Celebrity Encounters

Sean's had quite a few brushes with notable personalities in the past couple of weeks.  First, his class took a field trip to a local theater to see a production of Disney's "Aladdin" and after the show, the cast mingled with the audience. I asked Sean what he liked best about the show and told me, "Jafar gave me a punch!  He punched me on the hand! And I punched him back on the hand." I asked Sean a few more questions about this hand-punching and was able to deduce that Sean was talking about getting a fist-bump from Jafar :-)

Next, I took the kids to the library the other night and Sean got some face-time with the mayor! We were walking up the path to the front door of the municipal building (the library is located inside the municipal building) and Sean hid behind a pillar to try to surprise me, but picked the wrong side of the pillar and ended surprising the mayor, who was on his way into a town council meeting!  The mayor chatted with Sean for a few minutes before going on his way.  This is extra-notable since our mayor happens to be a kicking coach for an NFL team!

And finally, Sean - and Clare, too - met some pirates and princesses!  We went to a nearby farm to meet up with some pals for a Pirate & Princess Party.  The kids mingled with Jack Sparrow, Snow White, Merida, and of course - Anna and Elsa!!

Sean had a long chat with Princess Merida...

...before taking this excellent photo:

Clare hung back - the princesses made her a little shy.

Meanwhile, Sean chatted with Snow White - he asked her why she was holding onto that old, poisoned apple.  Afterwards, he got in a photo with the sisters from "Frozen."  But Clare was still feeling shy - even about her favorite princess, Princess Anna!

But Clare agreed to get her photo taken with Anna and Elsa as long as she could sit on my lap:

Storybook Land

We took the kids out for a day at Storybook Land!

Storybook land is made for kids so the Sooy Babies were able to ride just about every ride in the park.  Clare was a couple of inches short for only one of the rides, which she was NOT happy about!  Other than that one ride, we got to ride a a tilt-a-whirl, flying elephants, a carousel, and even the (kiddie) roller coaster!  Our first stop was a picture with the Mother Goose statue:

And then we paused to enjoy the Christmas music (Storybook Land was celebrating Christmas in July that day) and to check out the map of the park. Just like Daddy, Clare really likes to hold the map - the first few times we got off a ride, she'd ask to see the map and say, "Now, where do we go next?"

Selfie on the tea-cups ride:

Sean really liked this little tunnel that went underground and was painted in neon colors - the tunnel showed scenes from Alice in Wonderland and ended up...

...in a playing card maze! We found our way through the maze and the kids celebrated with a big hug:

All throughout the park, there are little kiosks and dioramas depicting different nursery rhymes - some are simple like the Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater pumpkin pictured above and some are more elaborate like this Little Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe... shoe:

And then we happened upon these stocks.  Sean managed to look so remorseful...

While Clare can't resist a cheeky smile:

Towards the end of our visit, we asked the kids to each pick one ride to go on again before we left. Clare picked the roller coaster - she loved it! Sean picked the train that winds it way through the park:

We said good-bye to Storybook Land, stopped at Wawa for a quick snack and then hit the road - this was the scene in the backseat a few minutes on the Parkway:

Ships and subs and aircraft carriers oh my!

We spent a whole day in San Diego at the Maritime Museum and the USS Midway museum.  We started out on the Steam Ferry Berkeley - 

This boat was built in 1898 and houses the museum's main operations, as well as a neat exhibit on all sorts of different boats.  There was even a little office in which two older gents were building model ships - not a bad way to pass the time as a retiree in San Diego, I bet!

Then we toured the USS Dolphin Submarine - it's the deepest-diving submarine EVER!

We played around some cannons...

...before touring a B-39 submarine, a diesel-electric Soviet submarine which was in service from 1970-1990.

Then we boarded the Star of India, the world's oldest active sailing ship!

Inside the Star of India, there was a mini-ship in which the kids took turns being captain and swabbing the decks.

We pretended we were pirates and tried to climb some rigging:

Then we took a lunch break for some excellent fish n' chips, fish tacos, and black bean soup - all while sitting in the bright, warm sunshine!

Next up was a tour of the USS Midway:

First we explored some of the planes that are housed inside the aircraft carriers:

Then Daddy and Sean took a ride in a flight simulator!

And Clare napped...

Clare continued to nap while Sean and Mommy took a tour inside the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th decks of the ship:

Sitting in the Boss' chair:

Keeping a vigilant watch:

Steering the ship:

We also got to go inside planes and helicopters that are on display on the Flight Deck:

While Daddy and Sean listened to a neat talk given by a retired sailor who used to work on an aircraft carrier, Clare and Mommy explored some of the planes:

After we'd had our fill of the Midway, we strolled over to the park next to it to check out "The Kiss" statue:

"Cheese!"