Happy New Year to you all!! Here are the San Diego Diaries, I thought I would blog about our Christmas trip. Most of the credit goes to my sister who chronicled much of what we did, but she said I could plagiarize her diaries. 
The day before we left Jordan got up super early as he wasn’t feeling well. I kept him home from school and put him to bed early as he was totally worn out, afraid that he would get sick on the trip. In a way that was a blessing because we had to get up at 4:30 to catch our early flight. Jordan did great and even though we had a flight delay, managed to get to our hotel with some time to enjoy the day.
Our rooms were not quite as they looked in the brochure (go figure) but they were adequate. Jordan’s room had a bunk bed with a french door we could close to get him to sleep, which we really needed. But once the door was closed we had precious little room to even walk around the bed, so we felt quite cramped, especially when my sister and family arrived and we were trying to visit in our room! Their room next door turned out to be smoky (on the non-smoking floor) so they were relocated elsewhere, bummer. But our location was only 5 minutes to Sea World, the commuter trolley and Old Town. Nevertheless, renting a car was a good move.
The palm trees around San Diego really make you feel like you are in another world. It is a beautiful city and after the rain the first night we had wonderful sunny weather.
Friday morning we all took the trolley to the USA / Mexico boarder and walked across into Tijuanna. It was rather chilly (14c?). At the tourist information we were told the best places to get real silver and leather, where to eat, etc. I was thankful for some guidance as once you start, most of the shops seem to be selling the same thing. The merchants were coming out of their shops begging us to buy from them, after a while it felt like we were running a gauntlet! Jim loved to barter on things and had a great time shopping there. The merchants sure were in our faces and I mentioned to Adrienna (my niece) that this was good practise for her when she goes to Africa in a couple months. Adrienna was bartering for a necklace and whispered to her mom…”go get dad”…sure enough the price came down substantially when Jim was there! I am terrible at bartering, I got talked into buying a watch but had the fortitude to go back and return it, it was working when I left but surprise, 15 minutes later it wasn’t! So I picked up some very nice earrings instead. We found a great leather bag shop and I was happy to replace my very well used, worn out purse.
Jordan didn’t seem to be feeling well, all he wanted to do was sit on Sean’s shoulders. Sean felt pretty worn out soon enough, Jordan is not a light kid anymore! Somehow we lost AJ in Mexico. We were supposed to meet at a certain place that did not turn out as we had hoped and we lost him… Ruth Anne had a few panic moments but Sean said that if AJ could negotiate his way around Sweden and Vancouver, he would be able to find his way back to the hotel. So when we finally we went back to our hotel in San Diego…AJ was there…he had arrived shortly before us. What I found funny was while we were looking for AJ and for the rest of the family to tell them we had lost AJ, we stopped for lunch and found the rest of the family! I couldn’t believe it. It was easy to lose someone there as there were SCADS and SCADS of people.
On Saturday Jim and Sean and AJ went to see an aircraft carrier named “Midway” which is now a museum. The ship had 20 different planes on it and they enjoyed a tour of the entire ship. Jordan, Adrienna, Ruth Anne and I went shopping but at the first stop Jordan had a tummy ache and felt sick so I took him back to the hotel and they resumed shopping. Jordan perked up after a rest so we rejoined for supper and more shopping.
On Sunday the MacKnees went one way and we went another. MacKnees went up to La Jolla which was a lovely beach. The weather was warm and they enjoyed watching seals and some brave folks swimming and surfing. We went out for brunch and since Sean was now not feeling well, Jordan and I went off to Sea World for the afternoon. It was nice because we could get 2 days for the price of one, and so the pressure to try and “see it all” was off. We watched the dolphin show and Jordan laughed and laughed at all the people who got completely soaked. They are not kidding with the “Soak Zone” signs! We petted bat rays and fed dolphins, VERY cool. Jordan especially like the sharks, you could walk through a tunnel and they swim over and around you. Pictures don’t turn out too great though. Jordan was also able to pet a small 2 foot leopard shark in a little tank.
Sunday evening Sean took Jordan and I went with MacKnees to a church program called the “Gospel Messiah” – a black version of the Messiah. Can they ever sing! It is one of our favorite memories of the trip. A and AJ were especially impressed with the drummer and the bass players.
Monday Jordan again wasn’t feeling well so MacKnees went to Sea World and we took an hour to get some fresh air in Old Town San Diego … it is set abit like Barkerville except that it is free. Jordan turned out to be very sick with the flu so Sean went out to supper that night with MacKnees.
Christmas day Jordan was feeling somewhat better by afternoon so we returned to Sea world for a few hours. We celebrated a little Christmas together and went out for supper… Jordan was not up to that yet so Sean stayed with him and we brought him “take out.” And then it was time to go home!!!
Thankfully Jordan felt much better for the trip back and was a great little traveller. He was not impressed to arrive in Calgary to signs in English and not Spanish! So despite the illness, all in all it was a good holiday even if it did not feel like Christmas. I must say that we have never heard “Let it snow” more than we heard it in San Diego… if the carols are not about Christ … they are almost all about snow!!!! doesn’t suit California!
