Ed Week - Day 2 - Aquarium and Beach

Today started pretty slow. I hadn't meant for it to, but after some pajama time and coffee, it was already after 9am! We meant to be at Blocks' house by 10:30 and that is half and hour drive from our house.  And here we were all in pajamas just finishing a breakfast of French Toast and orange juice. Ed said not to worry as they weren't morning people anyway.

After packing more dry clothes and towels into the car, we stopped for lunch at Del Taco and headed over to Blocks' house. It was noon and Eden was just waking up for the day. We made our plan for the day and since we had to take two cars, we said we'd meet at our destination.

The plan was to go to the Scripps Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. Mike said it was great and Eden will like the tanks of fish. I already have a family pass to the Aquarium and two guest passes that expire soon, so his idea was a pretty good one. Then we'd go to the beach at La Jolla Shores, it is half a mile from the aquarium and free parking. Mike suggested we stop at Costco and grab some burger and buns and grill hamburgers at his time share in Carlsbad for dinner. Sounded like a great plan.

Ed, Gracie, Libby, Charlie and I left first and the Blocks said they'd catch up at the aquarium. We were there for at least an hour before they showed up, maybe more. It was a very busy day at the aquarium; I've never seen it that busy! Libby's nose sprung a leak and she had a bloody nose that just kept bleeding the whole time we were at the aquarium. Her dress was splotched with blood and she held a kleenex to her face most of the time, but that didn't stop her from having a good time.

Along came Mike, Mandi, Sierra and Eden. By the time the Block family showed up, our kids were pretty much done and they wanted to go to the beach. I'm very thankful that the aquarium is such a fun place for the kids. They have a playground outside and a little play area inside, plus the tide pool where you can touch starfish and sea cucumbers. Very easy to keep the kids entertained even past the point of their attention span.

At almost 4pm, we went to the beach. I got the best parking spot ever! It was busy and cars were just hanging out in the parking lot rows waiting for someone to pull out, but I rolled right in and someone left just as the timing was right for me to pull right in. I was super happy about my prime parking spot! We got the wagon out of the trunk and filled it with towels and stuff and went to play in the water. The kids had so much fun! Libby got cold pretty fast, but Gracie never gets cold and Charlie had on his wetsuit, so he was just fine too.

Libby snuggled up in the wagon and ate snacks while the other two played in the waves. They ran in and out of the waves, splashed and ran. They build sandcastles and volcanoes and dug puddles. They scared birds too. So much fun! Charlie even got to fly a kite!

Two young men were flying long strings of kites and they let people hold the kites. They didn't ask for money, or try to send anyone to a kite shop on the beach, nothing like that. They just shared the joy. It was so neat to see Charlie flying that kite!

Eden was not impressed with the ocean. He was so looking forward to seeing the ocean and playing in the water, but when he was there, he was scared. He clung to Mike and Mandi and Ed and he kept telling them that there was too much water. He didn't like that the water was sloshing in toward where he was standing. And he was cold. The sand was cold and the water was cold. He was a disappointed little boy.

We decided to skip going to Carlsbad and grilling dinner and decided to meet at a restaurant nearby. That was fine, but then Charlie fell asleep in his carseat before we got very far and so Ed called Mandi and found out that they had changed their minds. They wanted to go to a buffet place that served salads. Last thing Ed wanted was a salad buffet, and so we grabbed some burgers and ate them on the way home. It was nice to avoid taking the kids in and out of the car again.

In the last two days, we've eaten three meals in the car. We've also had a lot of wet kids, sand, dirt, burps and farts.  I've tossed out the trash as it accumulated, and removed the wet clothes from the trunk. The car stinks!