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!

Monday at San Diego Zoo

So in keeping with the theme of imprisoned animals, we spent vacation day two at the San Diego Zoo. And in keeping with the hypocrisy theme, it was lovely. I still don’t like it, but we paid them so I can’t say anything about it. Damn.
We started with a narrated bus tour, top deck, which True thought was amazing in itself, around the park to see what and where we wanted to go. As we were loading, this gigantic peacock kept calling and shimmying up his tail feathers. It was a great pre-funk. The tour was great, because it was so early a lot of the otherwise snoozy animals were up and about. We were in the very front seat on the uncovered top, it was pretty cool.
When we got off, we went first to the petting zoo. That’s a whole lot of goats my friend. Although, on the way there, we went through the reptile house and sweet Marie, anacondas are freakin huge! I know you think you know how big they are, but that thing was immense!
We also went through the insect house, and while I am normally left pretty cold by the creepy stuff, part of it was cool. They had a bee hive cutaway thingy that True was fascinated by. Just a solid wall of motion, a contradiction I know. And a tube where they were going in and out. It was cool to see. The part that got me though was the giant wall of leaf-cutter ant tunnels. It was too weird. They were so busy, and to see all their work and the giant pieces of leaves they hauled around. Amazing.
I also took a picture of this dead leaf. No I didn’t, that’s a mantis! How in the world does something evolve to look like a flippin dead leaf? That seems like a super conscious effort to me, not spontaneous birth defects. I am blown away by this.
The meerkats were cute as usual, but look at this picture. It looks like there’s no glass, and she’s feeding it from her hand. Heh heh.
Next was my second favorite part, the SkyFari. I know, dumb name for a sky tram, but it was the best. That thing cooked! No pansy sight seeing drift over the park, that sucker was transportation baby! It took about half the ride for True to unlock, but by then it was almost over and she didn’t get to look around much, not that she would have looked over the side or anything like that, but she did start moving her head. I’m kidding! She was nervous, but loved it.
We saw the polar bears, which got nothing on SeaWorld, though made for a good photo, and check out her intense interest in the zebras. Nice. The aviary part was cool too, super ugly harpy eagles and a condor that was all but screaming “Look at me!”
The primates were great, of course, and True went all Annie Lebowitz about it. Too cute. My very favorite part of the day was the gorillas. We got there just as the keepers were spreading branches and banana leaves around to feed them and then let them out. They were so cool! Kinda came out meandering around a bit, staring at the surge of people who pressed up on the glass, then the big guy grabbed a floppy old frond on a stick and chased some little guy off the spot he apparently wanted. He looked so funny running upright waving this branch all fierce. I loved it. A new baby was riding around on mom’s back and she came over to the glass and looked straight at True and set the baby down in front of her. It was astounding. The big one took off with branch again and waddled threateningly around the corner and gave the glass this “I'll kick your ass too” thump on his way by. It was hysterical. Loved it!
We came back to the hotel and swam in the pool for a while before going out to dinner at the Corvette Diner. It was great, a 50s theme with super friendly waitresses who danced and a very We're Going For Happy Days feel to it. We had a handful of straws thrown at us when we were first seated, which flabbergasted True, who neatly picked up each one. She had a bowl of super creamy mac n cheese while we snacked on Spicy Fried Pickles. If you ever get the chance, you totally have to try these, super good. My favorite part of dinner though was my drink. When we used to have to spend the days at the book store, we’d walk up a few blocks to the SuperJet market and I’d by a Green River in a bottle. Lime heaven. They had a soda fountain version here, with a million maraschino cherries in the bottom. Divine! It was a good time. We drove around the city a bit and headed home, wiped out! Another good day. Hope y’all are enjoying the freezing temperatures!

Sunday at SeaWorld

Ok, have you been to SeaWorld? I have, for all my life, been violently opposed. Same thing with zoos. The whole "born free" thing. Enter the child. Like every single other thing in my life, I've had to reassess. How do I expect her to develop the appreciation for this planet, to understand the conectivity, if none of that stuff is real to her? I want her to be awed by all these things, and I don't want to drive to the freakin Arctic, so that lands us at SeaWorld. For all the stuff I have yet to be hypocritical about in the future, just shut it. Besides, the first thing we saw when we got there was a guy vacuuming a Clydesdale, so it can't be all bad, right?

The first ride was a simulated helicopter travesty to an Arctic research base. One of those strap you in and jiggle you all over in sequence with the screen. It was way cool. True was gripping our hands like table vises!It was great, all set up like a research base and even had ice walls through one part. Nice. When we got to the underwater viewing, she was mesmerized by a beluga that was pressing up against the glass where a baby was pressing her hand to our side. It was so amazing...it just kept pressing its head up and I swear they look like they're smiling. Then we watched a polar bear try and catch its lunch. It was hilarious, it totally dove at the window, mouth agape and slid down the glass after a fish it just missed. This part was rocking.There was a simply ginormous walrus swimming around that we could watch above and below the water level. True was astounded by him, he was so incredibly vast. We saw the penguins too. This was so funny, we were on one of those moving sidewalk things and all just standing in the same pose, cameras up, sliding motionless past all these huge and tiny tuxedos sliding motionlessly past us. Weird. The manatees were just amazing in how large and graceful they are. For something called a sea cow, they definitely earned the name.

The shark tunnel was cool, but mostly because it made me giggle so much thinking how freaked out Jamal would be by it. These are for you, Uncle Jamal.

Everyone told us we had to catch the pet show. That it sounded sketchy, but was totally worth it, so we went. And it was totally worth it! All these rescued animals performing tricks in front of a heaving, screaming mob. And yes, that is a cat leaping into a person's arms. Nuf said.

We had lunch, FIFTY FIVE DOLLARS!!! and watched Shamu. This was another way cool one. I can't believe the whole human-animal thing. It's incredible. Those animals are nothing short of amazing. Seriously, took my breath away. We went on one ride, a river rapids raft dealie, got wet, good times. I found out I'm an aquarium snob. Honestly, I couldn't possibly care less about the stupid octopus or fish or anemone. For crying out loud, I was a little embarrassed with how little patience I had with that part! We couldn't go on the cable ride because of the breeze, but instead caught a 4-D Sesame Street show. That is their term, not mine, but apt. It had amazing 3-D and stuff like water spray, bubbles, sound effects etc to really pull you in. Freaked the shit out of True. She HATED it! It was too funny. Elmo's prancing around squeaking about imagination and my kid is hiding her face in her jacket trembling. Poor thing.

We were pretty beat when we left, but totally ready to go back for our second day and see all the rest, plus get in on the rides. Yay Spring Break!

Well earned

I don't know which is more significant...that when we drove to Seattle for the flight, it was actually trying freaking hard to snow, or that the flight attendant on the plane was the twin of the parent most causing me to need vacation right now. Either way, I was immensely glad to wake up this morning tangled up in sheets and sweaty 5-year old in San Diego, baby! It was actually hot! Granted, the high today is forecast at 63, but after home I'll take it!
We're in a scrubby hotel, clean, but definitely just for sleeping. And the pool. But we're on our way to breakfast and then SeaWorld, woo hoo!
Although The Man is constantly trying to jinx it, we've had a crazy easy trip so far. No lines, not small lines...NO lines! First out of the baggage chute, seats all together, walked out of baggage claim smack into our shuttle, picked up the rental car and it's a darling little Prius! Whee! I'm expecting Shamu to eat my kid just to keep balance in the universe. I'll let you know how it goes, have fun in the snow Suckers!