The Fortune's: Home Again!

Alright, we've been home for over a week now, and I should have written this blog the day we got home . . . or the next day . . . or the next day, but I didn't. What I can say even now is that I felt homesick for San Diego as soon as I stepped off the plane. This feeling only amplified when we saw our many friends again. Madison, Kate, and I spent our five days embarking on a series of adventures, revisiting our favorite San Diego attractions.

Before I begin recounting our trips, I want to say that our friends Rich and Diana picked us up from the airport. What makes this worth mentioning is that they are the parents of Madison's friend, Luke (sole mate is a strong word for two two year olds, but they are close). I did not get video of this, but in the airport, Madison caught sight of Luke from about 20 yards away and broke into full stride. Luke did the same, and there was the most passionate embrace two two year olds can have, followed by Madison saying, "Do you like my shirt?"

(Not the original reunion, but a similar embrace)

Day one took us to the San Diego Zoo. For those of you who have not visited the San Diego Zoo, it is by far the best zoo in the country. Of course, this is helped by the year round mild climate San Diego experiences. For Madison, it took a minute to remember the zoo, but as soon as we visited the hippos (her favorite animal), it clicked. We sat at that exhibit for almost an hour, as she watched the hippos run under water and she herself climbed over the bronze hippo statue beside the exhibit. Honestly, I would move back to SD just for the zoo. We spent the remainder of the day looking at tiger cubs, monkeys, and much more. FYI, they are also creating a giant elephant exhibit on sight.

That night we had dinner at Rich and Diana's house, so M and Luke could play more. Beyond Rich's passionate, and somewhat misguided, political talk, dinner was relatively uneventful. What I will say (and this is more of a message to Luke if he ever reads this and wants to court my daughter), "Luke, if you are going to date my little girl, you are going to need to toughen up. She ate you alive when we visited and had you crying to your Mom more times than an old women can pull the handle of a one armed bandit. Don't worry, Madison might bite, but you'll grow to love it."

The following day, Thursday, was spent on Coronado Island. We had lunch with my friend Sharon and visited my old squadron, where I was able to still run the fusbol table. Madison then enjoyed the beautiful Southern California weather at one of San Diego's many monster playgrounds. I then dropped off M and BK (Baby Kate) off with Xan and had dinner with the skipper of my old squadron before meeting Shelly and our friends Branden and Steph for a late night drink.

Friday was just as busy. We spent the morning having family pictures taken by Suzanne. Suzanne, who's work can be found at shewanders.com, is a truly incredible photographer and I cannot wait to see her pictures. Afterwards, we drove to Carmel Mountain and ate lunch with Shannon and her two dogs. We then drove to La Jolla, so Shelly could oversee the dress rehearsal of the wedding she coordinated. M, BK, and I enjoyed walking up and down the coast, and Madison loved going back to the Children's Pool to look at the seals, but the most memorable part of the day was taking Madison to the emergency room that night. We believed, from her avid refusal to pee all day, M might have had a urinary track infection. On the advice from Rich, who was probably punishing me for the dissension during the previous night's dinner conversation, I took Madison to the ER, for what to turned into a 4 hour ordeal. Madison turned out to be alright, and I am actually grateful to Rich, for if he hadn't called ahead and had us "fast tracked" we probably would have been there until morning.

Saturday, was perhaps my favorite day and my most impressive day as a father on the trip. It started with Xan, Her husband, Chris, and sister taking Madison and Kate to Sea World for Breakfast with Elmo. I was fortunate enough to get to tag along. Here is my plug for Anheuser Busch. If you do not know much about the company, besides them making bland domestic beer, they also own Sea World; and being a good, all-American company they give active duty military, and their dependents, one free visit to Sea World a year. This automatically makes Anheuser Busch one of my favorite companies, and I am sorry I can never drink their beer. (It will be interesting to see if this offer continues after the Belgium beer company, InBev, takes over Anheuser.) Elmo's breakfast was the typical commercial rip-off targeted for children, but it was something I was more than willing to do, for it was the one thing growing up my father usually refused to do. I will never forget vacationing near Orlando, Fl and my father refusing to take me to Disney World. As a result, I did not ride Space Mountain or Pirates of the Caribbean until high school. (To his defense, he did take me to King's Island every summer and has offered to take Madison to Disney World.) So I did not complain paying the $20.48 to eat a motel type buffet, but I was pretty disappointed in Elmo and his furry over-sized friends. We arrived about 15 minutes late to the breakfast but were told by the hostess not to worry for the breakfast would be served for another 45 minutes. With this, we found our table, got some food and tried to cheer Madison up, who was still pretty tired and grouchy from the ER debacle the night before. Finally, after eating some breakfast, Madison started to really enjoy herself and wanted to meet Elmo. The Sesame Street characters had lined up for a dance and we went to watch them with hopes to get pictures with each character afterwards except immediately after their little dance routine, a full 20 minutes before the breakfast ended, the characters quickly exited the room not to be seen again. I figure if we paid $20.48 for breakfast with Elmo then $.48 went towards the food and $20 was for the privilege of my child hugging and having her picture taken with these college drop-outs wrapped in shag carpet. The least they could do is stay around for the full hour. Now I understand why my father never spent the money on these things.

The rest of Sea World was the usual fun. Shamu rocks, the stingrays felt slimy, the seals were
loud, and the sea gulls were obnoxious. The children's play area has been revamped and is totally cool. There is now this giant rope ladder/tree house/swinging bridge that covers the expanse of the play area.

After Sea World is when I became Super Dad. M, BK, and I parted ways with Xan and went to our good friends Bob & Tom's house. There I put Madison down for a late nap before meeting Rich, Diana, and Luke for a free concert in Balboa Park. While M slept, I drove to Point Loma and picked up Phil's BBQ for everyone. (If you have never had Phil's I highly recommend it. Being from Kentucky and having gone to school in North Carolina, I count myself as somewhat of a bbq aficionado and will argue that Phil's Broham sandwich is one of the best pulled pork sandwiches in the country.) I then hustled back to Bob & Tom's house woke Madison and made it to Rich & Diana's in time for us all to walk to the park together. The rest of the night was Madison dancing with Luke to a band mixing bluegrass, classical, and Latino acoustics to classic rock songs. It was a great night, a memory of how we spent many summer nights in San Diego.

Sunday was pretty laid back, spending much of it hanging out with Bob and Tom before helping Steph Marty set up for a bbq she had for us. Steph threw (as always) a great party and was a trooper considering Branden had to leave town that morning for work. And let me tell you, she makes a mean ice cream sandwich!

Monday we flew back to Newport. If you have children, I recommend flying Southwest. Sure, the boarding process is a pain for families, but once on the plane, it is the way to go with small kids. First, all the families tend to congregate to the back of the plane, which is nice, for it is hard for the other passengers to pinpoint your child's screams. Second, because it is Southwest, everyone, including the stewardesses and passengers, are much more laid back. This takes the pressure off trying to keep you child perfectly quiet and still in her seat. The other nice thing for us was the flight was practically a direct flight, except for a short stop in Nashville, but we didn't have to even get off the plane.