Another San Diego Vacation


San Diego has become the vacation spot of convenience for my family.

We vacationed in San Diego from 9/1 to 9/5 (Labor Day weekend, plus two extra days). We stayed at the Paradise Point Resort in Mission Bay, which was recommended by Betty, the boys' daycare center director. It's a very nice resort, very family friendly. Tripadvisor.com had lots of negative reviews from some visitors, and we were apprehensive. However, once we arrived, it was as good as we expected. The room was a lanai in a small one-story building with other similar rooms. We were parked just outside our room. Two beds, walk-in closet, two room bathroom. Clean and comfortable, with a tropical-island decor.

On the way to San Diego, we stopped by for Thursday afternoon at Legoland. We rode lots of the rides, and I bought William the Millenium Falcon Lego set.

On Friday, we went to the San Diego Zoo. Heather and I had an argument over driving directions, and after an hour and a half at the zoo, I was upset enough that I drove her and James back to the resort, and William and I returned to the zoo by ourselves. I later called back to apologize, but we continued the argument well into the night before making up (and me finally extracting an apology from Heather -- harder than pulling teeth with my bare hands). Regardless, William enjoyed the zoo.

On Saturday, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We had visited it once before, when William was a baby, and he threw up then. This time, we all enjoyed it more, with William enjoying the carousel ride three times. Also, we fed some lorikeets, and two landed on me for some nectar. Got pictures. Visited the new lion enclosure and saw some lions playing around.

On Sunday, we went to Sea World and saw the usual sights. This time, a park employee managed to take pictures of me and William while we were feeding dolphins, so I bought the pictures. Also got William some toys he had wanted since our last visit.

On Monday, on the way back to Los Angeles, we passed by Legoland again, before they shifted to their Fall schedule (closed some days of the week, reduced hours). Rides again, and this time, I went on the firetruck attraction with William and exhausted myself on the pumps, so that my muscles ached abominably. Had to rest and take some Advil for the pain before I could continue. Also bought William some more Star Wars Lego toys.

We had planned on passing by Disneyland on the way home, maybe for dinner, but William threw up in the car on the road, so we went straight home instead.

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The weekend before we went to San Diego, we had the carpet in my home office and other parts of the house stretched flat, and then I switched the furniture between the boys' room and my home office, so that they boys now have a larger bedroom. I also repainted the walls in both rooms, including painting two walls in the boys' new room "Gamma Sector Green", a Behr/Disney color we had mixed together at Home Depot. William chose the color. As I was painting, I was worried it wouldn't look good, but the end result is very very good. I think William likes the new room. I hope so. It was a hell of a lot of work, almost entirely by myself alone (though I let William "help" paint a little).

I'm still getting used to using their old bedroom as my office. Much smaller, and I want to have shelving installed in the closet.

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James started attending daycare full time last week. He had been going once a week for the previous three weeks, and we were worried about some rashes that looked like contact rashes, but they appear to be clearing up gradually. James has hit it off quickly with Frances, his primary caregiver. Also, William enjoys visiting James occasionally during the week.

Finally, helped set up the 95th birthday celebration for our kids' daycare this Saturday (9/10), and we attended and bid in the silent auction. After visiting James this afternoon, I saw that we netted $4k so far from the party.

Posted: Tue - September 13, 2005 at 03:25 PM          


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