San Diego Weekend

San Diego Weekend
We spent the weekend in San Diego. Bryce insisted on a vacation to China or Japan but we had to talk him into going to Sea World instead. Thank goodness he gave into Sea World. (whew)
We drove in Saturday afternoon stuck in traffic b/c of an accident at the 405 south, Magnolia Ave exit (fountain valley area). A big rig/Shivers Ice truck burned and melted. The 1st 3 lanes were closed so that added 50 minutes to our drive down south. It took us 2 hrs and 40 minutes to get to SD. There were no hotels in our price range for the weekend that I could find on my own so I got a room through Hotwire.com. We only knew that we may get Quality Inn or Comfort Inn or Days Inn. A 2 star rated hotel but we figure it would suffice since we were only going to sleep there and not lounge or stay much in the room. It's a chance we took (b/c we needed a room) b/c we didn’t know what we'd end up with until after you pay w/your credit card and the confirmation tells you what hotel you'll be at. We got Quality Inn which I thought would be "ok". However, to Bryce, it was not what he expected. We checked in, go to our room, & first thing out of Bryce's mouth was…"Mom! Dave! This place is not like the one we stayed at in Las Vegas or the one we stayed at for the Hot Wheels convention! Where is the kitchen and everything else?!" (spoiled kid I tell you)
We had a coupon for Buca and gift card so we ate dinner at Downtown SD for dinner. We walked from Buca downtown San Diego to Petco field. It was a LOOONG walk to the ballpark to the parking lot. There was no parking except 3 blocks up from Buca's. Now we know why there were no hotels! There was baseball game at Petco field and some bike marathon going on! Kyle picked out a SD baseball cap since he's been so into baseball and wants baseball caps. We walked down to the stadium & back up past Buca. 4 flights of stairs to the car....Huffing and puffing along the way…..but I made it!
Sunday morning got up for the continental breakfast. We go downstairs and it's a true continental breakfast. (toast, fruits,dry cereal, danishes, muffins, juice, milk & coffee) The last couple of places we stayed at had hot breakfast buffet with all the fixings.(I highly recommend Homewood suites by Hilton family) So when we went to get our food, Bryce says, "Where are the eggs? Where's the bacon? This is BREAKFAST?!" He had a bowl of Cap n Crunch cereal and a yogurt and was none too happy about continental breakfast! He was expecting to have the same luxury as he did in Vegas and at the Hot Wheels Convention! We had to explain to him what continental breakfast means. Boy did he feel cheated!
We took off to Sea World at 10am and stayed til 11pm. We were on our feet the whole day…I know I drank tons of water. Food at Sea World (believe it or not) is pretty good. My friend (thanks Tina!!!) let me borrow her family pass/discount (30% off everything) so we used it for parking (free), food and souvenirs. It definitely saved us money! Shamu Rocks for sure. We are truly amazed at the animal trainers, dolphin & whale trainers. How do they do it? The dolphins & whales can truly do a clean flip and dive that our own US olympic divers can't do w/out a major splash! Hahahah! Bryce now wants to be a dolphin trainer. Oy Vey!
Yesterday we went to Point Loma Lighthouse…(more walking) Friggen too high for me…I was freaking out everytime Bryce would get close to the edge. The ugly thought of him rolling off the cliff kept going thru my mind the whole time. We saw 2 F18 fighters take off from the naval base so bryce was pretty excited bout that. The lighthouse is located up in the Cabrillo National Monument so we were pretty high up and saw SD city skyline….the naval base…we even saw mexico/tijuana when we looked straight out! When it was time to take pictures, dave asked...you want the background of downtown San Diego? Which meant i would have to sit on that ledge/edge off the cliff) or w/the lighthouse in the background. Yup, I chose the lighthouse, no cliffs or dangerous edge behind me there! (yes i'm deathly afraid of heights).
After the lighthouse, we ate lunch at Oggi's Pizza/Brewery. They have about 6-8 homemade ale ranging from pale to dark. I thought of some of you guys sampling the brews and eating there at happy hour. Food is good so I recommend that place for pizza and beer. Too bad I cannot drink beer b/c (believe it or not) I like the taste of ale over regular beer.
After lunch we headed out to the Carlsbad outlet. Went to Gymboree and got two fisherman type hats(size 0-12 and a size 12-24 month) for the baby. They were 5.00 each and they look exactly like the one that Dave wears. Dave found a matcing shirt for 3.00 to go w/one of the hats so we bought it. Headed over to Osh Kosh Bgosh and I nearly died there. Jeans cost 26.00 for babies! $26.00! At 40% off it would've been about 16.00. Who pays 16.00 for jeans for a baby? Not me. I did find 2 pairs of shorts at 2.00 each so I bought those instead. Since when has Osh Kosh been that expensive? Maybe I never noticed it before? Went to Baby Gap to see about picking up a baseball cap for the baby too but they only had one left and it was 8.00. I decided against buying it since the Gymboree hats were a better deal and 8.00 was a lot for a Gap baseball cap that might only last a few months since it was a newborn cap. Ho hum….can you see baby w/a Gap baseball cap on? Oh how cute huh? Hehehee..I'll go to another Gap outlet to see if I can find one for him later on. For 8.00, it seems expensive to me.
We headed to Stride Rite shoes to buy a pair of baby walking shoes but I didn't buy them. I wasn't sure what size to get. Bryce was the late walker at 9 1/2 months. Kyle walked at 8 1/2 months and Brad walked at 7 months. I didn’t want to buy the shoes and end up not getting the right size. These shoes usually cost 50.00/pair and they're 25.00 at the outlet. Checked out another baseball cap place for kyle, toys store for Dave & bryce and headed straight home.
While in San Diego, we noticed a lot of out-of-state cars. So we had a game to see if we could find 53 (included guam, puerto rico and baja california) out-of-state license plates. We ended up finding 34!
I have to say I got my exercise this weekend with all that walking. Thank God for tylenol for the achy muscles otherwise I don’t think I would've lasted the last 3 days in SD. I definitely like SD as it reminds me of San Francisco a lot but w/out fog.
p.s. Saw some interesting strollers at Sea World. There was one that looked like a golf cart. Definitely the cadillac of all strollers. Took a picture and the name so I wouldn't forget. The mom had a matching diaper backpack w/it too! I saw a couple at my cousin's wedding w/the same stroller too and thought.oh man..it has to be an expensive stroller. Sure enough, I checked it out online and the stroller cost $1200.00!!! It is called a Stokke xplory stroller. The diaper bag comes free w/the purchase of the stroller. The diaper bag retails for 120.00! Maybe these are the kind of people that will pay $26.00 for a pair of Osh Kosh BGosh jeans for their baby huh? YOWSERS I tell you! I think it's worth waiting for a huge sale or thinking twice about spending a large amt of money on an expensive stroller. It just doesn't sit well w/me when it comes to buying stuff like that at such a high price. The stroller i got is the same exact weight as the Stokke! Now granted the Stokke stroller "grows" w/the child and it is adjustable w/height to use like a high chair, but still 1200.00?! I guess if one can splurge, i guess it's the thing to do, but wouldn't you want to splurge on other things?! I have to honestly say, buying a stroller and a car seat is so much like buying a car! The more you spend, the more luxurious and more equipped it is...The lower price you pay, the less you get. I say go mediocre! hehee heheheheh...