Here fishy, fishy...

We (Donna, Jack & Joe, Mema, and I) drove down to San Diego after church on Sunday. My better half got us a Travel Agent “deal” on a room at the San Diego Best Western. If you haven’t stayed there, save yourself some misery and don’t. Spend a few dollars more for a bed that doesn’t implode when you lie in it, a room that doesn’t reek of Pine-Sol & hogfarts, and a location that doesn’t make you feel as if your bed is actually in the middle of the busy street instead of just next to it.

We arrived Sunday afternoon and decided to spend a little time at SeaWorld (since we got “twofer” tickets allowing us to visit two days in a row). We saw the dolphin show and the animal show (who knew that cats can be trained and that it’s actually somewhat entertaining to watch them?). We petted stingrays and starfish. It was fun. Around 5:00 or so we headed down to Seaport Village. We stopped for fish&chips at an outdoor restaurant. The food was pretty good but Joe kept freaking because there were pigeons congregating around his feet. They probably would have gone away if he had stopped dropping french fries. That night was one of the most sleepless (sleeplessest?) nights we’ve ever had. Around 2:30 a.m., Donna hopped out of bed and ran to the window. A car alarm was wailing away and she said, “My alarm is going off, someone’s breaking into my car!” She pressed the remote on her keychain a few times and then it stopped. I finally rolled out of bed and looked out the window. Nothing. We got back into bed and the alarm started up again. I sprang out of bed (quite a sight, I’m sure) and ran to the window to find that the alarm on a car far across the parking lot had been tripped. I fell back in bed, all wired at the thought that I was going to have to get messy with a creep trying to steal my kids’ DVD player. My wife had little trouble falling back asleep (as evidenced by her enthusiastic snoring). It was about that time that I remembered my wife doesn’t even have an alarm on her mini-van. I considered strangling her in her sleep with the lamp cord but I was too tired so I just went back to sleep.

The next morning brought blue skies, sunshine, and perfect weather. We hit SeaWorld as it opened and took in a few shows. The Shamu “Believe” show which they’re making such a big deal about on the commercials was “meh”.A large part of the show consists of those marine biologist nerds nattering about how they’re “living the dream” and all that pap. Then they “randomly” choose some 8 year old girl out of the audience and ask her what she wants to be when she grows up. Of course she wants to be a “whale trainer” and most of the crowd “aaaaahhhhh”s over her (except for the cynics like me who quietly throw up into their $9 Shamu souvenir cups).
After the Shamu show we took in SeaWorld’s version of Cirque de Soleil (and I probably didn’t spell that right but I don’t care because it’s really just a bunch of muscle-bound fairies hanging from wires with a little bit of slapstick comedy thrown in). My kids thought it was hilarious, though, and I got a kick out of watching them watch the show. And then there was the ring-trapeze girl who, with very little effort, could absolutely ruin my life. Lordy, the things that woman could do. I… just… oh forget it, you wouldn’t believe me and I’d only embarrass myself trying to convince you. We then saw the Haunted something or other, I don’t recall exactly what the name is but it was a fun 4-D experience. I was even spit upon by a catfish. Which has never happened to me before so I enjoyed it.

We took in the seal & walrus & otter show. Very cute, the girls that put on the show seemed to really enjoy themselves. Lots of laughs. It was getting toward time to leave so we headed for the gate. We noticed that “Journey to Atlantis” (the park’s only water/rollercoaster ride) was back in action and Joe begged us to ride it. So Donna & I took the boys while Mema waited patiently. It was a blast and the car hadn’t even stopped when Jack & Joe started hollering, “We want to go again!”. When we stepped out of the exit Mema saw the smiles on our faces and started waving us to go back for another ride. What a great grandma. The second ride was even better. And wetter, thanks to some jackhole that paid an extra $.25 to blast us with a shot of water. The boys wanted to go a third time but the line had more than tripled so we called it a day and drove home. I enjoyed the time talking to my mom about work, church, life. I laid down in bed last night and replayed the past 2 days in my mind. I truly am blessed!