January

January is always a funny month for me. First, there is winter vacation. It ends in January. I leave school in one month in one year, and return in another. Second, it is the month of Matan’s birthday, and reminds me of how much I miss him and how much he is missing out on a relationship with Fiona. Then, there is a day off not long after returning to work (because of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, I had fun trying to explain that one to Fi and why there are no cake or balloons). And last, there are final exams for my students, which means that I don’t teach any new content for a few days and then finals week is short and the days are shorter because kids are taking tests, and then there is some time off for me. So it’s a funny sort of month.

Fi correctly guessed the fruit that was in the bag:

There was a mad dash to find Fi a flu shot. I had one back in September, but Fi never got one because we did not have occasion to take her to the doctor to get one. After hearing some flu horror stories, we decided to do something. Her pediatrician was all out of shots for kids her age so I took her to the public health office. She was concerned that they would not have the cool banaids that the doctor has, so she brought her own. The hours at the public health office were very limited and even though we got there early, the very rude and inefficient woman told me the wait was over an hour (there were two or three other parties in the waiting room so I did not understand why it would take over an hour just to get a flu shot, but then realized that not everyone was there for the shot, but all were to be seen by the same nurse). Anyway, after some calling and emailing, I learned that Fi’s pediatrician had the flu mist and she was old enough to receive it. So off we went. Fi did great! Because it was not a shot, she didn’t need a bandaid, but she wanted a bandaid, so the nurse gave her three. She put one on her nose. All four of the banaids (the three from her doctor’s office and the one she brought in case public health didn’t have cool ones) found their way to my purse. Eventually they all fell off.

 

My child is so serious sometimes.

The tall ships were visiting one of the local harbors so we went to explore. There were two ships, the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftan, both from Washington state. They spend their time sailing up and down the west coast.

 

  

Fi and I had fun pushing and pulling the tiller:

John said we actually moved the boat at one point.

One of the ships set sail for an adventure voyage with paying tourists and one it’s way out, clipped the other ship and actually damaged some of the woodwork around a window.

 

 

The sailors on board were very nice and answered all of our questions about the workings of the ships. The ships themselves are replicas of merchant vessels from the 17th and 18th centuries. They were pretty neat and it was a pleasantly spent morning.

We took a trip to San Diego. Fi pretends to go to San Diego a lot so John and I decided to take her as a surprise. We originally planned to go during winter break, but the potty training sort of took over, so we delayed, and I am glad we did. I had a long weekend and John was able to take a day off, so we drove south. The drive was uneventful and I have nothing to report, save Fi took a short nap. She knew it was going to happen and asked for something to cuddle before she fell asleep. I think she planned to nap as much as we planned for her to do so:

The hotel we stayed in, The Declan Suites (review on TripAdvisor soon), was located just north of the Gaslamp district and about 5 minutes from the zoo. We had a nicely sized suite with a city view and we were able to walk to restaurants for meals. The hotel itself also had a restaurant and bar, allowing us to get room service our first night there. There was a fitness center and a pool too. The room was a little over $100 a night, but not much more. It was possible the best deal on a hotel of that type I’ve ever seen (outside of the $99 a night Twin Palms Resort in Thailand, nothing really beats that one).

Our view upon waking our first day:

We spent many hours at the San Diego Zoo, our primary reason for driving to San Diego. We saw all the animals we wanted, the weather was on the cool side but pleasant, and all the animals were out doing their animal things. We began with orangutans:

 

The one in the nest had a baby that is not visible in the photo, but boy was it cute!

Then we moved on to the pandas. The red pandas, who are relatives of raccoons, were out pacing and climbing and being their cute selves, while the giant pandas, that are related to bears and have no relation whatsoever to red pandas, were sleeping:

We returned later and they were up and about, then were called in by zookeepers so their enclosure could be cleaned, then came out again to eat.

We had lunch at one of the zoo’s many eateries, and this was our view:

We saw some fighting between two male Amur leopards, but I do not have a photo and deleted the video I took at the end of the fight:

Taking the Arctic Wolf out for a walk:

No petting him!

We spent quite a bit of time watching the polar bears, and we also had snack, as did they:

 

 

Here is Fi in comparison to some statues:

We were told that the largest polar bear at the zoo is only four inches shorter than the big statue.

So hippos doing what hippos do:

Fi sitting on a gorilla statue:

We tried to prioritize the animals that we don’t see at the Santa Barbara Zoo, so we saved the elephants and lions for another day and went for the bears, who were being very bearlike:

And of course, who would miss the koalas:

 

This one has a joey in the pouch but isn’t gaining weight like she should, so the zookeepers were feeding her some extra stuff. We could tell when she ticked down in her tree that there was something there.

 

Wallabies:

A cheeta who has a canine best friend:

The rhino:

You can pay $100 and pet him (and other animals).

A hammy zebra:

Giraffes:

The same variety that they have in Santa Barbara.

A bactrian camel:

Fi did not want to go near the camel for fear it smelled, so I took photos to show her while John looked at the wombat that was fast asleep next door.

We had a fantastic time at the zoo and I can’t believe we were there for five hours! Fi only ever lasts about 2 in Santa Barbara, but then again, that zoo is tiny and we’ve seen all the animals many times over.

We thought Fi might nap in the car after the zoo, but she didn’t, so we went to the hotel pool and splashed around for a while.

 

We were all in bed asleep not long after 8pm.

The following day we packed up to go home. I think Fi was a little sad:

Here are John and Fi at breakfast:

Fi ended the trip in the same manner in which she began it, but napping in the car:

Some other random bits, a recent Fi paining that I like:

Fi wrapped up in a blanket for some reason:

John was out of town for work a couple of weeks ago, so my mom spent the night so she could take Fi to school in the morning but not have to wake up too early (early care does not start early enough for me to take Fi and still make it to work on time). Fi went to wake up Grandma whileI was preparing things for the day. I heard some giggling and when I looked in the room I found a little nose peeking out at me:

 

Somehow, she was captured!

Soon, it’s back to work and school for us. Somehow, long weekend always seem like they last an eternity, yet go by so fast at the same time. At least Fi and I are halfway through the school year and will have more vacation soon enough and more time for this:

Hooray! It rained! In Southern California that means celebrate! Or, put on all your rain gear and go for a walk:

We walked around the block. It completely stopped before we made it home. In an ironic twist, weather.com gave only a 10% chance of rain today. While it was actually raining. Maybe it was a dream. I’m sure the rain will make the front page of the paper tomorrow morning.