Dear Santa...Part 2

The day after Christmas, we shopped. NO! I didn't want to get caught up in the throng of folks returning/exchanging/hitting sales. I only do that on my own. It's a solo mission. Get in and get out. We were on vacation as a family, so....we went out as a family.

On Wednesday, we hit the Reuben Fleet Space Theater in Balboa Park. BigSis and my niece came down and we went in my car (my Freestyle). In elementary school, we used to have an annual field trip to the Space Theater and I wanted my kids to get a taste of it. They had a blast touching each exhibit. I really liked the interactive systems on the lower level. We dug up some dinosaur bones and did a space walk. FUN! What we enjoyed the most was the video room. What it would do is record the happenings in the room for an increment of time - seemed about 15 - 20 seconds. Then it would play back the activity -- forward, backward, stutter play. It was SO fun because we had the room to ourselves. The little girls did cartwheels. We marched. We 'walked like an Egyptian'. We even had a kickline at one point. We must have been in the room for at least 15 minutes or so! We were able to watch a dinosaur program in the IMAX theater too. Now THAT was something to see. It was the first time the kids had seen a film in IMAX. Actually, that was the first time the Bear stepped into a movie theater!

After we had an opportunity to touch and see everything, we headed out. It was a beautiful day. Chilly but bright and sunny. It was lunchtime, so we headed down to the harbor for fish-n-chips. When we were little, we used to go down to the harbor about once a month. My folks would buy all the fish/crab/seafood they'd need AND we would eat fish-n-chips outside and watch the boats. We were able to find parking with no problems. BigSis likes this little hole-in-the-wall place that's connected to the Harbor Excursion office, so that's where we landed. The food was delish! Eating FRESH fish is a far cry from frozen. Smelling the ocean, hearing the seagulls, watching the boats come in and out also added to the ambiance. Took me back...

The next day we decided to go down to the Scripps Birch Aquarium. It was closer to my folks house and wouldn't take so long to visit. You see, the Hubs had plans to go to the Holiday Bowl with the Bear that night. We didn't want to go anywhere that would take all day. The two needed to have a break/relax before the game. BigSis's entire family drove down, so we had a big crew. We went through the exhibit separately. Jello and my two nephews. The Hubs and the Bear. My niece and the Princess (together again). Me. BigSis. The kids enjoyed the shark feeding. Unfortunately, my camera was acting up so I didn't get as many photos as I wanted.

Well, the Hubs and the Bear had a good time at the Holiday Bowl even though ASU lost. They actually got home at a reasonable time (around 9pm), so the Hubs was able to get enough sleep before the long drive home.

What's amazing is that we headed out for home right on schedule the next morning. I had prepped the kids' and my luggage the night before. All I needed to do was throw in our toiletries and jammies. We did let the Hubs sleep into 9am. By the time he got up, the kids were dressed, had eaten, and were playing. Anyway, we did head out on time and it was another nice day. We were all pretty mellow due to all the activity of the week. No drama. What's funny is that the Princess fell asleep in the car and the Bear didn't.

We got home safely and I prepped the kids that we'd be unloading the car before we opened the gifts under our tree. So while the Hubs and I got the luggage and gifts out, the kids stalked the tree. And as I walked over to the livingroom to get ready for opening the gifts, I had the following conversation:

Prin: Mommy!
Me: Yes?
Prin: Santa wrote me back!
Me: What happened?
Prin: Remember that I left those treat and I wrote a note to Santa?
Me: Yes. Those peppermints....
Prin: Well, Santa wrote me back!
Me: No way!
Prin: He did...he DID!
Me: What's it say?

Remember that I left the note on one of the lower branches? When the Princess got the note off the branch, the empty peppermint wrapper fell onto the floor.

Prin: MOM! He must have eaten a mint as he was leaving the gifts!
Me: What makes you say that?
Prin: Look, there's a wrapper.
Me: Wow! He must have really wanted something sweet, eh?

She was so ecstatic that she'd thought of something so clever to leave Santa and that he enjoyed it. I'm just glad that as a 7-year-old she still believes in Santa. I don't think I'll be lucky enough next year. I think this is the last year that she'll "believe". [sigh]

But I am glad that this holiday with my family was full of fun, family, and outings. Wonderful memories. I leave you with my most favorite shot of the trip. My husband and my kids. The biggest loves of my life...