Road Trip to San Diego

A couple of months ago I had mentioned to my mom that it would be really great if Riley could tag along with her and my Dad on her business trip to San Diego. She then suggested that Victoria and I come along too ... OK!! If you know me, you know that all you have to say is "Go" and I will ... anywhere.

So we left last Thursday for a two day car trip and four day stay in sunny southern California. There was a bit of chaos before my parents even showed up at my house that morning. In the hub-bub of packing the car that morning, a bird flew into the garage, which mom then shewed out and it flew into the truck. They eventually got it out of the truck, but not before it left a little surprise on dad's gear shifter. Yuck. Then when they were about 10 minutes from my house, dad realized that he forgot to shut the tailgate. So they turned around and made the trip back to Aledo in search of their brand-new $35 ice chest full of a variety of liquid refreshments to please everyone. Well, they never found it. I know ... total bummer. Anywho, approximately 3 hours later we finally made it out of Tarrant county.

No road trip can begin for a member of our family without a stop at QT.

Day 2 - Finally found one of those cactus you always see in the cowboy movies.

Our first destination in San Diego was the zoo. I was expecting a bit more to it. It is probably about the size of the Fort Worth zoo, but they have some different animals and more baby animals. The double-decker bus tour was fun and the Skyfari air tram was really fun. Riley and I were a bit scared at first on the Skyfari. We had the Thelma and Louise hand-holding thing going on.

This was hilarious ... "Ok Riley and Victoria, sit by the panda
and I will take your picture."

"Scoot over a bit Victoria."

And that is as close as she would get to the giant fuzzy cute panda.

Next stop for us was the ocean ... it was so cold.

Getting our feet wet in the very icy cold Pacific Ocean.

Then a shopping trip to the Seaport Village right on the coast.

We also found a ginormous park by the water for the kids. We played there, flew kites, picked flowers, found seashells and rolled down the hills. I tell you what ... that was the easiest kite flying ever. No running. We sat on a bench and just unraveled the string. Went up easy as pie.

Then there was the constant spoiling of the kids by Pops and
Gigi ...

... donuts literally the size of your head and ...

... if you can't decide between a cookie or an ice cream cone, you get both.

Definitely NOT the same people I grew up with.

I flew back with the kids on Tuesday ... all by myself. We all did pretty good. Victoria freaked out on the plane when she realized that she could not sit in my lap. I mean totally freaked out. I could feel the other passengers' blood-pressures rising at the sound of a ballistic 2 year old's screams and we had not even taxied out to the runway yet. Fortunately, some cheese popcorn managed to calm her down before we took off. We landed at Love Field 4 hours later and Riley talked Carey's ear off about all that we did over the past 6 days.

We had a super-fun time. I told Carey that mom probably laughed for about 10 hours of the 20 hour road trip. And it got to be that silly laugh, ya know, where you just laugh because you are so tired and everything takes on a new level of silliness. Oh man, Pops and Gigi are such a blast. That was definitely the best part of the trip. Me getting time with mom and dad and the kids getting time with their Pops and Gigi. The best.

So fun. So great to get away. So missed Carey. So glad to be back.