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Planning
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Now that Josiah is in kindergarten, the previously-unadventurous Chans became even more home-bound, apart from a couple of overnight trips to Spokane to pick up and return Grandma Chu to the airport there. But with Josiah getting a week of spring break to start the month of April, we thought of taking a driving trip to the Bay Area. Winnie had e-mailed a couple of people to see whether they were available. One, a former next-door neighbor, mentioned that they were going to be gone that week on a trip to San Diego. We had been considering taking a vacation there during the summer but instead decided that we should make use of our two Southwest free flight vouchers to take a spring trip there. Gilbert had previously considered using one to fly to Florida to watch the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis, with his college friend Rex Walheim aboard. However, the launch date was moved back to the week before vacation, so those plans were shelved (the launch would eventually be postponed a second time so that it took off during our trip).
There was no question that one of the intended destinations was Legoland, which Josiah had read and dreamed about. The San Diego Zoo, which Josiah had been to (and slept through) before Andrew was born, was another planned destination. By the time we had decided to take this trip, it was already February and there were no good flights from Spokane to San Diego for that week on Southwest. Even Burbank and Ontario did not have a full selection and no deep discount fares. We decided to fly to Burbank from Spokane leaving Sat 3/30 and returning Sat 4/6. This opened up chances to visit friends in the LA area but cut the San Diego time to 3-4 days. After some looking and asking around, we thought of possibly going to either Wild Animal Park or Sea World. Because we only wanted to do 3 big things, we chose the zoo instead of Wild Animal Park, and decided to keep Sea World on the agenda instead of spending a day at the beach and lesser items, or possibly including the Long Beach aquarium traveling back. Trip to San Diego
Josiah participated in part of the planning but we kept him in the dark about possibly seeing his old neighbors. He would occasionally say that he couldn’t wait for the beginning of the trip. Andrew just listened and looked along with Josiah at books and videos of animals and sea creatures, but that wasn’t an obvious difference from their normal activities. We picked Josiah up from school Friday and immediately departed for Spokane, so we could stay overnight and be ready to go to the airport Saturday morning. The cubs were able to get to sleep in spite of their desire to take advantage of the chance to watch animal programs on cable, and we were able to get to the airport with plenty of time. Spokane Airport is not very crowded, and Gilbert and Josiah were able to take the parking shuttle back to the car to fetch some other things to bring…but not old puppet friend Davey Dog, who was assigned to watch the car while we were gone.
| Andrew was in his own seat for the first time (we also carried his car seat aboard) and he slept for much of the trip because he had less than usual sleep during the night. During our layover in Oakland, Winnie was unable to find the snack bag in the stroller and hurried back to the other part of the terminal hoping to find it in or near the plane we had left. Shortly afterwards, it was found in the stroller canopy and Gilbert had Winnie paged over the PA system, but possibly when Winnie was in the other plane so she didn’t hear about it until she gave up and returned. When we got to Burbank, Andrew got to climb around while Gilbert loaded the two car seats (we had put Josiah’s booster seat in checked baggage). We then let Josiah sleep while Winnie went to Target and Andrew climbed around the car some more. Because some of the hotels reserved through Priceline.com had no sofa or second bed, Winnie bought Josiah a small sleeping bag as well as a pack of diapers for Andrew. We then drove to Culver City to visit our friends the Changs, who have two small boys. We also went to a Saturday night service with them at Shepherd’s Gate church a few minutes’ drive away for Easter eve. The next morning we went with them to a nearby park. After lunch we drove to Pasadena to visit another family we know, the Butlers. They were having an Easter party in their back yard and Josiah found his share of plastic eggs. Andrew found a couple and also picked up some lemons and limes from the ground. The kids also spent some time in the trampoline. Afterwards, all the kids got a basket with candy and a small stuffed rabbit. Josiah named his Hopper and complained when Andrew would occasionally take his. Andrew didn’t give his a name but mostly chewed on one if its ears. We left the party early and visited one of Winnie’s friends who lived near Northridge and finished Easter in a non-traditional way by going to Abe’s Deli for Jewish food. We then had a 2 hour drive to Carlsbad while the kids slept. San Diego and environs
Monday morning came and we quickly checked out and took the short drive to Legoland. There was a wait getting into the lot but we didn’t have to queue up to buy tickets, as Winnie’s friend’s husband had purchased them for us. Our friends who had also lived in El Cerrito were not so fortunate and didn’t get in for another hour. Josiah tried figuring out how the magic show worked. Andrew loved going around the playground area called "Duplo Playtown" without worrying if anyone was watching him. Josiah took advantage of that playtime to go to “driving school”, then did some exploration of display models while Andrew napped. The big people mostly liked looking at the big constructions in Miniland with their moving trains, boats and equipment. The kids also got some time in the different-age building areas before going to the shop (Josiah was excited to get a Lego shirt while Andrew did not want to let go of the little umbrella we got).
| Tuesday we went to Sea World. Gilbert ran back to the car looking for the camera but was unable to find it. Although we were worried we had lost it, we were free to roam around without having to stop for photo ops (we filled up the memory of the camera anyway the next day). Gilbert and Josiah went to the “Wild Arctic” and saw some sleepy polar bears while Winnie and Andrew went to see the penguins. We all went to see the otter and sea lion show (funny) and some other swimming seals and otters before a lunch/snack break and Andrew’s nap. Josiah was sitting on a handrail near a snack shop and tipped back and got a lump on his head. We got to see the Shamu show, with the spectacular orca riders. Josiah’s little stuffed orca ran away before the show and we never found him. Afterwards, we took another visit to the penguins before going back. We went to the Spaghetti Factory downtown and Andrew wanted to roam around and climb the stairs. Wednesday we went to the “World Famous” San Diego Zoo. First we visited the Children’s zoo and some birds and reptiles. We also met our friends from El Cerrito again and also a family from the Tri-Cities whose mother recognized Josiah from being brought to MOPS with Winnie. We got to see two pandas (one moving around) and also hiked up to the Polar Bear Plunge. The thick glass sometimes made us think there were two big bears in the tank but the one bear playing with floating objects was enough entertainment. The kids did a good job doing their share of walking in the hilly terrain (Andrew fell asleep in the early afternoon, much like Josiah did in his first visit at about the same age). The lost orca was replaced by another black-and-white animal, a stuffed puppet version of the panda Hua Mei. We later took a drive over to Coronado where Andrew ran around a playground (the weather being a bit cold to go to the beach) and Josiah took a nap, then we went out to dinner at a local restaurant with our friends from El Cerrito. Heading Home
Thursday we took a stroll through Balboa Park, which we did not stop by after the previous day's zoo trip. Gilbert took Josiah to a puppet show of "Heidi", then Winnie and the kids went to a model railroad museum. We then drove north, then stopped for a visit with the family of one of Winnie's college friends who lives in Aliso Viejo, and a brief beach visit. Friday was a rest day at the hotel in Irvine. After another visit with the Changs in Culver City, we checked into our hotel in Glendale, where the kids preferred to hang around the room instead of take another park visit. We went to Marie Callendar's and Gilbert had to take his pie piece back since the kids were restless. Andrew liked the little curtain between booths and wanted to be in his own puppet show.
The next morning we managed to get everyone up early enough to get to the airport with time and fly back without event.
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