Carlsbad Vacation - Day 4 - Oceanside

Alan and Shara went back to Legoland and had fun until her tummy started hurting and they came back to the room to relax for a bit before I got in and took Shara to the pool. I spend the morning/early afternoon in Oceanside at the farmer's market. I had the best shrimp burrito and ate it outside the library by a nice fountain. I then took a walk down to the ocean and went out on the fishing pier, watched the surfers, then on the way back, stopped at Red Cup Yogurt for a fabulous cup of raspberry, grapefruit, coffee, and vanilla. It's great because you can mix and match - it's all self-serve. I then checked in and found that Shara wasn't feeling great, so I came back and by then she was fine so we went to the pool. It was fun. We played simon says, mother may I, and wax museum.

After we (I) were too cold to be in the pool anymore, we went in and showered before heading back to Oceanside for their street fair. What a great time we had! There was food everywhere and it was so hard for us to figure out what we wanted. I ended up having the balsamic grilled artichoke from Annel & Drew's stand. Shara really enjoyed the artichoke, but it wasn't the easiest thing to eat while standing in the middle of a road. Alan and Shara split an Afghani Kabob. For Shara's dessert, she had cookies & cream ice cream from Mariposa Ice Cream. I asked if they had any low fat and the vendor said it was all extra fat! Then Alan got a Phillipine combo dinner, which was about $6 and the container weighed probably 3lbs! I think I ended up eating close to 1/2 of it, greasy good, but still not amazing. I needed to have something better to end on, so we went down the dessert lane and I got a slice of German Chocolate Cake. It was very chocolaty and covered with lots of frosting. It really was just ok, but still just what I wanted.

Shara's ladybug balloon

Alan and Shara sharing a kabob

The incredible part of this was the people, as much as the food. No pushing or shoving. Everyone was having a good time and many were courteous. I even heard teenagers saying, "thank you" and "I'm sorry" when one almost bumped into someone else. It was a very nice evening - live music, food, shopping, and great people watching. Highly recommend going there if you're near the area.

Carlsbad Vacation - Day 3 - Zoo

At the zoo I saw monkeys, giraffes, and elephants.

Today we checked out the world famous san diego zoo. We saw elephants, giraffes, and monkeys. Shara's favorite animals were the monkeys, because they were so cute. The skyline was very fun too because we got to go up in the air and  it was like a ride. My favorite part of it was was was um was the last part of it because the last part you would go
back down really fast. Oh oh oh, and the pandas were so cute too. The walking part was very boring. The maze wasn't like really cool because we kept getting lost trying to find the pandas and we felt really frustrated. And you could even have a root beer float, but I didn't have a root beer float. All I had was a plain root beer. But it wasn't just a plain root beer. It was bigger than Shara's head! and cost a bizillion dollars!

After the zoo, we went back to the resort and Shara and mommy checked out the pool while daddy had a nap. The water felt much warmer when we tested it the day before. Today it was oh so cold! But we got in anyway and had quite a fun time swimming around and jumping. We stayed for just a short time because we wanted to go out to dinner and needed to shower/bath and get dressed. Getting out of the pool was an experience. THe pool temperature was about 70 degrees, but the outside temperature was probably 62 and it was cloudy and breezy. We made a dash for the towels and managed to get dried off a little before freezing to death. On the way out of the pool area, we dropped off the towels and took a look at the ice cream snacks in the freezer at the pool. THey had very yummy looking treats and the person at the activities desk asked if we wanted any. I asked if we needed to keep them at the pool, and she very nicely said we could bring them back to the rooms. They ranged in price from $1.25 to 3.75. I said thank you and it was good to know they were available. I then told Shara, quietly, on the way back to the room, that I thought they may have been free, but I guess not!

So we got back to the room and cleaned up. After last night's terrible sushi we all wanted some good food for dinner. The vote was cast and sushi won, but only really good sushi. According to chowhound.com, Kaito sushi in Encinidas was supposed to be the best sushi in the world, it would seem, so we headed there. Bonus that it was only about 15 minutes away. I had thought it was all the way in downtown San Diego. We got to the restaurant and Shara's a beautyful girl. i learned to eat with chopsticks. they're very fun! I LOVE SUSHI! We also were able to get seats at the sushi bar and decided that this is the best way to go. The meal began with us receiving our place settings of ginger, wasabi (they were nice and didn't give any to Shara) and a small bowl of pickled rice noodles. Shara ate both her's and daddy's, with chopsticks! We looked at the menu for the sweet potato tempura maki and it wasn't there, but they had no problem making it on request. Shara also ate a whole bowl of edamame along with her 1 1/2 sweet potato rolls! The sweet potato was white, not the usual orange we get back home. She was a hungry bunny. Alan and I ordered saki, uni, since we thought if any place would have it done properly, it would be here, and a roll called spicy crispy. The spicy crispy had cream cheese, which I don't normally like, but the roll was battered and deep fried and the cream cheese melted into the tuna, jalapenos, and something else none of us remember. It was very good. The uni was also really good and made both Alan and myself feel confident that we gotten a bad batch the first time we tried it. It reminded me of tomally - lobster liver. Shara even liked it. It's very rich though, so I couldn't eat more than one piece. I also tried the eel - sea, not fresh water. The sushi chef told me to eat it with my fingers because it was very tender. He was right and it was also very good. Not too sweet or overcooked like other eel. It was a fabulous meal and much deserved after the dinner we had the evening before.

Carlsbad Vacation - Day 2 - Legoland

We were all excited to get up and going today to Legoland. We found out that guests of the resort don't even need to drive but can walk there and get in through a secret back entrance. We walked about 1/3 mile and had to wait a little while in line for the gates to open. They finally did and we were in! We took the left hand lane through the secret hideaway, but it turned out to be a little scary since we were the only ones in it and there were sounds of wolves! It is actually a bit of an obstacle course and we visited visited it later in the day, when there were more people and it was more populated. We decided to take the road to the pirate cove and see what was happening over there.

The first ride we went on had boats with water guns to let us shoot people, real and lego. That was fun but really wet, especially for a day that was in the low 60's and not yet sunny. We did eventually dry off though, so don't worry. We didn't melt. After the boats, we moved on to a ship that was suspended in the air. When we got on, it looked to us like it would go back and forth, and boy were we surprised when it started spinning around too! Well, I don't know if any of us liked that too much, but we survived and thought it was pretty funny. Our next stop was the flume. We couldn't all go on together, so Shara picked daddy to ride with and mommy waited and took some pictures. Shara was a little nervous, but found that she did really like it and it wasn't scary. We finished pirate cove and decided lunch would be good, so walked over to the castle area, looked around a bit and once the bbq restaurant opened, went there. While we were looking around we saw one ride called the Knights' Tournament. There were people in the ride, but we didn't know what was going to happen. It finally started and they went spinning and very much like a gyroscope, went in all directions. Definitly not for us! Shara also didn't want to do the jousting and I don't blame her. She thought it looked boring - pretend horses on a track that moved very slowly around a pretty large track in a nice woodsy setting. But they did move slow and it looked like mostly little kids were on it. So lunch was next and we all split a big combo dinner, cornbread, and a salad. Just perfect for us all and really good for amusement park food. From there we went on to ride the boats. These were cute! Shara and I went in little raceboats and Shara got to drive the boat! These were a bit hard to steer, and there were actually several people that got spun around and had a difficult time getting back to the correct direction. But we managed - Shara controlled the "gas" and when times got too hard to navigate, I took over the wheel. We made a good team!

During the whole time we were keeping our eyes open for geocache clues. We found a puzzle cache and were on the lookout for 11 clues around the park. There were several in Miniland USA, which was really cool! I had heard that the replicas of famous landmarks was great, but I was skeptical. We all agreed it was something to be seen. That actually took quite some time to walk around, so when we looked at the time to decide what to do next, Shara thought a snack and playing at the Hideaway play structure would be fun. It was a good idea. Shara & I had ice cream and Daddy got some fried apples. Playing in the Hideaway was a great activity, but we couldn't stay there all day because we wanted to see at least one of the shows. It turned out that we got a little lost and didn't get there in time to see, but ended up playing with more water. After a bit of playing there, in DUPLO Village, we headed back to the Hideaway. That really was a lot of fun and Shara and I had a turn to play this time. Last time Shara and Daddy went around so Shara knew all the fun spots and she would go up one way and I'd go up another, we'd meet at the top level and go down the slides to the bottom. These slides started in pitch black and were really fun and fast!

We had to leave because it was near closing time and Shara was really going to crash soon. Dinner ended up being a mess. We didn't think going out would be a good idea and all Shara would agree to eat was sushi, so we gave in and found a place that looked like it got high ratings on Yelp, but am looking now and see that it didn't get the highest. It was lousy - I had the Japanese curry, which was a bit like Thai curry, but pretty bland and very watery. Shara had a tuna roll, which she liked pretty much, and Alan got a couple of things, Monkey Balls being one of them. I think the balls were coated in tofu and deep fried, but they didn't taste very good and the spicy tuna roll he got wasn't so great either. While Alan & I were finishing dinner, Shara started watching TV and Glee came on. I told her not to listen and only pay attention to the singing and dancing part, but I'm sure the rest went over her head anyway.

Carlsbad Vacation - Day 1

We got up super early to get to the airport to make our 6 am flight. As last time, Shara was a huge helper at the airport. She wheeled one of the suitcases, stood in line patiently, and really did a great job getting herself together for security. Shara and Alan had fun playing BrainQuest in the airport, but we all found it a little difficult to stay entertained during the long flight. We managed by taking a little nap, doing some puzzles, playing Uno, and reading Peter Rabbit and the beginning of the Phantom Tollbooth, but Shara didn't care for Phantom Tollbooth yet.

We landed, got our luggage, and finally found where to get the bus to the car rental station. More lines, but we prevailed and finally got the car and made the good decision to get a GPS too. Then we went directly to Hodad's, getting to see some surfers on the way. Waiting in line, Shara amused herself and others by practicing her dancing. One woman inside Hodad's noticed Shara dancing and had to come out to tell her that her Pa da sha was beautiful. That was very nice to hear!

When it was our turn, we got seated in the bus - Shara actually needed a booster!

Alan & Shara in the bus

What a strange nose!

Blue cheese



Big Mouth!



It's a fun place with tons going on. It was hard to order, but Shara got a mini-cheeseburger with ketchep and pickles on the side. We split a 1/2 order of frunions - really good steak fries and onion rings. They came with good ranch dressing. Alan got the bacon cheeseburger and I got a mini-hamburger with blue cheese & grilled onions. Shara didn't like the onion rings but ate almost her whole burger and lots of fries. It was really good and messy.

We needed to all make a trip into the bathroom to hose ourselves off. We then took a walk down the street and even went into a real record store.

Our next stop was Balboa Park to see the Japanese Friendship Garden. There were lots of interesting sculptures at the various museums and gorgeous flowers. The garden is actually closed because they're expanding, but Shara's favorite part was running around the Organ stage and playing fashion model. We meandered our way back to the car, after playing tag and running around, and went to check in at the resort. It's nice and small. Our room is overlooking the golf course. There is a pool and the grounds are pretty. We get a special back entrance to Logoland and can even walk there!

For dinner, I ordered some pizza & salad and while it was getting ready, went next door to the market to pick up some things for breakfasts. At the market they had flats of local, Carlsbad strawberries - 6 pints - for $3.99. Even though we were on vacation and it was only the 3 of us, I couldn't resist. We actually ended up eating all but about a pint, which we brought home with us. The pizza and salad were pretty lousy though.

Big Girl Party

Yesterday Shara went to a Rock Diva's bday party and I emailed the mom to see if it was a drop-off or not and it sounded like it was so I dropped Shara off and she went up with the birthday girl and joined right in. What's funny is I got there and the other moms had stayed the whole time! I would have liked to have stayed and talked to them and seen Shara get dolled up. It was a rock diva party. They said she did great getting her hair and makeup done, and watching her face when they did her hair was funny. She was wrinkling her nose as they pulled but she didn't make a peep. She also was a great model - they brought out a runway for them to strut! They took video & pics, so I'll be able to see. Shara also said if I had stayed she would have basically attached herself to me and wouldn't have had so much fun, so it was good I didn't. I told her she should be very proud of herself and it looked like she was.

Cupcakes - finally a photo of all of us!

Photo By thomasglobal

Yum, cupcakes cupcakes everywhere!

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Kids' Choice

I recorded the highlights of the Nick Kids' Choice Awards and I'm drinking my coffee, listening to Shara hoot and holler in the other room. I'm guessing Jack Black is up to something!

This weekend Shara and Alan went to see A Midsummer Nights Dream at Boston Ballet. They both thought it was great but would have been happy with just the first part. The second was about 1/2 as long and not nearly as interesting. That night we went to dinner at one of our church friend's homes. It was nice. Shara warmed up after quite a while, but still had a good time. She's also been reading a borrowed copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She loves it and is already about 1/3 of the way through! Apparently it's not too old for her, but I had my doubts.

Breakfast

Today shara got dresser quick so she could make her own breakfast. She got out the raisin spice oatmeal and even cut up her own banana. She also took out some of the sugar from her cereal, but that's a little tougher, and not so effective if you eat it. She started to ask how much water to put in, but then remembered she could read the directions herself!

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Big help

This morning I asked shara if she wanted to get dressed quick and start emptying the dishwasher. She loved the idea and did a fabulous job, earning her some spending money.

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Pink is nice, but not in the eye

I was in the middle of a conference call today and the school calls to say that Shara has pink eye. Well thanks to Mrs. Ross paying good attention, it was caught before Shara had much pain. I picked her up and we were able to get to the doctors and get the prescription filled. On the way, we stopped at D'angelo's to pick up a couple of sandwiches. In the car I confessed to Shara that I was pretty nervous about putting the ointment in her eye. I was concerned I'd put it in wrong, make a mess, put in too much, etc. She totally understood because she gets the same way too. So we became partners in this venture and before we ate, we went into the bathroom and she held her eye open, looked up and I put in the goo. Then she yelled, "ow, ow!". I asked if it hurt and she said no, so I told her to stop yelling and she did. We then enjoyed a great lunch and will most assuredly be frequenting D'angelo's again.

Two front teeth missing

Shara was one of three kids who lost teeth today at school. I'm trying to get her to let me take a picture of her, hope to post today.

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