grandlidbom san diego christmas, days 2 & 3.

after our action packed first day with the grandlidboms, the lidkids spent the night with them, and since we didn’t have anything planned until lunchtime on day two, our morning at the camper was lazy and glorious. i savored a delicious cup of coffee outside by the lake, with no bickering, whining or cartoon sounds inundating my senses. it was lovely.

after our quiet morning, we met up with everyone at the hotel and then headed out to lunch. on the way, we made a scheduled stop at this random topiary garden in someone’s yard.

lunch was at the bluewater seafood market and grill. it was soooo good. and. apparently, it was on diners, drive ins and dives. so. guy fieri was here.

after lunch, we went to cabrillo national monument. it was mostly just a lighthouse and a museum.

but the views were pretty cool.

and the kids got to earn a junior ranger badge.

well. the big two that is. hazel literally slept for the entire time.

after the badges were secured, we went over to the nearby tide pools. they closed at 430, enforced by a national park ranger, so we had to work fast.

an anemone, closed up after a few too many pokes.

isaac was really into it, being the top anemone toucher amongst the lidkids.

anna was still working up her courage to touch the waving tentacles. she was very conflicted, between curiosity and fear.

also. there were a million other kids running around, flipping rocks and poking things.

as our deadline approached, isaac and i packed up to take some pics and leave. derek stayed behind with anna, who was still struggling internally.

sunsetting views are pretty great on this left coast.

back at the parking lot, i snapped this picture of all the people out in that little cove. when we left, i noticed a group of people in one spot, but didn’t think much of it. later, derek would tell us, there was an octopus that everyone was investigating (poking, throwing rocks at, etc). he said it was pretty big, but couldn’t get a decent picture of it. also, finally, anna touched an anemone, and all order was restored.

we rolled back to derek’s parents hotel, where we were hoping for an actual date night. but, our plans were complicated by some lidkid meltdowns, so we ended up just grabbing some thai and eating out of to-go boxes. it was a rough night, but the food was good.

for our day three adventure, we met up with the grandlidboms and lidkids in the bay, for a harbor cruise. we started out in the back, on the lower level of the boat.

we had a nice little corner to ourselves.

crazelnut, doing a bit of binocular viewing.

we passed under the coronado bridge a couple of times. fun story. it is curved like this to make it long enough for the city of san diego to get federal funding. good old politics.

about a quarter of the trip was dedicated to identifying and talking about navy ships that consume the entire water front for long stretch. (in other words: boring).

a favorite moment. this seal. or maybe sea lion. lounging on the buoy. who waved at us as we went by, when the ship’s tour guide called out to her.

when a bit of boredom set in, the girls and derek went inside to check out various seating accomodations.

hazel’s mean face. so i’m told.

sadly. ike wasn’t feeling great. perhaps a bit of sea sickness. or fatigue. either way, he was a trooper about it.

for the second half of the cruise, we relocated to the top deck. it was much more awesome up there.

san diego skyline view.

isaac let me take a selfie with him. if you count holding him down and restraining his hands so he couldn’t cover his face “letting”.

lidkids and dad.

after the cruise, derek’s dad took us to a mexican restaurant he used to frequent back in the day. i think it has changed ownership and/or locations since then, but it was still delicious.

my nachos. mmmmm.

at this point, we realized that we were trying to cram too much in and that we should probably dial back the activities. so we canceled our afternoon plans and lounged around in the afternoon. derek and i took the opportunity to finish up some christmas shopping (attempting to make everything completely fair). i don’t need to tell you about what target is like on december 23rd.

and that’s how we wrapped up christmas eve eve. target.