San Diego Trip: USS Midway Museum

We decided to spend our rainy vacation day touring the retired Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Midway.  It was extra interesting since my brother-in-law Dennis was on this ship back in the 70's.  It's HUGE!  She was laid down at the end of WWII and was used throughout Operation Desert Storm and a few missions afterward.  Her decommission ceremony was in April of 1992.  The USS Midway Museum has been open in San Diego since 2004.  We didn't get to tour every nook and cranny of the vessel, with a toddler in tow, but we saw quite a bit!  I cannot imagine spending months at sea in such close quarters!  While standing on the flight deck, I looked across the bay and saw a naval ship with the number 74 on it...turns out it was my cousin Doug's ship that had just returned that morning!  Wonderful staff and volunteers, many of them veterans...go see it if you are ever in San Diego!  God bless our soldiers, past and present.

San Diego Trip: Torrey Pines State Reserve

 Our little trouper hiked about 1.5 miles!

From Wikipedia:
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a coastal state park located in the California community of La Jolla, San Diego, California, off North Torrey Pines Road (formerly a part of U.S. Route 101). Although it is located within San Diego city limits,^[1] it remains one of the wildest stretches of land (8 km²) on the Southern California coast. It is bordered immediately on the south by Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course and on the north by the city of Del Mar.
The reserve consists of a plateau with cliffs that overlook Torrey Pines State Beach, and a lagoon that is vital to migrating seabirds. Many different kinds of wildlife and flora are found within the reserve, including bobcats, foxes, skunks, raccoons, coyotes, rabbits, cacti, coastal chapparal, and the rare Torrey pine. The eight miles of trails within the park offers an attraction for hikers and beach-goers (guided nature walks take place on weekends and holidays), and a small museum sits at the top, as was well as the Torrey Pines Lodge, a hotel and tour station. From the cliffs or many places along the beach, it is possible to see La Jolla to the south and Del Mar to the north. During whale migrations, it is sometimes possible to see whales from the cliffs. At the southern end of the beach is a large rock that projects into the ocean, called Flat Rock. South of this rock is San Diego's unofficial nude beach, Black's Beach.<sup>[citation needed]

We did not see any nudies!  Such a beautiful area...definitely a highlight of the trip for me!</sup>

San Diego Trip: La Jolla

 Twisty trees!

 Sad that I left my zoom lens in the car...look at all of those sea lions on the rocks!

Such a pet friendly area!  Even our resort welcomed pets!  Too bad the plane ride would be too brutal for Jasper. This guy was just hanging out at a cute little ocean side restaurant.

So yeeaaahhh, La Jolla definitely makes my list of dream places to live!  It is just up the coast from San Diego and it is pretty untouchable from a financial standpoint.  We spent part of the day at La Jolla Cove checking out the scenery from the cliffs.  There were tons of sea lions!  I love hearing them bark amongst each other.  The one little beach, called Children's Pool, has this whole controversial thing going on.  Some folks feel it is okay that it is a swimming beach and others feel it is a sin to tread upon the territory of sea lions.  It is apparently quite a heated debate amongst locals.  The sun faded just as we arrived to the area, but I think the pictures still portray the beauty of the place.

San Diego Trip: The Zoo

 This peacock was strutting for the crowd!  Very proud and very mean...he grabbed a little duck by the fuzz on his head and shook him!

 Meeting Uncle Mike for the first time! 

 He was taking a serious nap!

 Just hanging around!

Riding the sky tram...face painted again!

I was never a fan of the zoo, from the ethical standpoint.  Then I had a child and I am now a hypocritical card carrying member of Brookfield Zoo here at home.  (Lincoln Park Zoo is free.)  The San Diego Zoo is known as one of the best in the world, so we were very much looking forward to our visit.  It's pretty amazing!  The terrain is beautiful, lots of hills in Balboa Park, and thousands of animals that look well cared for.  They offer a guided bus tour and also a sky tram ride that offers great views of the park.  The one exhibit that I regret not seeing was the koala bears!  I completely forgot and then didn't get time to return before heading home.  Patrick's brother Mike drove down from Irvine for the night and Margaux adored him!

 

San Diego Trip: Sea World

 The sea lions and seals are SO adorable!

 The highlight of her day:  face painting!

 Sesame Street Bay of Play

Shamu!

I wasn't sure where to go for spring vacation this year.  We thought about skiing in Michigan, but the weather has been weird this year and Margaux might be a year or so too young for skis yet.  We have decided to do Disney World next January, so that was off the table.  MVP and I need to go get passports before we leave the U.S. again.  I have always heard wonderful things about San Diego and it's a very kid-friendly place for activities...WIN!  We were aware ahead of time that the weather would not be "tropic" by any means, but our resort offered three very heated pools and two jacuzzis.  We mostly wore spring type clothing.  We purchased the 3-for-1 passes for Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  This allows for unlimited visits to any of these parks for 7 days.  We decided against LegoLand this time, but would love to check it out the next time we visit.  The best thing about Sea World is the shows.  We saw a very cute sea lion show and the killer whale (orca) show!  We missed the dolphin show, but we see those here at our own Brookfield Zoo whenever we want to.  Margaux had a blast feeding the sea lions.  It was a fun day!



That Slightly Gimmicky Day That Is Still Way More Legit Than Sweetest Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  Margaux and I went to her Kindermusik class and then to a yummy brunch at Crepes A Latte, an adorable little restaurant on Irving Park Rd., for you Chicagoans.  We then went to soccer and my annual eye appointment and then home for Vday gifts!!!  She loved everything and this princess dress up stage is so fun!  I hope everyone out there is feeling loved!

Pinterest DIY

My girl and I enjoyed some Pinterest-inspired arts & crafts for Valentine's Day!  A year ago Patrick was in Spain and this year he will be in TN for V-Day.  Margaux and I will go to her music and soccer classes and we got her another Disney Princess costume as a gift...this time, Belle!