Dammit!

Speaking of that...yesterday one of my shining stars asked me, "Why can I say 'poop' but not the sh-word? And I can say 'sex' but not the f-word?" He wasn't going for smart-assity, he's a superstar and was genuinely curious about how some words become taboo and others not, and it just made me happy that he's out there thinking. That kid is going to do great things.
Anyway...back to the cursing. So you know how I swore I would never teach kindergarten? Anywhere but kindergarten. Uh-huh...five kindergarten classes later. So I guess I should have seen it coming. That's right. I am now a cat-owner. DAMMIT!! After almost a year of "absolutely not!!!!" and "You knew when you married me I DO NOT LIKE CATS!" and "Don't use the kid for your evil ends!!!" I finally caved to the two-prong attack of husband and daughter pleading. Meet Ringo The Storm Sherwin II
Poor little guy was a little shell-shocked last night. New home, surgery recovery, missing his four siblings, gotta be tough. But that is just pity for any creature in distress...NOT bonding with a freaking litter-box rat! Yeah, he's cute. Yeah, he's tiny. Yeah, he's sweet. But he's a cat! Husband and daughter are completely besotted. Well, True a 60/40 mix of enthralled and freaked the hell out, actually. Heh heh.

what have I been saying?

Wednesday the Wast Day

Woe is me it’s Wednesday! Not only is this the last day of our lovely vacation, but the weather is positively calling out for us to stay. It’s so sunny out you gotta have shades, and we’re going home to 40 degrees and rain. I’m so very ready for spring. To top it off, we spent today walking around Balboa Park. This is tragedy when facing a nasty weather situation at home. We had a few hours before the plane and hadn’t seen much of the city so we felt some sight-seeing was in order. We drove down to the middle of the park where the zoo and all the museums are and parked up a bit to walk down El Prado down to the center. It was breathtaking! Huge Spanish architecture with all the bells and whistles. Or I should say all the curlicues and statuary. You would have to see it to believe this place. Gardens and fountains and courtyards and the buildings! Simply amazing. The pictures don’t come anywhere close to doing it justice. Nowhere close. I can’t even describe how beautiful it was without going into meaningless hyperbole and hackneyed prose. The sun, the buildings, the blooming spring flowers…it was just stunning. Add onto that the museums. This is where the natural history museum, science center, art museums, train museums…on and on are located. When we got there and saw how brilliant the whole place was, I was kicking myself we didn’t leave a day to explore it. Even Trueby was completely content to wander around taking pictures and drinking in how great it was Too great.
As little as we wanted to, we had to get the rental car back and head to the airport. Our first flight to Phoenix was quick and uneventful. We had almost three hours to kill before the last leg to Seattle though, so had dinner, played around on the moving sidewalks and generally just killed time. After dinner I took a bathroom break, leaving my daughter in her father’s capable hands. When I came out, like two minutes later! they were surrounded by about five people and a ton of others were all looking on. What the hell?! My poor girl had wedged her lower leg between two seats and was completely and irrevocably stuck. We tried unsuccessfully to dislodge her while she, terrified, cried quietly and said, “I don’t want to be here forever,” in the most forlorn voice you’ve ever heard. A kindly passenger offered lotion and we slicked her all up, but no good. A custodian called for help and about five minutes later a bike cop showed up followed by four fully outfitted fire fighter paramedics. The very sweet cop got her out just as the paramedics showed up and the whole gate clapped for her. Poor little thing wanted to sink through the floor. To my very deep regret she wouldn’t let me take a picture of her in her pickle, so you’ll have to use your imagination. But trust me when I tell you it was a sight worth seeing.
Thus ends our wonderful vacation. Back to real life.

Tuesday Twos-day

Today was all about the deuce. We spent our second day at SeaWorld, there were twice as many people there, and we spent the day following around two five-year olds! That’s right, two. One of True’s very best friends from school (How cute is this? They address each other as Boonini. It’s freaking hilarious) is also in San Diego vacationing this week. His dad works in my district too and this puts him in the suck of mismatched breaks as well.
We went back for our second day and were amazed by the number of people there. So many more than had been on the weekend. Not undoable, but a lot! We got there just as the dolphin show was starting and ran up to the stadium to take a gander. We got good seats, even coming in late. The dolphins were amazing, as you’d expect, but I was completely blown away by how high those things can jump! It was freaking incredible! Look how tiny the lady is in the picture.
With a little while before meeting Boonini, we went on the simulated helicopter ride again, which True liked a lot better this time, knowing what was coming. The animals weren’t as great this time though. The polar bear wasn’t out and there were people in the tank with the belugas feeding them so they just hung out over there. Still cool, but not as great as the first day.
Are you noticing the fantastic sun? With so many rays, we decided it had to be done. We were taking Trueby on the Atlantis ride. It’s a giant roller coaster with a couple steep curves, a 60 foot drop and a bunch of splash zones. Predictably, she was terrified, but took it like a trooper. I’m so awfully proud of her. The picture isn’t us, it’s her friend’s family later in the day.
Speaking of, we met up with them next. True was absolutely hopping with excitement. They dinked around a bit and played in the climbing area, on a giant tramp, and had a great time. Her class is doing a unit on penguins right now, so we took them through the penguin house and got some pictures to email to the suckers toiling away in school. She was excited to show him the pet show, which was definitely worth seeing again, so we went there next and it was too adorable to watch those two watch the animals. Loved it.
They went to scope some stuff while we went to lunch after, much better, and cheaper! today with wraps at a little corner tucked away. Afterward, we wanted to use our free ticket for the cable ride, but it was closed again. We took the alternative ride on the SkyTower and it was totally worth it. Just a giant rotating chamber that climbs an enormous pole and rotates to give a fantastic 360 view of the park and city. Really neat. Check how many people are watching the dolphins. Dang!
We met back up with Boonini and scoped the otters, then went on the shipwreck raft ride. Again with the wet! Look how excited these two are at the end of it. Granted, they’re soaked and it’s about 4:30 now. The next stop was a touch tank with manta rays. I’ve never seen them come up to the side and stick their heads out. It was bizarre! One came up, peeked around, then flapped a tsunami of water all down my side! I had just dried out from the raft ride! True and her dad thought it was hilarious. While they were still kinda wet, we watched her friends go down the roller coaster and then played a couple midway games. Both Booninis came away with a really cute, soft stuffed polar bear. Nice.
That about did us in. We were there forever!
It was dad’s turn to pick dinner, and of course he wanted Mexican. But we drove all over creation and couldn’t find one we could park within a zip code of. So we ended up at El Torito, a chain. Though I did get this super pic of my kid with bull horns. Such a good time. Tragic that tomorrow is our last day! Back to the vitamin D deficiency!