SD Natural History

I gave the kids first pick and, after describing to them what types of things each museum held, they chose to see the dinosaurs.
         
I remember being mesmerized the first time I saw a Foucault pendulum as well.  The dino displays were cool—the models were open on one side to show the bones but, as you can see, were mocked up on the other side to resemble a “real” dinosaur.

                
Another pretty neat display—you were able to move the bones to see the motion of the joints.
 There was a spectacular section on plate tectonics, movement of the earth’s crust and earthquakes, followed by mastodons, giant sloths and other prehistoric models.


A few more large-scale skeletons, but mostly lots and lots of skulls.  We actually had a pretty good discussion, comparing sizes, types of teeth, etc.
                
Then there was a nice little play and dress-up area.  Always good.

The design-your-own-skull/dinosaur station was our last stop here.

                      
Then we went to a playground, because . . . you know, it’s what we do.

Even from the playground, you can still see the bell tower of the Museum of Man.

   
Time to check in!  Instead of staying in a hotel and eating out all week, we rented a studio apartment with a full kitchen and brought all our food with us.  It worked out beautifully!

My dining and adventure companions :)

SD Balboa Park

As soon as we arrived we headed to the Visitor’s Center to pick up my ticket package, which ran something like $85 for the week and covered admission everywhere, including the zoo.  The kids were both free everywhere, all week, thanks to a promotional month (October) that they run every year.  And that, by the way, is the 90% of the reason we made this trip—no way were we going to miss out on this much culture for those kind of discounts!

This first set of photos is just the exteriors and grounds—things we saw as we strolled between the car, the Visitor’s Center and our first real stop, the Natural History Museum.
                 
Parking was surprisingly easy (and free again), although I expect it’s much worse in the summer.  As we left the parking lot and came around the corner, the first thing we saw was the side of the organ pavilion.  Just past that is the Japanese Friendship Garden.  We haven’t even made it onto the main avenue of the park and already I’m pleased and impressed.

If you had to pick just one landmark from Balboa Park as the most recognizable, it would be this bell tower which is part of the building housing the Museum of Man.  The bell tower, along with several other prominent buildings, was constructed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition to commemorate the completion of the Panama Canal.

                     
After that quick stop at the Visitor’s Center, we turn to walk down the central (pedestrian) avenue, El Prado, and see, on our left, the Botanical Building and, on our right, well, that’s just a covered walkway.  The vast majority of the architecture in the park is in that ornate Spanish Colonial Revival style, with the exception of a few distinctive buildings such as the Botanical Building there and the replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. 

Passing several other museums along the way, we reach the Natural History Museum and head inside—I’ll show you that next time.

                      
Eventually, we finish up with the dinosaurs and their buddies and we come on out to grab a snack.

                    
Happily, there’s this nice fountain directly in front of the Natural History Museum—that’s the Science Museum right across the way—where we can sit for a moment.  Circling the fountain, you can see the bell tower in the distance.

The kids enjoy the echoes of the colonnade, and since there’s no one else around at the moment I let them give me an impromptu concert.

                            
Frankly, at this point I couldn’t tell you precisely which buildings these are, other than to say that we saw them as we were headed back the way we’d already come.  But you should be getting a pretty good idea of the overall flavor of the park at this point.  Not a bad place to walk around for a while, definitely.

Almost back to the car, we’re passing the organ pavilion again when someone starts playing Phantom of the Opera!  Free concerts are given every Sunday but, unfortunately, we weren’t there on a Sunday so we never did get to see the organ itself, but getting to hear the organist’s practice session was pretty fabulous.  Naomi jumped right up on stage and started dancing to the music—she probably danced up there for 20-30 minutes while the organ played bits and pieces of well-known tunes.

Most of October

Zippity-zoom!  Look at me go!

         
Autumn decorating and the announcement of a third little pumpkin!

    
A fair came through town and, in addition to riding a few rides and eating pizza, we also got to see some belly dancing!

Still doing my own toenails and getting pretty darn good at it, I think.
  Afternoon “camping” on the island at the end of the cul-de-sac.

       
Not that they actually slept out there, but if they had, this is about what they would look like when they woke up.  Naomi’s more of a slow-starter and the bedhead is about right too; Logan is always up with a bang and a grin.

                            
Super-hero style.  Yes, super-heroes definitely do dishes.

                           
Artwork.  This was how Naomi “did school” with us for a while.  On the right is Logan’s self-portrait.

Our big San Diego field trip is up next!

Pumpkin Patch

Alright, we’re getting down to the wire.  On the plus side, I WAS pregnant when these pictures were taken, so I’m *only* 9 months behind!

           
I love our beach; it’s not one where you can frolic in the water with the kids but it’s great for hanging out on the sand and watching/admiring everything.

Training for her debut performance with Cirque de Soleil.


                         
This was our last big outing before Jake left: the pumpkin patch—and train ride of course—at Irvine Park.

Boy, am I glad that little field trip of Jake’s has come and gone!

Chug, chug!

                        
There’s also a straw bale maze to explore and a few other attractions.  Logan was not a fan of the (very small) haunted house; he’ll still occasionally mention that he didn’t like the witch in the cuckoo clock.

              
The overall experience was a hit though, and those pumpkins lasted FOREVER!  I tried to get rid of them earlier but the kids argued that they wanted to keep them and they weren’t spoiling yet, so we held on to them . . . until March.

       
Just some miscellaneous beautiful things I saw around the park.

Picnic time.

  
Daredevils.
 

Pre-deployment portrait.