for the short bus, with a helmet on. I just tried to stay out of their way. After several attempts, I started to get the hang of it. I was able to stand and head straight to shore, but their wasn't much carving going on.

The days at the beach and by the pool were perfect for us. And except for Mon's buckets of king crab, the price was good for us too...free! It was all very relaxing and enjoyable. I can see why leaving near a warm coast is so enticing...you know what would be even better? Living on a sailboat in the tropics...yeah baby...2017...that'll be us.

*Reminder that you must visit the website to view the vidoes, they're not available via email*

So Cal: Day 2

Our vacation has been booked for almost a year, yet we haven't really planned anything. We have had a great summer and the Southern California vacation never really came up. Then school started and we realized that with a late start, it meant only a few school days and then we'd be pulling the kids out of school for a week?? oh well. So here we are, in sunny So. Cal. We have a paid-for Condo for 8 days and money to burn! (the money part was for effect).

Our first day was spent driving from the airport south on Hwy 1 from LA to Oceanside in the rental car (note: I LOVE driving rental cars for obvious reasons), frolicking in the ocean surf, and then ending our day in the condo's pool.


Day two we headed to the safari part of the San Diego Zoo. I had the idea a week ago or so to look on the Internet for cheaper tickets to the amusement parks and zoo but I didn't find much. But this morning I had the idea of checking the local Craigslist for tickets to the zoo. I drug my feet some in the morning since I had little confidence in the plan even though we planned on leaving the condo at 9:00. To sum the plan up: I checked Craigslist at 8:30 AM, sent two text messages at 8:45 and picked up 4 tickets for the zoo at 9:15 saving us about $90. I love technology.

We knew we were here in the off-season, but we didn't think we'd be lonely in the zoo. It felt like there was only 100 other people in the place. We enjoyed a great day seeing all kinds of animals. We also were lucky enough to continue our streak of seeing animals peeing and pooing, a great thrill for Caleb and Abby.

Highlights of the Zoo:


*seeing the Gorillas being fed, one of them refuses to eat bamboo that has touched the ground, apparently he's kind of finicky. You're a gorilla! You'll eat what we feed you! Is everything in this country spoiled?
*feeding the lorikeets (small birds), for a couple bucks we bought some nectar and usually a few birds would fly over and eat out of your hands, but apparently my sweetness was very attractive to a bird size brain.
*during a bird show in which trainers had birds show off some talents, one of the trained birds was none other than a northwest wild turkey. I can actually train one of those things? As soon as I get home, I'm going to train dozens of turkeys from crapping on my lawn.

Also similar to the last time we were in So. Cal, we're enjoying temperatures way above normal. We topped off the day with a crab-fest meal at a seafood restaurant, Monica even donned a bib for the meal (sorry no pictures were allowed).

Here's some pictures and videos:


**remember you need to visit the website to view the videos**