From the time we found out that Matthew won this vacation to the day of the trip was barely a week and a half. Not much time for someone like me who tends to plan every detail months in advance! Luckily I have a couple friends who grew up in Southern California, and they were so helpful in giving us ideas of things to do while we were down there. We made lists of the places we wanted to go, bought books and drawing supplies to keep the kids busy on the flights, packed our bags and we were off!
When HBO had asked when we wanted to leave, we told them early on Wednesday, and late coming home on Saturday. We wanted to have the most time possible down there, but we were not quite prepared for the time they ended up booking our flight. Saturdays flight was fine, we were scheduled to land at PDX at 7:30pm, but the departure time for Wednesday morning was 6:45am! Since you have to arrive 2 hours before your flight, and we live 45 minutes from the airport, that had us waking up at 3am, and leaving the house at 4am. Tanya had kindly offered to come pick us up at my house, drive us to the airport, and drive my car home again so that we would have to park it at the airport, which was a huge help to us.
Once we got to the airport, we sailed through security and went to wait at our gate. Our plane was there waiting for us:
Things were starting to feel real about then, and we were all really excited. The time flew by, and we boarded the plane at about 6:15. We manged to get a whole row to ourselves, Killian and Matthew on one side, and Rowan and I on the other. Killian has flown before, but not since he was Rowans age, so he didn't really remember it. They were both so excited, and were glued to the window for most of the ride:
We got into San Diego at about 9am, and went to pick up our rental car. We couldn't check into our hotel until 3pm, so we stopped by the mall to pick up a pass that would give us 1/2 price admission into a long list of museums down there. It was on our way into the mall that I realized I didn't have my cell phone. I searched all our bags when we got back to the car, but couldn't find it anywhere. The last place I remembered seeing it was on the airplane, when I was turning it off before the plane took off. Losing my phone certainly damped my spirits for a little bit, but Matthew encouraged me not to worry about it and I didn't want to let it ruin our trip. So I tried to put it out of my mind, and we headed off to our first stop of the trip, the U.S.S. Midway museum. Its an aircraft carrier that they made into a museum, and it was going to be the site of the HBO premier party the next night. As soon as Matthew had told me where the premier was going to be held, I realized that this carrier was the same one my dad had served on when he was in the Navy!! He told me so many stories about it when I was growing up, and its a time in his life that he has very fond memories of. I was really excited to get to see the ship my dad had spent so much time on, and to take a bunch of pictures of it for him. Even though my dad and I are estranged right now, I knew how much he loved being in the Navy and that ship, and how much pictures of it would mean to him. The kids were really excited to check out "Papa's ship" too.
I wasn't prepared for the size of it! This ship is enormous, and there was no way I could get more than a third of it in a picture at one time:
The tour was a self guided walking tour, and as we started out we passed the ships store:
And then found ourselves in the sleeping quarters. Its pretty crazy seeing how little space they had and how squished everything was. I cant imagine getting a good nights sleep here, but I suppose its something they got used to:
Each man had only one locker, and the space beneath his bunk to store all of his personal belongings:
Further on we came to this huge room with these enormous chains and wheels. I didn't get a chance to read any of the signs since the kids were running all around exploring the room, but I am assuming it had something to do with the anchor system.
On our way up to the next floor, the kids and Matthew ran into some trouble and ended up in the ships brig, looking very forlorn:
Eventually we made it up to the deck, where Rowan placed a quick call:
And we looked at all the aircraft and jets parked up there.
There were a lot of planes that the kids could get into and explore, and they happily buckled up and pretended to be pilots:
One of our last stops on the way back through the ship was the control room, and Rowan found herself in gadget heaven. She could have stayed in these rooms all day, playing with all the knobs and buttons...and there were plenty of them to explore!
We stopped at the gift shop on the way out, and I bought my dad a Midway hat that we got embroidered with his last name on the back. I am planning on putting together a photo album of the pictures we took and sending that and the hat to him soon. I hope that he likes it, and that it means as much to him as I think it will :)
When we got done at the Midway, we had just enough time to get checked into the hotel, and get ready for the dinner HBO was treating us to. We met at a restaurant called Rei Do Gado, in the Gaslamp quarter of downtown San Diego. On our own, this isn't somewhere we would ever have chosen to eat (mainly because it cost $48 per person) but I am so glad that we got the chance to do it. The food was amazing! The restaurant is a churrascaria, or a Brazilian barbecue. There is no menu, when you come in there is an all you can eat salad type bar, and then at your table you have a cylinder of wood that is green on one end, and red on the other. If you place the green side up, the Guachos (servers) will begin bringing skewer after skewer of meat to your table (you place it red side up to signal that you have had enough). For the smaller meats they slide how much you want off onto your plate, for the larger hunks of meat they slice you off a piece right at your table:
There were a few meats that we didn't get to try (and some that we didn't want too, like the Cupim which was the hump of a Brahma bull) but we did sample a good amount of meats. Some of the ones we liked were; Bacon wrapped Filet Mignon (this was by far mine and Killian's favorite - he is still talking about how good it was), Peru Com Bacon (Turkey wrapped in bacon), Coxa De Frango (Chicken drumsticks with cheese), Lombinho (Pork Loin), Costelinha De Porco (baby back ribs), Fraldinha (Skirt steak) and Pernil De Ovelha (Leg of lamb). The kids and I had never eaten lamb before, and I am proud of them (and myself!!) for trying it....it was actually pretty tasty, and has me considering cooking up some lamb at home! Most of the meat was between rare and medium, which is not normally the way I eat it, or let the kids eat it. Matthew likes his steak to practically still be mooing, so it was perfect for him. He said he was surprised that we ate it, but you know, it was actually pretty good that way. Maybe I can cook my normally well done steaks a little less in the future - the flavor of all these meats was extraordinary!
The kids were very anxious for dessert after such a feast. Rowan chose a slice of chocolate cake to share with Matthew, and Killian and I shared a banana split. Like the rest of the meal, these were delicious!
I just have to say how proud I am of the kids - they were very respectful of the environment (very upscale and fancy - they were the only kids in the whole place) and they remembered their manners and behaved so well. I told Matthew that we should think about taking them out to nice restaurants like this a few times a year - they will get to experience some foods that they normally wouldn't, and I think its good for them to know how to behave in places like that. Teaching kids manners seems to be a dying practice nowadays, but its really important to me, so I like to expose them to situations that they can learn from. As a bonus, maybe will learn which fork to use with what course - something I am still not sure about ;)
We were so exhausted after dinner, we had all been up since 3am, and it was starting to wear on us. I think we were back to the hotel and all in bed asleep by 9. It was a good thing too, since we planned to hit the Zoo the next day, and we knew that was going to involve lots of walking. We were going to need our energy....
When HBO had asked when we wanted to leave, we told them early on Wednesday, and late coming home on Saturday. We wanted to have the most time possible down there, but we were not quite prepared for the time they ended up booking our flight. Saturdays flight was fine, we were scheduled to land at PDX at 7:30pm, but the departure time for Wednesday morning was 6:45am! Since you have to arrive 2 hours before your flight, and we live 45 minutes from the airport, that had us waking up at 3am, and leaving the house at 4am. Tanya had kindly offered to come pick us up at my house, drive us to the airport, and drive my car home again so that we would have to park it at the airport, which was a huge help to us.
Once we got to the airport, we sailed through security and went to wait at our gate. Our plane was there waiting for us:
Things were starting to feel real about then, and we were all really excited. The time flew by, and we boarded the plane at about 6:15. We manged to get a whole row to ourselves, Killian and Matthew on one side, and Rowan and I on the other. Killian has flown before, but not since he was Rowans age, so he didn't really remember it. They were both so excited, and were glued to the window for most of the ride:
We got into San Diego at about 9am, and went to pick up our rental car. We couldn't check into our hotel until 3pm, so we stopped by the mall to pick up a pass that would give us 1/2 price admission into a long list of museums down there. It was on our way into the mall that I realized I didn't have my cell phone. I searched all our bags when we got back to the car, but couldn't find it anywhere. The last place I remembered seeing it was on the airplane, when I was turning it off before the plane took off. Losing my phone certainly damped my spirits for a little bit, but Matthew encouraged me not to worry about it and I didn't want to let it ruin our trip. So I tried to put it out of my mind, and we headed off to our first stop of the trip, the U.S.S. Midway museum. Its an aircraft carrier that they made into a museum, and it was going to be the site of the HBO premier party the next night. As soon as Matthew had told me where the premier was going to be held, I realized that this carrier was the same one my dad had served on when he was in the Navy!! He told me so many stories about it when I was growing up, and its a time in his life that he has very fond memories of. I was really excited to get to see the ship my dad had spent so much time on, and to take a bunch of pictures of it for him. Even though my dad and I are estranged right now, I knew how much he loved being in the Navy and that ship, and how much pictures of it would mean to him. The kids were really excited to check out "Papa's ship" too.
I wasn't prepared for the size of it! This ship is enormous, and there was no way I could get more than a third of it in a picture at one time:
The tour was a self guided walking tour, and as we started out we passed the ships store:
And then found ourselves in the sleeping quarters. Its pretty crazy seeing how little space they had and how squished everything was. I cant imagine getting a good nights sleep here, but I suppose its something they got used to:
Each man had only one locker, and the space beneath his bunk to store all of his personal belongings:
Further on we came to this huge room with these enormous chains and wheels. I didn't get a chance to read any of the signs since the kids were running all around exploring the room, but I am assuming it had something to do with the anchor system.
On our way up to the next floor, the kids and Matthew ran into some trouble and ended up in the ships brig, looking very forlorn:
Eventually we made it up to the deck, where Rowan placed a quick call:
And we looked at all the aircraft and jets parked up there.
There were a lot of planes that the kids could get into and explore, and they happily buckled up and pretended to be pilots:
One of our last stops on the way back through the ship was the control room, and Rowan found herself in gadget heaven. She could have stayed in these rooms all day, playing with all the knobs and buttons...and there were plenty of them to explore!
We stopped at the gift shop on the way out, and I bought my dad a Midway hat that we got embroidered with his last name on the back. I am planning on putting together a photo album of the pictures we took and sending that and the hat to him soon. I hope that he likes it, and that it means as much to him as I think it will :)
When we got done at the Midway, we had just enough time to get checked into the hotel, and get ready for the dinner HBO was treating us to. We met at a restaurant called Rei Do Gado, in the Gaslamp quarter of downtown San Diego. On our own, this isn't somewhere we would ever have chosen to eat (mainly because it cost $48 per person) but I am so glad that we got the chance to do it. The food was amazing! The restaurant is a churrascaria, or a Brazilian barbecue. There is no menu, when you come in there is an all you can eat salad type bar, and then at your table you have a cylinder of wood that is green on one end, and red on the other. If you place the green side up, the Guachos (servers) will begin bringing skewer after skewer of meat to your table (you place it red side up to signal that you have had enough). For the smaller meats they slide how much you want off onto your plate, for the larger hunks of meat they slice you off a piece right at your table:
There were a few meats that we didn't get to try (and some that we didn't want too, like the Cupim which was the hump of a Brahma bull) but we did sample a good amount of meats. Some of the ones we liked were; Bacon wrapped Filet Mignon (this was by far mine and Killian's favorite - he is still talking about how good it was), Peru Com Bacon (Turkey wrapped in bacon), Coxa De Frango (Chicken drumsticks with cheese), Lombinho (Pork Loin), Costelinha De Porco (baby back ribs), Fraldinha (Skirt steak) and Pernil De Ovelha (Leg of lamb). The kids and I had never eaten lamb before, and I am proud of them (and myself!!) for trying it....it was actually pretty tasty, and has me considering cooking up some lamb at home! Most of the meat was between rare and medium, which is not normally the way I eat it, or let the kids eat it. Matthew likes his steak to practically still be mooing, so it was perfect for him. He said he was surprised that we ate it, but you know, it was actually pretty good that way. Maybe I can cook my normally well done steaks a little less in the future - the flavor of all these meats was extraordinary!
The kids were very anxious for dessert after such a feast. Rowan chose a slice of chocolate cake to share with Matthew, and Killian and I shared a banana split. Like the rest of the meal, these were delicious!
I just have to say how proud I am of the kids - they were very respectful of the environment (very upscale and fancy - they were the only kids in the whole place) and they remembered their manners and behaved so well. I told Matthew that we should think about taking them out to nice restaurants like this a few times a year - they will get to experience some foods that they normally wouldn't, and I think its good for them to know how to behave in places like that. Teaching kids manners seems to be a dying practice nowadays, but its really important to me, so I like to expose them to situations that they can learn from. As a bonus, maybe will learn which fork to use with what course - something I am still not sure about ;)
We were so exhausted after dinner, we had all been up since 3am, and it was starting to wear on us. I think we were back to the hotel and all in bed asleep by 9. It was a good thing too, since we planned to hit the Zoo the next day, and we knew that was going to involve lots of walking. We were going to need our energy....