Ted had two whole weeks off work, and since we were so far West we worked in a 5 day getaway to San Diego and Anaheim with Caleb and Sierra, leaving Madeline in Tucson with my parents. When we first arrived it was so cold that I wanted to go straight back to Tucson. We did have our days of sunshine though, and the kids were daring enough to go into the ocean near the Coronado Hotel one sunny morning. At first it was just their feet, but by the time we left they were soaked. We enjoyed the science museum, street performers, Japanese gardens, organ concert, and people watching at Balboa Park. We especially enjoyed sampling the foods from around the world at the international houses, with a heavy concentration on pastries from Scandinavia. Downtown we watched the ships and ate lunch on the bay.
We even fit in a day at Disneyland. Not wanting to change hotels and feeling daring without Madeline, we opted for an extremely long day. We left San Diego for Anaheim at 5am to be the first ones there when the gates opened at 8am and left the park at 10pm, returning to our San Diego hotel just before midnight. The four of us ran through the park the first couple hours like we were on the Amazing Race--you can't do Disneyland entirely in one day, but we came close, skipping only character greetings with the princesses and the invention exhibition. I'd spent hours studying strategies for getting around the busy lines, and despite the crowds we had only one wait past 15 minutes. Sierra surprised us going on all the roller coasters, including Space Mountain (Caleb's favorite of the day), although she merely tolerated them. Her favorite was the Winnie the Pooh ride, which we rode three times to pay her back for coming on all the stomach lurching rides with the rest of us. One of the best parts of the day was relaxing at a holiday show with very few crowds. Santa and Mrs. Claus both took their time visiting with the kids, Sierra won a game that gave her the chance to feed Pluto a bone, and a magician spent some one-on-one time with Caleb showing him all his amazing tricks.
Coronado Beach
Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland
Santa and Mrs. Claus
Sierra feeds Pluto
Sierra and Caleb with Dale
The one glitch in my planning was trying to hit Small World after a parade. We waited for 45 minutes only to see no line at all when we finished our ride. I was kicking myself for making such a silly mistake after strategizing so well, but at least the lights were pretty.
Downtown San Diego
Sea Lions in La Jolla
2 comments:
Cute pics. Look like a fun trip. Glad we got to spend a lot of time with MadsyPie (Madeline) while you were gonna. You definetly made good use of your time away.
Brings back so many memories of what we used to do with our own children. I'm so glad to see my grandmuffins getting to have the same experiences! Those are great photos of Disneyland. And I love the beach shots. Looks like it may be been a bit nippy on your beach days.
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