Four Ladies, One Bathroom, and Dan

My mom, Aunt Jane, and Aunt Margaret had the brilliant idea of coming to San Diego for a girls' vacation this summer. They had a great time and Dan and I loved having them here! While we were working, they explored the beaches, Balboa Park, and Old Town. They loved the daytime temperatures which were in the low 70s, especially since they were escaping 100 degree weather back home in Texas. At the end of each day, we met back at our house for dinner and played games or watched the Olympics. And I didn't have to do dishes all week, which was like a little slice of heaven.

Aunt Jane stayed in our spare bedroom and my mom and Aunt Margaret shared a hotel near our house. This was so Dan wouldn't have to use the bathroom in the backyard all week, since we only have one tiny bathroom in our rental house. But he was out of luck on the weekend mornings when we were all getting ready to go out for the day. Every time he took a step towards the bathroom, the door was slammed in his face again. Good thing he loves us! 

We finally got to spend the whole day together on Saturday.  Dan took us on a driving tour to visit the sights they hadn't already seen.  We stopped at La Jolla Cove, one of the prettiest areas in San Diego where you can usually see lots of marine animals and birds. 

 

(left to right) Aunt Jane, Aunt Margaret and my mom enjoying the view at La Jolla Cove. We only saw two sea lions because there were so many people swimming and snorkeling that day.

We drove to the Torrey Pines Glider Port, where we watched the paragliders take off and land

My mom and I

We could've paid to take a tandem ride, but we decided to keep our feet on the ground that day. Dan and I may go back for a ride sometime, though!

After the glider port, we visited downtown, Seaport Village, and Coronado Island.

Since Dan had us at his mercy, he made us eat at In-N-Out Burger for lunch. Just kidding, it was on Aunt Jane's "to do" list since she had never eaten at the famous California burger joint.  She gave it two thumbs up.



Speaking of Dan's favorite foods, he changed their lives forever by introducing them to the California Burrito. I debated whether or not to add a picture since the sight might turn you away forever, but trust me - it's amazing. It's a huge burrito filled with carne asada (skirt steak that's been marinated and chopped), french fries, salsa, and cheese. We split some burritos for dinner that night with freshly made chips, salsa, and guacamole. If that's not a good reason to blow off your diet, I don't know what is. 

On Sunday after church, I took my mom and Aunt Jane to tour Balboa Park's International Cottages.  They were having a Lithuanian festival where they showcased the country's music and folk dances.  There are about 20 cottages representing different countries, and they host festivals featuring one country at a time over the course of the summer. Mom and Aunt Jane are posing next to a display at the Sweden Cottage (they're half Swedish).

And on Sunday night, we visited the Crown Jewel of our city - the roller skating rink where Dan plays hockey. If you can imagine somehow stepping inside a 7th grade boy's sweaty gym sneaker, it will give you an idea of the sights and smells we experienced to cheer Dan on. Good thing we love him so much!

On Monday, I got off work early and joined my mom and aunts on a trip to the zoo! We walked the entire park (no minor feat!) to see the animals up close, then ended the day by riding the tour bus around the zoo again. We saw a lot of animals out and about since it wasn't too hot.

The jaguar had two cute new cubs! The other one was playing in a corner where I couldn't get a good picture of it.

This lioness was either roaring at us or had a really bad hairball. It was hard to tell.

We're so glad my mom and aunts decided to come to San Diego for their vacation! It made our month! Now that you know this is where the cool people come, you can plan your trip here, too. :)

The Happiest Place on Earth!

For 4th of July this year, we wanted to do something joyful, timeless, and expensive. That's right, we bought Disneyland annual passes! It's been a long time coming, seeing as we're both Disney freaks.  We got annual passes 7 years ago when we moved to San Diego and had no friends, so we had a lot of free time to drive to Anaheim. They've updated several rides at Disneyland and expanded the California Adventure park since then, so we were excited to check out all the new stuff!

One tiny little card = a year's worth of happiness

We heard that Disneyland is insanely crowded on the 4th of July, so we didn't have high expectations of doing too much that day.  We spent a lot of our time watching the patriotic shows and concerts they had for Independence Day only.  There was a Marine Corps band that marched up and down Main St. and played an hour long concert in one of the amphitheaters.  An a cappella choir sang beautiful renditions of everyone's favorite patriotic songs. There were also the typical Disney-themed parades and shows, and we stopped to watch those.

Drummer Mickey and Dancer Minnie led the parade

They had all kinds of floats with different characters and movies represented, but this was my favorite.

And then about an hour before the fireworks started, we got to experience the insane crowds everyone warned us about! Dan said it felt like Times Square in NYC on New Year's Eve, but much, much warmer.

The show was definitely worth it! No one makes fireworks dance to music like Disney. They stepped away from their typical theme and choreographed the 4th of July show to patriotic music.  Fun times! 

We were also glad we didn't stay in San Diego to watch this fireworks fiasco.  What a bummer for the city and all the people who fought the crowds to see the downtown fireworks show that night!

Fast forward to the very next weekend, and we were back at Disneyland!  We took Thurs and Fri off from work, and this time we had four days to enjoy both parks at a leisurely pace. 

We rode just about every ride over the long weekend.  

In the dark tunnel at the end of Space Mountain, Dan and I know exactly when to protect our eyes from the blinding camera flash. 

I've loved the Hollywood Tower of Terror since I was a kid! Poor Dan had to ride it more times than he probably ever wanted to. 

But he got me back by beating me (again) at Toy Story Mania. If I ever threaten you with a gun, you're more likely to live if you just let me aim at you, I'm that bad of a shot. But this time I swear I was winning the whole time! I was so excited to get a picture of the final score only to find that Dan beat me IN THE LAST 30 SECONDS.  Arrrrrgh!!

We stopped to watch the parade in California Adventure, which focuses on the Pixar movies. We missed the memo that it was a "wet" parade, where the characters innocently smiled and waved at you before spraying you in the face with a water gun!

Dan watched the parade from a distance since he thinks getting wet while fully clothed is a less than magical experience. But there was one nice hot morning when he wore his swimming trunks and we rode all the wet rides back-to-back before swimming at our hotel pool in the afternoon. Good times!

Something amazing and chocolatey was added since the last time we went to California Adventure!  You'd better believe we stopped by this spot every.single.day to get free samples of my two favorite foods, sourdough bread and chocolate.

And last but not least, we spent quite a bit of time in the new Cars Land they added to the California Adventure park.  They did an amazing job on this expansion! 

The Radiator Spring Racers was the hot new ride that was packed from opening to closing time.  Check out those wait times - 150 minutes for the regular line and 60 minutes for the single-rider line. Gack! We rode it for the first time on Friday morning before the park got too crowded and *only* had to wait 80 minutes in line. 

So excited about finally getting to sit down my first ride!

Unfortunately, my hair chose this opportunity to attack my face! This picture cracks me up - it looks like Dan is riding with Cousin It. Needless to say, the hair went in a ponytail immediately.  

Look how amazing the scenery is! And the ride itself is a blast, but the line is soooo long. As annual pass holders, we had one day we could choose to go to the park one hour early.  So on Sat. morning, we got there at 7 am and rode this ride 4 times in a row (by waiting on the single rider line) before the park officially opened at 8 am. Then we let everyone else wait in the super long lines the rest of the day.

They had this cute new ride in Cars Land, too. They're bumper cars in the shape of giant tires that float on a cushion of air instead of being attached to a track.  So you can go any direction you want, and you control your tire by leaning your weight in the direction you want to go. It was funny watching other people ride while we were waiting our turn. I'm pretty sure a few couples needed marriage counseling afterwards.

To add to the hilarity, they had these huge beach balls you could throw at each other during the ride. We grabbed two right away and after we got started, I playfully tossed my ball towards someone. Dan waited until we were going full speed towards a couple of sweet motherly types and used the momentum to nail one of them directly in the face! Good grief, that man knows how to turn anything into a high impact sport!

This was the viewing area for the new nighttime water/light show in California Adventure called "World of Color".  We saw the show from the back of the viewing area the first time and it was a little disappointing because we felt so far away.  So the next night, we brought a picnic dinner into the park and camped out right up front an hour early. It was 100% better seeing the show up close, although we got pretty wet from the water spray. We loved our long weekend at Disneyland and we're looking forward to going back all year!

Dan's Inner Redneck

Last Saturday, Dan & I went to the county fair to watch the amateur firefighter demolition derby. Surprisingly (since I grew up in a much more NASCAR-centric area of the country), Dan had grown up watching stock car races & demolition derbies with his dad and I had never been to one in my life. But when his co-worker invited us, he lit up, so I knew I was in for a good time. 

Who says you can't learn new things about your spouse after 9 years of marriage?  I learned that my New York City-raised husband has a little redneck in his heart, and seeing as I *may* still have a crush on Bo & Luke from the Dukes of Hazzard, I totally love him more now.

The drivers were firefighters representing different cities in San Diego County. We sat in the middle of the Viejas fire dept. and their families, which was a really friendly group.  I swear the lady next to Dan was related to half the drivers somehow and they all came up to say hi to her before the race.

There were two battle rounds, and the cars that made it through got to compete in the final round. About 7 cars were in each round, and they started in a small rectangular area enclosed by dirt barriers. Dan said the sport has been made safer since he was a kid.  They have less space in the "arena" and they even wet down the dirt so the cars couldn't get up as much speed before crashing into each other. Because like mom always says, it's all fun & games until someone dies. 

The cars started by facing the dirt barrier with their backs to each other. I was obviously cheering for the macho man driving the pink Mary Kay Cadillac.

Then the announcer counted down from 10, and they all went full throttle crashing into each other as hard as they could. Bam!

Any cars that could limp off the arena without assistance at the end could compete in the final round.  Sadly, Mary Kay did not make it.

When the first two rounds were over, the fire departments had 10 minutes to literally beat their cars back into shape before sending them into the final round. New tires, quick engine fixes, and lots and lots of sledgehammering.  Although redneck time runs slow because it was more like a half an hour by my watch.

I expected all the drivers to be men, but it turns out there was one crazy brave firewoman who usually battles it out, too. She couldn't get her car going, though, so she ended up sitting out this one.

After about 20 mins into the final round, there was an obvious victor. He got a trophy with a beat-up junker on top of it.

Fun times were had by all! 

Catching up on May

Wow, where did this month go?  Both our jobs have been super busy, which hasn't left a lot of time and energy for blogging lately! But here's a quick catch-up on the happenings in May.

We celebrated our 9th anniversary on May 3rd!  We broke away from tradition and went to dinner at Macaroni Grill instead of the Cheesecake Factory, so we are really shaking things up in our old age.

Ha, just kidding. I couldn't take it and begged Dan to pick up cheesecake for dessert on our way home. :) 

If this is wrong, I don't want to be right.

In other exciting news, Dan finished up the school year last Friday!  It was his 5th year as Principal, and it's probably been his best year yet.  It ended on a great note since all the graduating Seniors have the opportunity to address the rest of the students, and they told them to appreciate every moment they have at Calvary Christian Academy. The teachers & staff truly love those kids, and this class fully appreciated what a blessing it's been to have relationships with teachers/mentors who live out the gospel and love them enough to hold them accountable when it's needed.  It meant a lot to Dan & the rest of his staff to hear that from the Seniors.  They're making a huge impact in the kids' lives!   

The day after graduation, we flew to Williamsburg, VA to visit family!  We arrived late Saturday night, and went to church with Dan's parents on Sunday morning before driving to Fredericksburg, VA to meet Steve and his fiancee, Sheila, for lunch.  Steve's busy finishing his dissertation for his PhD before starting his first full-time job as a college professor in Cedar Rapids, IA.  Sheila works in Washington, DC, so Fredericksburg is the perfect meeting point since it's halfway between them and Williamsburg.

It was great to catch up with them in person while we were in the area!

When we got back to Dan's folks' house, we got to meet this cute guy - our two-month-old nephew Josiah!

He is boy #4 for Tim & Dawn, Dan's brother and sister-in-law. He loved to be held, and he had plenty of people around who were happy to oblige!

Since it was 85 degrees in VA and Dan's parents have a pool in their backyard, we did a lot of swimming with our older nephews.

Aaron loved playing in the shallow water, but he agreed with his Uncle Dan that the water was too cold for actual swimming!

It was no problem for Nathan, though. Within two days, he was ready to shed all his flotation devices! He's going to be swimming like a fish by the end of the summer.

Benjamin got this awesome pirate ship last Christmas that actually floats!  We took turns capsizing it with our best cannonball splashes.  Something tells me he's going to need a new pirate ship by next Christmas.

Okay, one more really cute photo of Josiah and Dan. I love those matching bald heads.

And Uncle Dan & Aunt Debby with our four awesome nephews!

Somehow I managed to not take any pictures of the other adults in the family.  But we had a great time catching up and playing late night games with Dan's parents, Tim, Dawn, and Robin.  My time with them was too short and I wish I could've stayed longer, but alas, vacation time is limited for those of us not in the school system.  I flew back home alone on Wed. night and Dan gets to stay & play at Resort Jester until Sat. night. *jealous*  

As I was waiting for my flight at the Newport News airport, my plane arrived & I watched the passengers de-board.  I noticed a little girl who looked just like our friends' girl, and suddenly I realized it WAS her!  Our friends, Kate and Mike, were just arriving in VA with their kids, Charlotte and Cameron!  It was such a fun surprise to see them there!  Mike's family lives in the Hampton Roads area, and they fly out regularly for 4th of July and Christmas.  It never occurred to us that they'd be there in May while we were visiting! 

After giving them big hugs, I quickly called Dan & his parents so they could come back to the airport and say hi to Mike & Kate, too.  Hopefully we'll get to see them in VA again at Christmastime, but I loved our unexpected meeting!