Maritime Museum in San Diego

What could be more fun for a kid than having their run of ships and submarine? Besides the low cost of touring these vessels, the Maritime Museum also had a great floating museum right on the harbor.

We checked out the submarine first. It was pretty impressive. Through the ship's periscope we could even see our car!

Then we boarded the Star of India, a old shipping vessel that still goes out to sea. I really enjoyed reading diary entries from the families who sailed in this ship from Great Britain to New Zealand in the mid 1800's. Jared enjoyed imagining what it would be like to go to the bathroom on the ship.

There was a fun little miniature ship in the lower deck, too, for the kids to play on.

If you've seen the movie Master and Commander with Russell Crowe, then you might recognize the picture below. After the movie, the studio gave the ship to the museum and we had the pleasure of touring it on our visit.

Whale Watching in San Diego

I thought it would be way too expensive to go on a whale watching day cruise in San Diego, but we were able to do it for just $60 for the entire family! How? First, we went through Flagship San Diego Harbor Excursion. And then we used two buy one get one free coupons in the Entertainment Book for San Diego. Always, always order an Entertainment Book when you go to a different state. It'll cost $20, but it's so worth it. We saved several hundred dollars using ours.

The ride was almost four hours long and for half the ride we didn't see any whales. Steve and I were a little frustrated, but the kids had fun eating chocolate and popcorn and just riding on the boat.

Then we saw him! Well, sort of. He never came out of the water in those dramatic flips you see on nature shows. We mostly just saw his back and dorsal fin. But, it was pretty exciting at the time. It happened so fast that my pictures are pretty crappy, though. Fun, fun, fun times!

Why Vacation Rental Homes Rock

This was the view from the dock in front of our vacation rental home in San Diego. We LOVE renting homes when we go away, especially with kids. We stayed here for almost two weeks, and when you stay that long, it gives you a little sense of home while you're away.

This home was particularly nice because the owner let us take out a kayak and let us use his fishing poles. We were greeted with a bottle of wine when we walked in the the door, and we felt very much at home there.

He also had a pontoon boat that he let us take out for a spin around the lake.

I tried catching a fish but no luck!

The kids really loved playing with the owners' dogs when we went across the street to their home. On our last day there, the owner stopped by and took pictures of our family. Now, most of the time the owners will not be there, but we've had wonderful experiences using www.vrbo.com  Another good site to check for rentals is www.homeaway.com.

What's been your experience with vacation rentals?

Grand Cayman - Jolly Roger Pirate Cruise

One of our biggest expenses was going on a cruise aboard one of Jolly Rogers Pirate Cruises. Since Jared is so pirate obsessed lately, we knew this would be at the top of our list of things to do.

Both kids were really excited, but also a bit shy, when we first boarded. Since we were there in September, and it is one of the slowest months of the months for tourists, there were only about ten more people on the boat.

Soon after boarding, we went down to the lower deck of the boat. Jared loved the pirate decorations.

 

I was a bit disappointed with the cruise. On the website, they promote the cruise as for children. They said kids can help hoist the mainsail, help fire the cannon, or walk a plank, none of which took place during the cruise. I don't know if it was because ours were the only kids on the boat and they were very young, or that there were so few people on the boat, but we had hyped things up for the kids, and I wish I would have know what it would have really been like.

Still, we did get to go snorkling for a little bit, which was nice. Jared came with me in the water, but at that time Alexa was still not putting her foot in the water. A really nice older lady stood with her while we were in the water.

I love the color of the water in the picture below. It's the only picture I have that comes close to showing what the water actually looked like.

Kelly's Island - Ferry Ride

It wasn't their first ferry ride. We had taken several from St. Thomas to St. John in the US Virgin Islands two years ago, still this was the first ferry ride that I think the kids will remember.

On August 13thwe took off on a four day trip to Kelly's Island, a tiny island about twelve miles from Sandusky, Ohio on the mainland. My parents followed us, stopping to eat lunch together and take the ferry ride across to the island. My sister, her husband and son arrived a few hours after we picked up the key and found the house.

Jared and Alexa seemed to like the ferry ride just fine, but didn't seem overly enthusiastic. Maybe they were a little tired. I would have thought they would have taken a little nap in the car, they usually don't take naps anymore unless we've driven somewhere for a while, but, no, they didn't.

We had a great family time in the car singing, listening to audio books and making up silly sayings.

Steve and I had come to this island after being married for little over a year. His cousin had been married in Columbus, and we stopped over at the island for two days on our way back home for a mini vacation. As we approached the shore, all the past memories came back: biking, hiking, eating a long, leisurely meal in a restaurant, and talking walks. I knew we'd have a great time, but it definitely wouldn't be quite the same as last time.

When we arrived we went to Bag the Moon, a restaurant/bar we had visited before, and picked up the keys to the house we were renting. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the house to post here. We have lots of video footage, but no still shots. It was a great deal. It worked out to $50 per night per couple. There were three bedrooms so each "family" had one bedroom. Our bedroom had a bathroom en suite and there was a second bathroom. We had a very large eat in kitchen and living room. Actually the house was quite a bit larger than ours at home.

We spent most of the time hiking, swimming, watching movies, hanging out in the tiny "downtown" area and going to a festival where we saw animals and heard a band play. It was wonderful to spend time with extended family.

summer 2008 Part 3

Summer 2008 Part 3

LaGrange Fountain – It’s just a small fountain downtown, but seems to be a place where many parents take their children. The kids are at such a cute age right now. The joy they get out of just walking around the edge of the fountain and throwing money inside is contagious. There is a tiny hill by the fountain they loved running down, too. We visited this spot several times during the summer.

Vacation Bible School – This was the first year for the twins. I helped out in the tot group so was able to be with them for the whole week. We’d start the morning gathered together with all the age groups singing and watching an on-going weekly skit. Then we’d go to a room where the kids would color. Next was craft time. This always seems to aggravate me as I believe in the importance of free creative expression rather than doing a step by number craft where the adults do most of the work for the kids so it will look “just right.” Then we’d go to the gym where they kids would run around, play with balls or little scooters, then we’d head to the room off the kitchen for a snack and practice our song. Next up to the second floor for a story and then back to the auditorium to meet with all the groups for more songs before heading home. Alexa and Jared were sooooo quiet. Many people asked me if they were talking yet. This made me laugh because Alexa especially is so talkative at home. She did love the high school and college age girls carrying her around, and Jared had a little girl who always wanted to be next to him, holding his hands. At the end of the week, they had a program for the parents where the kids performed songs they learned over the week. I had to hold Jared who cried for most of the time and another girl held Alexa. Not a great first stage performance!

Pet Pride Parade – The first weekend after Memorial Day they always hold a Pet Pride Parade in LaGrange. It was the first time we attended, and it was much, much more impressive then the Oak Park 4th of July parade. There were many music and dance groups as well as dozens of different animals including even some camels.

Naperville Riverwalk – This was a beautiful time where the highlight of the day was the paddleboat ride on the pond. We were able to paddle very close to many ducks.

Trailside Museum – I remember coming here as a young child, so it was fun to take our kids here this summer. There is a small area outside where there are a few animals in cages: a hawk, fox, skunk, vulture and a few more animals. Inside there are smaller animals like frogs, small birds, spiders and fish. We also walked around the small pond area so the kids could throw rocks in the water.

El Train Ride to Downtown Chicago – This was an incredibly exciting experience for the kids. We rode the train downtown, got off and walked a few blocks down to Millennium Park. There is an area where water runs down a big wall and makes a huge puddle. We had put on the kid’s bathing suits and though they would like to have run through the puddles, but they seemed very nervous. They both have a tendency to get nervous in new situations, Alexa more so than Jared, and like to check things out for a while on the sidelines before jumping in. They never really wanted to jump in this day, though, and I think it was because it was so crowded. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant to eat. Even though were able to get a booth, it was still very hard to get them to sit still for long. They were also very loud. It’s really hard to judge if they disturb other people since Steve and I are very relaxed in our parenting style.

Water Parks – We went to two this year. One was with my sister, brother –in-law and nephew while Steve was away on a business trip. They warmed up to getting in the shallow part of the pool after a while, but they didn’t want to go under the sprinklers. Actually they liked digging in the sand the most. They are really not too fond of pool water as we spoil them with hot baths, and they don’t get many opportunities to swim. I feel a little bad about that and would like them to have swim lessons at some point but only if they really want to. The other water park is a new one opened just this summer near our Cermak Woods. It was free the whole summer since it just opened. There is a section of the park with a pool of warmer water, and the kids had a pretty good time in there, although they were are first reluctant to go in the water.

Some other highlights of the summer:
Planting a garden – carrots and tomatoes
Building playdough snowmen
Helping Steve wash the car
Squirting each other with the hose
Climbing up a large ladder into the tree branches
Drawing with sidewalk chalk
Roasting marshmallows over the fire pit
Playing with trucks
Playing in the pool – painting and washing their brushes in the water to turn the water different colors
Shooting baskets
Splashing in the puddles in the rain
Riding tricycles
Walks around the block
Sandbox and water table play
Asking me to write words

Summer 2008 Part 1

Well, it’s been almost a year since I’ve posted to this blog. I had really good intentions of at least posting weekly updates, but it has been more difficult that I had imagined. I’ve written periodic notes to myself so I have at least some idea of the highlights of the year, still I am very disappointed as I know that I have forgotten many things we have done over the year. My goal is to keep a pretty detailed record of my children’s (and I guess you could say me and my husband’s as well) learning journey while they still live with us.
Anyway, I will attempt to at least write posts covering some of the things we did this past year.

Camp – One of the bigger things we did this summer was go to a camp in Wisconsin called Silver Birch Ranch. While I’m not a big camp person, and we wouldn’t have gone if Steve was not playing guitar during the week for the worship services, still it was fun to see the kids experience a lot of new things.

We had our own little cabin with three rooms and a bathroom. Jared wound up getting a cold sore so he couldn’t suck on his pacifier at night, which made for some pretty sleepless nights. Actually, he has only slept entirely through the night only a handful of times each year since he was 6 months old, but only waking up one or two times is a real treat for us! We finally got him off the pacifier a few months after we came back from camp. I had misplaced the only one he had left and by the next night when we had found it, we just said it wasn’t coming back. I was expecting his usual tantrum, but surprisingly he took it in stride.

So back to camp. When we first go to the cabin, the kids ran around the small space shrieking and dancing with year other. They were so excited to be sleeping in a cabin. We’d wake up around seven thirty and walk to breakfast. Then they’d have a place to drop off the kids while we had a morning service. We were only away from them for about two hours, but I hated being away from them during our vacation. Most people left their kids there the entire morning. In fact, the first day we went to pick them up after the service, we didn’t find them there. They would take the kids on little outings like on a pontoon ride or pony ride, and we wouldn’t know where they’d be. I guess they aren’t used to people picking up their kids so early, so we had to remind them to let us know where they’d be.

After lunch we would all take a little nap, and then afternoons were we could have fun. Steve took the kids out on a kayak and we all took several rowboat rides together across the lake. There was a little beach area the kids had fun at scooping up sand and wading in the water.

One afternoon after our nap, we raced over to the go-kart track and barely made it there before they closed down. Jared had so much fun riding with Steve, and Alexa and I drove together. She cried halfway through the ride because her helmet keep falling down over her eyes (they didn’t have one small enough to perfectly fit a 26 ½ month old!).

Another fun thing was going to the mini-golf course at the camp. I wish I could figure how to post pictures to this blog (a big goal for this next year) because they looked so cute with their little golf clubs. Alexa met a little boy about six months older than she and he loved to say no and mine when he was around her. Little did I know that she would soon start that up (actually Jared, too) within a few months. There was a playground there we would go too everyday as well.

Another big trip was Missouri. We went to Kansas City last year, too, but this year was even more fun as the kids were talking more, played more with their cousin and basically got into more stuff. One fun night was when we went next door for a barbeque at Steve’s aunt’s next-door-neighbors. They are originally from an island in Greece. We had some pretty great food, and the kids loved running through a sprinkler. Jerry (the husband) gave Jared a kid’s orange smock from Home Depot to put on, and helped him make a little birdfeeder which we took home with us. They had a small fountain in their front yard, so the kids walked around that and dipped their feet inside.

We went to a huge sports store when we were there. Some highlights were watching the coy in the pond, looking at a huge aquarium tank filled with exotic fish, riding up and down the elevator and buying some great fudge.

We celebrated Steve’s grandmother’s birthday when we were there. We drove about a half hour a way to a Mexican restaurant. As usual, the kids barely sat still. Steve and I had to take brief bites while they ran around the restaurant. They are definitely on the very active end of the spectrum.

There is a pond across the street from LeeAnn’s house that we like to go to when we visit. The kids loved throwing rocks into the pond (an all time favorite activity this summer and still seems to be pretty high up on their list), watching the ducks and running along the road.

One afternoon we also rode on a Carousel at the Mall. They had been on one at the zoo once before and really enjoyed this one too. One nice thing about kids this age is they are easy to please. The mall has these toys where if you put money in them they would either vibrate or rock back and forth. The kids just loved crawling in and out of the play vehicles without us putting any money inside.

There were a lot of other things we did around the house and such when we were there, but I didn’t write everything down, and I’m trying desperately to catch up before their third birthday, so I’m just gonna end this post and move on to another part of the summer.