AFC 5K and San Diego Nighttime Zoo

I signed up months ago to run the America's Finest City 5K on August 19th with some co-workers. I was so glad I didn't consider running the half marathon, because it was really hot and humid that day - I would've been miserable!  New rule: Races should not be scheduled in August! 

I was pretty out of shape for this run, since I hurt my foot a couple of months ago and have hardly run since then.  I'm able to handle short distances like this okay, but then my foot hurts for two days afterwards, so I'm still taking time off.

The race scenery was beautiful since we ran 3.1 miles through San Diego's famous Balboa Park, but it was hilly, too.  I had never had too many problems during a 5K before, but the lack of training + hills + humidity really got to me and I had to stop and walk a few times to catch my breath. 

 Dan and I at the start/finish line of the 5K.

 Co-workers and friends

I dragged Dan out of bed at 5:15 am to drive me to this race, so he figured he might as well get a run in while he was up anyway.  I was glad he was beside me since I think I took fewer walking breaks with him there.  Note my superhuman ability to spot the cameras during a race so I can smile for all my pictures. We each have our God-given talents, and I'm just glad mine has such far-reaching benefits for humanity. 

 My co-worker Janeece and I sweating profusely after the race. She's training for a half marathon on Labor Day, so she ran to the 5K site and back home again afterwards for a total 9-mile run!

 We stuck around to watch the half marathon winners cross the finish line.  This man won the race and finished in 1 hour 3 minutes.  That's a sub-5-minute mile for over 13 hilly miles! He didn't even look winded at the end.

 And I got this blurry photo of the first female finisher, whose time was 1 hour 16 minutes. She immediately starting limping and clutching her thigh after she crossed the finish line, so she apparently ran that fast with an injury. I just need to shave an hour off my half marathon time and I'll definitely beat her next year, no big deal.

We stopped for a picture at Balboa Park's pretty fountain before leaving to grab a big post-run breakfast at the Broken Yolk

Another highlight this month was getting to spend an evening at the zoo with our friends, Chris and Judy and their sons Ian and Jon.  Chris leads the Bible study I attend every Monday night, but Dan hardly ever gets to see their family.  The zoo has a nighttime program every summer, so we joined them last Saturday evening to check out the special events. The biggest show was a Chinese acrobat show that featured the most talented children on the planet. They had us all mesmerized for 45 minutes with their flipping/ balancing/ juggling/ flexibility skills.  Chris was recording it, and when their family watched the video later that week, he said they were just as entertained by Dan's enthusiastic commentary as they were by the performers, since he was sitting right next to Chris (and the video camera) shouting "No Way!" "That was Awesome!" "Holy Cow!" when something amazing happened. 

Afterwards, we strolled around the zoo, stopping to watch the smaller nighttime shows as we went.  It was a different perspective for us since we had only gone to see the animals in the past, and we had a lot of fun spending time with our friends. 

Some synchronized kid-juggling

The little kid on top back-flipped off the others and was caught by some of the "spotters" below 

This girl used her legs & feet to balance & spin all kinds of heavy objects.

 Chris and Judy said that Ian and Jon tried to do Chinese acrobat tricks all week after watching the show.

We did not. That would most likely end in an emergency room visit.

 We didn't see too many animals at the zoo that day, but we had a lot of fun hanging out with these two monkeys!  They're growing up so fast!

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!