::another day in san diego::

We went to Sea World on friday morning and it was pretty fun. We did have a problem though. They've added a bunch of rides, probably 5 or 6 big ones and some smaller ones. This was all Max could think about. I made the mistake of looking at the website with him before the trip to get him excited, and he spied the rides. That was all he could think about from that moment on--and this did not change when we actually got to the park.
We had "breakfast with Shamu" in which you have a breakfast buffet, eat right next to one of the whale tanks and see a few cool whale tricks up close. That was fun and I'm glad we did it because it was the only whale exposure we got the whole day.
After breakfast I was ready to head to the Shamu show, but Max was dying to go on the big roller coaster, so we went over there. Kris and Max went on that, and Max loved it, so I got in line with him to do it again. But of course the ride broke down, so we were stuck in line for quite a while for no reason--these Sea World guys are not too good at their ride management it turns out.

Anyway, after that we got stuck heading over to another ride, and it got hotter and more crowded. We finally made it to the Sea Lion and Seal show which was fun. Then when we tried to see the actual seals afterwards the area was so crowded it was impossible and we just had to push on. Finally Kris and I got tired of the crowds and after seeing the sharks and a few other things we hauled our boys out and took them back to the condo for some rest.

It was not great management of the Sea World trip, I'd do it differently if I was doing it again. And the Manta Ray area was closed because (of course) they're adding a big ride to it.
I think Sea World should stick with the animal stuff. It's what they do best.

But anyway, we liked this cool Shamu car.


The best part of the day happened after everybody get a little rest. We were able to get together with Kris's old roommate/mission companion Blake and his wife Brooke for dinner. It was just a weird coincidence that we both happened to be out here at the same time. They recommended a delicious Thai restaurant that we really enjoyed (all of us with refined tastes, anyway.)
Kris got fried rice that actually came inside half a pineapple. Pretty fancy, right?


After we ate Blake & Brooke took us down to a beautiful park on the coast to look at tidepools and seals. There were quite a few sea anemones in the little pools, but Max wasn't quite brave enough to stick his finger in them to make the them close.

Baby Evie was though.

Max however, was brave enough to go out to the very tip of the rocks we were out and wish that a wave would carry him out to sea. Weird kid.

It was an amazing view and a lovely sunset. And Max did not get carried away, happily.

It was prettymuch too dark to see the seals by the time we got to them, but the good company and fun conversation made up for it.
It was a really fun night--thanks Blake & Brooke for taking the trouble to meet up with us!
And Blake has a reputation in our family for taking good pictures (he took the photo that ended up being in our wedding invitation) so he took one of all of us on the rocks. I like it.

::spooky box::

Max came home with a special homework assignment last week. He was supposed to come up with some sort of "spooky box" to display in his classroom during halloween week. It was supposed to be a diorama in a shoebox, using whatever materials he wanted.
So Max and I brainstormed and came up with what I think is a pretty good idea. A spooky ocean box.
We painted our shoebox last night and then this afternoon all three of us worked together to make spooky cranky ocean animals.
Then I glued everything into place.

(Max is working on some other self-directed project here. Suddenly plenty to do when there's homework!!)
Here's the box, I think it turned out super fun looking.

I like the two headed snakes slithering along the ocean floor amid Kris's seaweed.
I'm frightened of this shark--he looks like he would easily bite somebody's leg off. And you can't see the fish he's chasing very well, but that poor fish looks pretty dismayed.

An awesome group of ghostly jellyfish.

Snakes hiding behind the anemones.

Successfully (and definitely oddly) spooky I think. He turns it in tomorrow, I think his teacher will like it! She'd better anyway.

.::Cliff Walk::.

Yesterday afternoon we got to the point where we just couldn't stand the heat anymore so we hopped in the car and drove out to Newport, RI.
Geography is very difficult for me to grasp out here, much less explain, but Newport is south of us--down on Narragansett bay. The very south end of it sticks right out into the ocean.
We thought maybe we could catch some ocean breezes down there.

We did catch the breezes, and it was a perfect opportunity for another on of my photo essays! I hope you enjoy the following.

Newport has a ton of old money mansions all along the ocean. They're beautiful. A lot of them are now museums or serve other purposes.
We stopped and took a walk on a path that led along the cliff above the ocean and behind some of the mansions. The views were really wonderful.






As usual we had to fight with Max over holding his hand, and then drag him along once we had him in our grip.
He tried to give Kris flat tires the whole way back. What a well behaved child, right?

We realized the other day that he thinks there's some sort of a difference between running away from us and walking away from us. And that walking away is ok. It was good to know so we could try to set him straight.





He looks a lot more contemplative in the above photo than he is in reality. Don't let him fool you.





Isn't the ocean beautiful?

The flora and fauna we saw were irresistible. I couldn't help but capture them for later use.









It was cooler down there, but the air was still just SO soupy. The humidity here is better than in was in Kansas City, but sometimes it's still really intense. After living in it for four years, I'm still not used to it!
But it's ok. At least the air was cooler. That's what we were looking for.



Well, that's what Kris and I were looking for. Max just wanted to swim.

That's all he ever wants to do. Soon enough I'm sure.

Thanks for coming on our walk. Does this make you want to come visit? (well except for the hot sweaty house part?)