San Diego Vacay: Days 2 & 3

The main purpose of this little trip was to get Ari her second round of stem cells.  The mission was completed successfully (albiet not without snags), but it’s over and we’re in waiting mode again.  Tomorrow will mark two weeks since Stem Cell Therapy, which is still kind of early to see any major results, but Ari has already started jabbering more.  Last round (in February 2010), the talking was the first thing to show up, but it was also one of the few things to taper off completely too, so I’m not letting myself get too excited about it.  The good parts are still to come *fingers crossed*.

On Friday (the day after stem cells), it was cloudy and kind of lousy as far as San Diego weather goes.  It wasn’t so optimal a day for the beach, so we opted to go to the San Diego Zoo instead.  Neither Jake nor I had ever been, so it was a wonderful new experience for all of us.

I have never seen such a beautiful zoo – it was exactly like it was described on Madagascar: “Sandy beaches, cleverly simulated natural environment, wide-open enclosures,” not to mention the plethora of green that seemed to blanket the entire grounds.  Green vegetation is a thing of wonder when you live in the desert.

We took a tour bus around the zoo so we could cover more ground.  The animals were a real hit with Gabriel and Isabella.  Ariana started out terrified of anything that moved, but when the bear decided to take a dump in front of us, she changed her mind about him and quickly deemed him to be hilarious and loveable.

The kids got to miss their nap for our zoo trip, so Bella decided to lay down for the last hour or so and recoup in the Radio Flyer.  She’d get up and run around every once in a while and then dive head first back into the wagon to “rest”.

San Diego Vacay: Day 1 (Sea World)

With the kids and me being in school this year, we have much less free time on our hands, and even fewer moments that we could clump together and reasonably consider “vacation time”.  We decided to make the best use of the kid’s October break from school and carpe diem in San Diego.  The trip was not wholly vacation, however, as the true purpose of the trip was to get Ari her second round of stem cells (2 million this time).

The day after we arrived, we made our much-anticipated trip to Sea World.  Everyone had been begging to sea Shamu and diligently practicing the Shamu chat for the past several weeks.  While we were there, we saw the Dolphins show, Shamu show, the Pets show, and a 4-D Pirates movie.  Between show times, we breezily went through a few animal exhibits and hit the rides. 

Isabella and Gabriel loved watching the animals, but we had to curtail that part of the trip a little more than we’d hoped, because Ariana wouldn’t stand for them.  Unfortunately, it seems that Ari’s animal phobias have generalized to pretty much all animals, with few exceptions.  The adorable sea lions didn’t get much slack from her because of their loud barking either.  We are working on some gradual in vivo exposure therapy techniques with her, to help her overcome this fear like we did with gloves, but it’s still very much at the beginning stages.

Ariana had to warm up to the animal shows, but once she did, she really got into it.  Gabe and Bella needed no convincing. :)

 

“Shamu Shamu!!!”  My four cheer on Shamu as the rows beneath us get soaked from the splashing.

       

Upon their request (very key), we took the three littles to see ‘Captain Lucky’s Pirates’ 4-D movie showing at the theater.  Gabe and Bella felt very grown up and wanted to sit separately from the rest of us.  It wasn’t long after the movie began, that they quickly changed their tune.  During a part where some bees started coming at our faces and buzzing behind our chair, my two brave ones suddenly became babes again, and we had tears streaming down cheeks and shrieks of terror!  Not a but a minute or two later, a giant spider was lowering itself onto us (in 4-D) and there were skeletons whispering in our ears.  After this, Gabe was happy to sit on his Daddy’s lap and no longer thought so much of maintaining his big boy image in the theater.  He was literally shaking through the entire rest of the movie.  Gabe talked non-stop about the “mean 'ol’ bees” and the “mean ol’ spider” and the “scary skeeeelllletonss” (in his spookiest voice) for the rest of the trip.  Thankfully, Ari didn’t have her magic glasses on and she was sitting on my lap, so her version was much tamer than everyone else’s.  Do I regret taking them?  Ha… no.  They are no worse for the wear, and Jake and I have those adorable memories to carry with us for the rest of our lives. :)

 

Isn’t it funny how you can go somewhere as unique as Sea World where the largest predators in the ocean are trained to perform tricks before our very eyes, and my kids’ favorite part are still the fair rides (in this case, Elmo’s Flying Fish and Zoe’s Sea Star Spin)?  Guaranteed win every time.

 

I don’t like it when Isabella falls asleep in the car (it ruins her nap)… and she doesn’t care too much for when I try to wake her up!