Uncle Kathy Stays Busy Today

We did quite a few things with Kathy today.

She was great and showed up at the house at 9:30 and we were off, relatively quickly, to Balboa Park. There we found that the model railroad and the carousel were both closed until 11 am, so we walked into the museum areas for a while, peering at a fountain.

Then we found that the fountain run off went alongside the walkways for a good distance, simulating a rockbed stream with a cascade of tiny falls. Jet saw them and decided that it would be good to wade through them, and given the amount of chlorine I scented off the water, it seemed a safe enough thing to do. So he did it, for a good, long while. When he was finally done with it, the carousel and railway were open.

Balboa Park has a large number of things going on, in addition to the art and history and natural museums. The train is huge, two miles of track, a good five minute ride, and lots of little Burma Shave simulated signs. It's really nice. We got there and saw the train running the track and Jet literally ran around the fence surrounding it to get to the station. It's 1.75 for 1-99, so I got four tickets, we piled in and rode. It was really nice. Banked curves, wind in the hair, and the engineer really laid on the horn while we went through the one tunnel. Fun. Jet had to do it again, so Kathy was kind enough to take him again.

Then we went to the old carousel. Historical piece, with the brass ring game and everything. The guy rang the bell, did the music, setup the game, and away we went. I rode on the inside with Jet. We were on bobbing horses. John and Kathy were along the outside ring, going 15 miles per hour, as they flew past the ring station. Two other ladies were playing as well, and it was interesting to see how adroit folks were at pulling the rings off the arm.

John won. *grin* Jet rode, by himself, on a stationary seat, that he seemed to like very well indeed.

When it was done, he had to ride the choo-choo one more time, and Kathy, again, obliged. This time, they sat near the back, with the stuffed giraffe. When they were done with that Jet wanted to eat something. We went back to the car, dug out all his food from the cooler, and sat down on a bench by the carousel as he proceeded to eat everything we'd brought for him. He did it very methodically, going through all the cream cheese crackers first, and then the quartered apple, piece by piece. He had a little waters, made no objection to getting into his disposable nap diaper, and then went right to sleep as we drove away.

We napped. Those that could. I had a two hour nap, and needed it.

Then we packed up the car, headed down to La Jolla Shores, joined the crowds on the sand and in the sun, and had a blast on the beach. Mostly digging sand castles in the sun until we got too hot, and then jumping into the surf to cool down. We were all slathered in sunscreen, but evenso, I could feel my shoulders gradually starting to crisp. I never did get a burn, but it felt pretty close.

The castles were fun. Just big mounds of sand in the midst of the moat dug from the sand used to build the mound. We kept moving them up the beach as the tide rolled inevitably in. One abandoned site was taken up by four very energetic kids, who dug and dug and dug and abandoned it soon after it was underwater more often than not. The sand sliding away, like cornstarch that's been patted. It was fun dribbling sand and water onto the structures like Silly Sand, and having it stay put. We'd build turrets and towers and they'd collapse. They'd jelly when patted on the side as the sand would suddenly slide with the water next to them in motion and lubricating suddenly.

Mmmm...

An hour and a half later, we dusted ourselves off, fit back into the car, went home and showered. Then we went to a Vietnamese place, and had the biggest catfish I've ever seen. Deep fried, tender, steaming, and beautiful, with crisp skin, moist flesh, and we ate it wrapped in rice wrappers with fresh mint, cilantro, lettuce, and plenty of pickles and fish sauce. Wow. It was great. Jet plowed through three bowls of rice and sauce, rejecting the one with fish sauce on it, after he'd asked for it, but otherwise quite happy to be eating with us. He and Kathy wandered off after a bit, to peer at crabs and lobsters.

Eventually, we headed home, where Kathy popped in Iron Giant and Jet watched in rapt attention through the whole thing, and had to have an hour to wind back down after the very dramatic ending. He had ice cream to help. We ate lychee, talked, and eventually Jet went to sleep. He's been doing pretty well, sleeping all night when he does get to sleep, but it took me until 11 to get him down tonight. Bleh.

Uncle Kathy Stays Busy Today

We did quite a few things with Kathy today.

She was great and showed up at the house at 9:30 and we were off, relatively quickly, to Balboa Park. There we found that the model railroad and the carousel were both closed until 11 am, so we walked into the museum areas for a while, peering at a fountain.

Then we found that the fountain run off went alongside the walkways for a good distance, simulating a rockbed stream with a cascade of tiny falls. Jet saw them and decided that it would be good to wade through them, and given the amount of chlorine I scented off the water, it seemed a safe enough thing to do. So he did it, for a good, long while. When he was finally done with it, the carousel and railway were open.

Balboa Park has a large number of things going on, in addition to the art and history and natural museums. The train is huge, two miles of track, a good five minute ride, and lots of little Burma Shave simulated signs. It's really nice. We got there and saw the train running the track and Jet literally ran around the fence surrounding it to get to the station. It's 1.75 for 1-99, so I got four tickets, we piled in and rode. It was really nice. Banked curves, wind in the hair, and the engineer really laid on the horn while we went through the one tunnel. Fun. Jet had to do it again, so Kathy was kind enough to take him again.

Then we went to the old carousel. Historical piece, with the brass ring game and everything. The guy rang the bell, did the music, setup the game, and away we went. I rode on the inside with Jet. We were on bobbing horses. John and Kathy were along the outside ring, going 15 miles per hour, as they flew past the ring station. Two other ladies were playing as well, and it was interesting to see how adroit folks were at pulling the rings off the arm.

John won. *grin* Jet rode, by himself, on a stationary seat, that he seemed to like very well indeed.

When it was done, he had to ride the choo-choo one more time, and Kathy, again, obliged. This time, they sat near the back, with the stuffed giraffe. When they were done with that Jet wanted to eat something. We went back to the car, dug out all his food from the cooler, and sat down on a bench by the carousel as he proceeded to eat everything we'd brought for him. He did it very methodically, going through all the cream cheese crackers first, and then the quartered apple, piece by piece. He had a little waters, made no objection to getting into his disposable nap diaper, and then went right to sleep as we drove away.

We napped. Those that could. I had a two hour nap, and needed it.

Then we packed up the car, headed down to La Jolla Shores, joined the crowds on the sand and in the sun, and had a blast on the beach. Mostly digging sand castles in the sun until we got too hot, and then jumping into the surf to cool down. We were all slathered in sunscreen, but evenso, I could feel my shoulders gradually starting to crisp. I never did get a burn, but it felt pretty close.

The castles were fun. Just big mounds of sand in the midst of the moat dug from the sand used to build the mound. We kept moving them up the beach as the tide rolled inevitably in. One abandoned site was taken up by four very energetic kids, who dug and dug and dug and abandoned it soon after it was underwater more often than not. The sand sliding away, like cornstarch that's been patted. It was fun dribbling sand and water onto the structures like Silly Sand, and having it stay put. We'd build turrets and towers and they'd collapse. They'd jelly when patted on the side as the sand would suddenly slide with the water next to them in motion and lubricating suddenly.

Mmmm...

An hour and a half later, we dusted ourselves off, fit back into the car, went home and showered. Then we went to a Vietnamese place, and had the biggest catfish I've ever seen. Deep fried, tender, steaming, and beautiful, with crisp skin, moist flesh, and we ate it wrapped in rice wrappers with fresh mint, cilantro, lettuce, and plenty of pickles and fish sauce. Wow. It was great. Jet plowed through three bowls of rice and sauce, rejecting the one with fish sauce on it, after he'd asked for it, but otherwise quite happy to be eating with us. He and Kathy wandered off after a bit, to peer at crabs and lobsters.

Eventually, we headed home, where Kathy popped in Iron Giant and Jet watched in rapt attention through the whole thing, and had to have an hour to wind back down after the very dramatic ending. He had ice cream to help. We ate lychee, talked, and eventually Jet went to sleep. He's been doing pretty well, sleeping all night when he does get to sleep, but it took me until 11 to get him down tonight. Bleh.