Water Kitties

Another fun thing we did in San Diego was check out the harbor seals that have taken over Children’s Pool Beach in La Jolla.  The man-made cove was originally intended to be a more sheltered place for families with young children to enjoy the beach, since the wall protects the beach from the very strong waves that are prevalent in that area.  However, harbor seals discovered a nice, peaceful beach and have taken it over as a prime spot for sunbathing.  No more swimming for kids, but it’s really cool to go see the seals.

Here they are!  You can see the man-made wall that protects the beach from the biggest waves.

Oh, yes, and pelicans.  Did I mention there were pelicans?  They’re HUGE and funky-looking birds.  The kids wanted to know what the white stuff was on the rock.  They were somewhat grossed out to be told it was bird poop.

It was pupping season while we were there.  This is a mother seal with a nursing pup.  We saw a bunch of pups with their moms while we were there.  So cute!  Apparently the colony had 42 pups at that point, with the potential for more.  We didn’t see quite that many, but we did like the ones we saw.

There’s the end of the wall that protects the beach.  We were there for about an hour (and in a minute you’ll see the pictures from when we walked around the wall) and got to see lots of harbor seals frolicking in the water.  They’re hilariously uncoordinated and slow on land, but of course they’re very agile and quick in the water.

We walked around to the wall, and found that some seals that value privacy more than their friends were basking on rocks just on the other side of the wall.  These are the ones that really got Simeon interested, because he could see them up much closer.

In fact, he was so interested that he gave them a name:  water kitties.  That’s what he called them from the time he spotted the one above until a few days later, when the girls taught him they’re called harbor seals.   Yeah, these are the ones without pups…which might explain why they’re not basking with all the ones with pups…

This was Hannah’s favorite.  She asked me to take a picture because it looks like a leopard.  This one was inside the wall. 

Those two blobs in the lower left corner aren’t seals, although they look like them.  They’re rocks.  I think there are at least 5 babies in this picture.

Here’s the view from the wall.  It’s quite a lovely place.

The seals think so, too.

Hannah and Naomi, both looking slightly pained.  But they really did enjoy seeing the water kitties.

They’re quite cute.

  And it’s amazing to see them in the wild but up close and personal.

That’s what Sim was saying when I took this picture of him…

The Surprise

In more than one sense.  When we visited San Diego, Michael was looking through the guide book to see what we would like to do.  He came to the Maritime Museum, which turned out to be walking distance from our hotel.  They have the ship that was used in the movie Master and Commander to depict the Surprise.  We were pleasantly surprised, and went to see it.  We have seen the movie, but really, we went because we really like the book series, written by Patrick O’Brian, the starts with Master and Commander. 

Michael was like a kid in a candy shop.

Not that I didn’t have fun, too – it was really cool! – but I think we could have done only this in San Diego and Michael would have deemed it a fantastic vacation.

Here’s the ship’s bell, as in “turn the glass and strike the bell,” and “it was 8 bells,” etc.  Hannah and Naomi got a lot of naval instruction on this field trip.

Simeon mostly got to ride around in the backpack.  We did let him down for certain parts, but a ship is something of a hair-raising place with an 18-month boy running loose on it.

There was a questionnaire for kids to fill out.  Hannah avidly searched for the answers to the questions, which covered several of the ships.

 Naomi enjoyed visiting the ships, but lost interest in the questionnaire pretty quickly.

Waiting at the capstan to be paid. 

Demonstrating how the sailors were paid at the capstan.

 

It turns out that this ship was a replica of an early-1800s ship.  It was actually built in the 1970s.  The steering was actually done by a mechanism that is hidden belowdecks. 

But you really can’t have that showing in your Master and Commander movie, now, can you?  I might be given away, though, by the length of black rope securing the wheel to its stand.  It’s there next to my left knee. 

Something tells me this wasn’t standard equipment in the early 1800s…

Hannah has the same thought. 

It really was quite an impressive ship.  And really fun to see in real life. 

Belowdecks there were some interesting museum displays about ships in the era this was meant to be from.

Did I mention that Michael really enjoyed this?

We finally relented and let Sim out.  Above, he’s trying to view the display Michael’s describing. 

Did I mention that it’s somewhat hair-raising to let your 18-month boy loose in a ship?  Here he is, trying to crawl out the window in the captain’s cabin.  Note the hand holding his jacket.

Note the innocent expression:  “What?  I wasn’t going to do anything dangerous!”

  “What did they keep here?!?”

Yeah.  Nothing dangerous.  Just let me get up here on the rail and have a little balance test. 

We really enjoyed visiting a bunch of the vessels at the Maritime Museum, but I think that the Surprise was the favorite for Michael and I. 

 

Enrollment might be limited…

Hannah was regaling us this evening at dinner with how she plans to run her convent when she’s a mother superior.

“MY convent is going to be old-fashioned.  There will be no electricity and no running water.”

Michael and I exchange glances.

“AND there will be no heat and no insulation.”

Michael and I mentally plan to stay elsewhere when we go visit the convent.

“Oh, but there will be regular potties.”

Michael asks why no other running water if there’s going to be water running to the potties.

“I don’t like pit potties.”

Ah. Yes. 

We did manage to talk her back into insulation, since it is technically somewhat old-fashioned.

But I’m guessing that there won’t be too many postulants. 

More talking

Sim is talking up a STORM these days.  He’s starting to do 3-word sentences, such as, “Doggie says WOOF!”  He also says things like, “Go see HanMimi,” “Go stairs,” “Come on,” “Come on girls,” [It cracks me up that he picked up the “girls” part, but I say that sort of thing on a regular basis, so it’s not too surprising, really.  But it’s still amusing, especially when he’s standing there, waving his arm in the “come on” gesture, and saying it.] “No thank you, Mommy.”

He’s picked up some other key words and phrases:

Me:  Sim?

Sim:  What?

Me:  Where are you?

Sim:  Right here.

Me:  Oh, be careful up there!

Sim:  All right.

***

One really amusing thing that he does is say “No Mommy no Mommy no Mommy no!”  Okay, that in itself is not so funny.  But he always says NO MOMMY, whoever he’s talking to.  If he’s annoyed enough to start that chant, it’s never anyone’s name but mine that he uses.  This is especially amusing when Michael’s getting him ready for bed and he’s reciting “No Mommy,” despite Michael’s best efforts to get him to say “No Daddy.”  That will come soon enough, I’m sure, and Michael will probably wish he was back to “No Mommy.”

Heehee

The kids and I drove past Michael the other day as he was biking home.  Naomi called out the window, “HI DADDY!”

When we got home, Naomi waited outside for Michael and then asked him, “Did you recognize my beauty when we drove by you?”

Happy Easter!

Christ is Risen!

April Fools can be fun!

Especially if you’re someone who doesn’t usually pull pranks. 

This morning, Hannah asked me to cut the core part out of an apple quarter while she finished her morning routine in the other room.  There were another two quarters, so I cut those, too, and sat down at the table to enjoy them.  When she came into the room, she saw me eating the apple and gave a surprised look.  Feeling mischievous, I said, “Oh, I decided to just go ahead and eat the apple.” 

She looked totally shocked.  So I said, “April Fools!  Your apple is at your spot at the table.”

****

Coming home from Naomi’s choir around 5 p.m., I said to Hannah, “Oh, I forgot to put about 5 things on your school list today!  We’ll have to do them when we get home!”

Hannah:  What!?!

Me:  April Fools!

****

We’ve been costing out some of the projects we’d like to do around the house, and our recent trips have brought up short our progress.  Michael knew that I was going to get moving on some of them again, so last night at dinner I said, “I contacted the windows guy, and since we had the bid done [4 weeks ago], prices have gone up 40%!”

Michael:  Oh my gosh, are you serious? 

Me:  No.  April Fools!