March 12 2008

Dan wrote:

March 12 2008

Happy Birthday Dad, Happy Birthday Patrick.

Dallin’s birthday was yesterday.  We had a lot of fun.  One of our traditions is that we go out to eat to celebrate a birthday.  Dallin was very meticulous in his choice.  He had spent the last few weeks discussing the merits of various possibilities.  He finally decided that what he wanted was something like Golden Corral breakfast.  We found that there wasn’t a golden corral for over a hundred miles in the area.  We bargained with him that if he went to IHOP we would let him order as much food as he wanted as long as he was still hungry.  This turned out to be a bit expensive for us.  Dallin and Tyrell are both now disqualified from a kids menu.  They both made it through two kids meals.  The waitress was very surprised to see little boys eating so much.  Dallin spent a good part of the meal thanking mom for telling him about IHOP and trying to decide if IHOP or Pizza Hut was his favorite restaurant.

After the restaurant we were right across the street from a grocery store so we decided to take the opportunity to shop.  It was very interesting to talk with the butcher.  The butcher had a degree in marine biology and was able to tell us quite a bit about the different sea creatures.  He also gave us free samples of muscles and shrimp. He was very friendly and very helpful.  We bought a pound of muscles because Dallin kept raving about much he liked muscles.

We did the cook and read the directions sequence in exactly that order with the muscles which turned out to be less than optimal.  We wound up boiling and over cooking the muscles to the point where we lost a lot of the flavor was gone.  The next time we’ll know not to boil them and to just steam them.  Also you are supposed to take them out of the steam just after they open. 

With both Dallin and Natalyn’s birthdays we have had birthday cupcakes in lieu of birthday cake.  The cup cakes have worked out great in that they have been simple and don’t leave the left over cake that is just good enough to eat but not good enough to be worth the calories.  The ice cream of course is in a different class.  It is too good not to eat and worth every calorie.  Dallin kept talking about what a great birthday he was having and how he said “I’ll bet no one has had a party this good in years”.  I was very please he liked his birthday so well.

We closed out Dallin’s birthday by him and me going on a bike ride, run to the parks on mission bay.  I have been taking Ty, Dallin and Natalyn one at a time on my runs where they ride their bike and I run.  Dallin’s birthday also happened to be his turn to run.  The trip to IHOP conflicted with a morning run but the evening run proved to be quite enjoyable.  Normally I stretch while the kids take a break to play on the toys at the park but because it was Dallin’s birthday I played with him in the park.  It was some great time with him.

Today as Wednesday is our virtual Saturday.  We decided to move our play day to the middle of the week to break things up and avoid weekend crowds.  The kids and I were all very excited to get back to the beach after not getting quite enough play in at La Jolla.  We decided to go to Point Loma because we hadn’t been there yet.  Point Loma is in the Cabrillo National Monument National Park.  We were happy it was a national park as opposed to a state park because that meant that our Yellowstone pass got us access. 

Just before the park is a large military cemetery.  It was a very beautiful.  It was sobering to see scale of the cemetery.  Cemeteries also of course get me thinking about the finality of life and the fact the music will eventually stop.

Our timing didn’t work out well with respect to tides.  We got to the tide pools at high tide which didn’t leave much in the way of tide pools.  Our fall back plan of playing in the water was also spoiled in as much as we couldn’t find a place that the water wasn’t slamming into rock cliffs on the edge of the water.  Even though it wasn’t what we had planned it was truly amazing.  The waves were the highest waves Lexie and I could remember ever seeing.  I don’t know how high they were but they were high enough the larger ones were forming tubes as they broke.

The visitor center had a very interesting video about gray whales.  We may need to get down to Baja some winter to see the calving grounds. 

The kids enjoyed the light house.  I was very impressed with the view of the ocean and of San Diego.  There were also some interesting Navy ships in the water and military air craft of some sort or other in the air.

We decided to push our day a little and go back to Pacific Beach for a chance to play in the water.  I was curious to see if the ocean would be cold without a wet suit or if it was the sort of thing one would get used to.  I was pleased to find that after playing in the water for a while I wasn’t noticing the temperature at all.  I was able to swim on top of a couple of waves for a while.  I was also pleased to find that if I could swim into a wave just before it broke I would float right up the wave.  If get a wave in the break you just get it over you head.  After the beach we bought a body board from one of the local shops in part because we wanted on and in part because for the $16 purchase of the body board we were able to validate $8 of parking.  Body boards and wet suits rent for $16 for a half day so I saw the balance of $8 and the inconvenience of a little extra cold to be a good trade.  I think I am going to rent a surf board for a half day once before we leave but for the most part I think we are going to get some great play out of the body board.