San Diego Getaway 2012

Our San Diego trip last year was so packed that it required a Part One and a Part Two to fit in the recap! When we found out my friend was organizing another Sea World homeschool field trip (getting in for $5.75 a person vs. $75 or whatever obscene amount they're charging for regular admission? Yes, please!) this year, we decided to make another mini vacation out of it.

Our first stop was Kid Ventures, which is THE coolest indoor kids' play place I've ever seen. Here's the giant castle play structure (see Kiwi's tiny face in the window?):


There's a coffee/snack area in the middle of the huge main room, with tables and chairs for families to eat their (mostly) healthy snacks, and then lots of smaller themed rooms: a fire station, a diner, a nursery, a library, a disco (yes, a disco), and probably a couple more I'm forgetting now. All of the rooms have all the costumes and accessories you can imagine, and the staff keeps everything picked up and organized so that everything feels like it's been freshly set up and, well, ready to be destroyed.

The girls made a beeline for the fire station:




There's also a giant pirate ship play structure, so Keira made sure to dress the part:


(I wish I had a photo of her climbing the rock wall and telling the little boy next to her, "Hey, buddy! Pretty strong arms!" What a flirt.)

After the girls wore themselves out, we headed to our hotel: Comfort Inn & Suites at Hotel Circle. Santa brought the girls their own suitcases this past Christmas (and I scored a set for Bear and me on Black Friday), so no more grocery bags and assorted duffel bags for us! I love that Ellie could totally fit inside her own suitcase.


The suite had a sliding door in between our king-sized bed and the girls' bunk beds, with a flat-screen TV in each room, so it was nice to be able to tuck the girls in at their own bedtime and still be able to stay up and watch our shows. The girls LOVED the bunk beds!


Keira is probably the only person who actually sits at hotel desks and writes on their stationery:


For dinner, we had planned to try out Phil's BBQ, but it was closed on Mondays. Alas! Instead, we went to Coronado Island and finally found the bistro Bear and I had dinner at once when we were dating. We've always wanted to go back, but once we found it, we realized it was probably a little too fancy for the girls, so we strolled around to find somewhere more casual.


We ended up at Lil' Piggy's Bar-B-Q, and oh. my. goodness. was that food ever good! The staff recommended this beer to Bear, and he confirmed that it was tasty.


Keira did a little dancing while we waited for our food to arrive:


These corn cake fritter thingies, with apple-cinnamon butter, were so good that I would eat them off the floor. Seriously. (Fortunately, that wasn't necessary.)


When we left, it was chilly and the girls' jackets were back at the hotel, so Ellie wore mine. This isn't the greatest pic, but I just love how huge it was on her:


On the way out, we stopped at Coronado Cupcakery for some more deliciousness, and took our treats back to the hotel to be gobbled. Mmmmmmmmm!


On Tuesday, we went to the zoo for a last hurrah before our passes expire again. Thanks to Dora, the girls are obsessed with maps, and Keira was like Joey Tribbiani in London. I really hoped at some point she'd lay it on the ground and step into it ("So I'm in my map..."), but sadly, she did not:


Who has the bluest eyes?


"What is this strange creature?"


Koala Girl!


Otter Girl!


Skyfari bliss:


"Daddy got me a CHURRO!!!!!!!!!!"


"Twirl me again, Daddy!"


When I wondered aloud why this exhibit had random popcorn scattered around inside, Keira immediately said, "Maybe the monkeys were watching a movie in there!"


On the way up to lunch, the escalator was broken and Bear had to heave the stroller up about 5 flights of steps...


...so that the girls could promptly decide they'd rather just walk NEXT TO the stroller:


I wonder if any sociologists have studied how we all seem to understand that wherever there is an animal statue, children must climb on it so adults can photograph them?




We even took it to the next level and coughed up $20 for a photo of us with digital pandas. This was a somewhat traumatic (and by "traumatic," I mean "hilarious") experience for us, after having posed for a similar photo a few years ago, when Keira was a baby.

"Stick out your elbows," the photographer said. "We'll digitally insert toucans!"

We all stuck out our elbows...even Keira, which we didn't realize until we saw this photo.

The photographer lied. The result, which I like to call the Family of Complete Asses Photo, still makes me giggle uncontrollably every time I think of it:


That's right. This is just how we stand for photos. Why do you ask??

Luckily, we had a better experience with our panda photo. (I love that Keira suddenly has a fashion model pose now. Hello, Zoolander.)


On Wednesday, we did the Sea World thing:










(This is Ellie going through the shark tunnel. I just like the way her cheeks are particularly puffy at this angle.)


See? Must...sit...on...pretend...animals!


Thanks for another great time, San Diego!