Squirrels, Ducks and Coconut Butts!!! A Wish Trip Report *LATEST UPDATE 05/2011**

[Wee Annie]

Okay, so this is embarrassing. It's been so long since I logged on that I couldn't remember my user name, and had to finally go searching for a prior post to figure it out....

Melissa, you are so incredible to have maintained this trip report -- I am extremely impressed with your initiative! And I never have used our passport.... Glad to see you have gotten some use out of yours! Maybe I should go dig mine out and see if I can use something in the month we have left!

The Disneyland trip looked nice -- glad you got it in. And, um, yeah -- 4 star hotel with MY kids? Not something I'd be comfortable with either.

Stay in touch -- I love hearing about your girls, and keep you all in my prayers.

Best,

Ann

 

[yinyanggirls]

I am confused/surprised we aren't supposed to use the tickets past our "official" MAW trip, WHY, I wonder? They are a gift to the Wish family, aren't they?
I guess that the WISH tickets aren't just free tickets, they are VIP passes so to speak. So after the wish trip is over you aren't supposed to drag out your VIP treatment. In my eyes we were still on the trip though.


I finally started Lisa's MAW PTR...now I just hope we get to go as planned.

I promise to get caught up. I can't even remember everyone's trip dates any more.

What a flight home! You guys had a rough one. I love the Universal pictures. You timed the one picture great with the roller coaster coming I can't believe how empty the park was.

That limo ride looks familiar So inviting after such a long day!

We had fun at US. I would def. recommend it to other families!

How EXCITED I am to log on and see you are updating again! I LOVED reading along and have missed your wonderful stories and pictures. I can't wait to read more!

Awww, I'm blushing. Okay, no I'm not, but I am humbled that there are still friends here willing to read. I've played hooky way too long. I'm sure my time on here won't be as crazy as before, but I do miss keeping up on all the planners and trippers.

Thanks for the update! I'm glad you did it! I just love the photos of the girls on the teacups, priceless!

Those are my fave pics from the day.

I have read EVERY.SINGLE.POST. from the trip and pre-trip. I'm kind of sad to see it come to an end.

I have seen you mention Facebook and I would love to "friend" you! If that's okay, would you message me your connection? Will do!

Great Trip Report!

Woohoo! Your back! I'm loving hearing about more adventures with your girls. I'm really glad to hear a review of Lego Land. John and I have discussed it several times as Jonnie would probably love it. Cognitively he's probably a good age for it but you confirmed my suspicion that it would probably be pretty boring for the girls, so I'm not sure it would be worth the trip.

Yeah, unless you can get discount tix at Costco or AAA or something like that. I'd rather pay the Disney prices for what you get, but there were some pretty obsessed little boys in that Lego room at the end.

Okay, so this is embarrassing. It's been so long since I logged on that I couldn't remember my user name, and had to finally go searching for a prior post to figure it out....

Yeah, I had forgotten my password.

Melissa, you are so incredible to have maintained this trip report -- I am extremely impressed with your initiative! And I never have used our passport.... Glad to see you have gotten some use out of yours! Maybe I should go dig mine out and see if I can use something in the month we have left!

I hope you can find someplace to use it! Are you guys on spring break now? Elke is doing great right? (think I remember the latest caringbridge...) I say hit the coasters one more time!

The Disneyland trip looked nice -- glad you got it in. And, um, yeah -- 4 star hotel with MY kids? Not something I'd be comfortable with either.

Stay in touch -- I love hearing about your girls, and keep you all in my prayers.

Best,

Ann

Thanks for checking back in guys! I was really expecting to hear crickets, but hopefully these last few pics will get me back in the habit of checking in here more regularly.

 

[yinyanggirls]

The next day we decided to go to the SD Wild Animal/Safari Park. I guess they are trying to incorporate a name change. I really wanted the girls to see this because my WDW plans to do a half day at AK were squashed. This seemed like the closest substitute, even though I knew it didn't have any "rides". It was cloudier and much cooler this day but we packed accordingly. The girls had long sleeve shirts, sweaters and sweatshirts on.

After a quick trip on the cool animal themed carousel, we migrated toward the "tram ride". First diversion along the way was the petting zoo, which consisted only of some type of deer.

We didn't get far before the granola bars and free hotel coffee had worn off and we stopped for lunch. The food looked good but fattening and I was on a weight loss roll (sounds counter intuitive) and skipped the offerings at the first place. As we progressed down the trail I saw another food stand and sent the kids to play at a nearby playground with dad while I attempted to order a salad. They told me they were out of salad because the freeze had ruined CA lettuce crops. Hmm. Okay. News to me. We only live a few hours away from CA, in a higher elevation, with a colder winter, and I had not been told anywhere that they were out of lettuce. Anyway, I ordered a veggie burger instead and they asked if I'd like lettuce and tomato on it. Sure. Why not have a little salad on my burger!!!

Moving on, I round up the kids and off we go to find the tram. We saw these kitties napping on our way. King of the J....eep?

They squeezed us onto the one that was loading as we approached (not a busy day here either) and offered to put Phoebe in her chair in the first section of the tram. There was already one guy in a chair there and his companion so I couldn't see how we would all fit and she would not have enjoyed riding alone so we asked to sit in the next row, and just get her out. No problem.

We enjoyed the tour of the park and some cool animals, but while we were driving around Phoebe had to go potty. Oh well. Hope everyone else thinks that smell is the animals. Tessa got a little bit bored during the 20 min tour but not too bad. There was always another cool animal around the next bend, like baby rhino, Eric and his mom.

There are cheetahs napping just beyond the tree trunk in this shot.

There were animals visible pretty much at all times. Don't think Phoebe could see them though. Too far off.

After the tram we find a restroom for Phoebe, feed some ducks in a little lake, goose pecks at Tessa's pant leg which apparently was the funnest part of the day for her. She was cracking up. Then we watched the gorillas chillin for a bit. I guess the ones we saw at first were females.

Because after a few minutes this guy comes out of his cave! He was huge! And looked kinda angry.

As we continued on I saw a sign facing the direction we were walking toward (so we never saw it at the gorillas) that making direct eye contact and staring at the gorillas is taken as a threat and may anger them. Um, gee, thanks for the warning!!!

Monkeying around.

One more ride on the carousel before we leave.

We figured we'd be staying until close (5pm) and had arranged to meet Phoebe's birthmom and family at a Chuck E Cheese not far from the park. But we were early and she was running late so I told Tim why don't we drive closer to their house and meet somewhere there? Sure, she told us about another Chuck E Cheese and we changed the plan. Once we were on the freeway for a few minutes we realized it has been long enough since we lived in CA to have erased our memories of the traffic because it was pretty heavy. Stop and go most of the way. Phoebe slept but Tessa would not give in. She taunted us with Backyardigan songs for the next 45 mins or so. Birthmom apologized for forgetting about the traffic also, but we had a nice evening with them. Her husband is so cool about the adoption, and was even in the hospital (as a friend at the time) when Phoebe was born. Not a lot of men on this earth would be so supportive. We ate mediocre pizza, mediocre salad, and played a lot of games. Phoebe's favorite was this mock horse race.

After we said goodbye, Tim hit up the Starbucks around the corner to stay awake on the ride home. When he got back in the car he was acting kinda goofy cuz the barista was flirting with him. I saw a yogurt shop and jumped out to get a treat for myself. (Hey, veggie burger and salad bar, remember?) The girl in the yogurt shop was bored (it was a pretty cold night and had started raining) so she was chatting it up with me. Tim laughed when I got back in the car at my new girlfriend. We drove "home" in the rain with two sleepy girls in the backseat. They went right back to sleep when we got in the hotel room and everyone slept well. Especially mom and dad with our bed to ourselves.

 

[dawnbu40]

I was so happy to see some updates from you!

I love the pictures of the girls on the teacups. They honestly look like they could be used for Disney advertising

Sounds like the you, Tim and the girls have had some fun adventures since your Wish trip! Thanks for taking the time to share them

 

[fulseasmama]

It is great to see some updates from you! We are hoping to use our passport this summer with a road trip from the Pacific Northwest down to San Diego using the passport along the way...and I am hoping to sneak in a few Disneyland days too! Legoland looks pretty fun and I think our kids will be the perfect age for a day spent there.

Thanks again for sharing your trip.

 

[yinyanggirls]

I was so happy to see some updates from you!

I love the pictures of the girls on the teacups. They honestly look like they could be used for Disney advertising

Sounds like the you, Tim and the girls have had some fun adventures since your Wish trip! Thanks for taking the time to share them

Thanks for reading! We have been keeping busy and trying to find fun where we can. Like everybody else, right?

It is great to see some updates from you! We are hoping to use our passport this summer with a road trip from the Pacific Northwest down to San Diego using the passport along the way...and I am hoping to sneak in a few Disneyland days too! Legoland looks pretty fun and I think our kids will be the perfect age for a day spent there.

Thanks again for sharing your trip.

That trip sounds amazing! We secretly want to move to WA but not sure it will ever happen. I'd love a road trip like that. But then, I like road trips. I'm sure the kids will love Legoland. I wanted to hit Six Flags at some point, even if they are too young for most of it, but it looks like we ran out of time. Maybe someday!

 

[yinyanggirls]

We had basically one day left to spend in San Diego but over night the heavens had opened up and bestowed a chilly downpour over the CA coastline. It was still raining steadily in the morning and predicted to rain all day. My mom was the only relative I had told that we were going to be in CA and she had called to check on how the trip was going. Before I called her back I asked Tim if he would be upset if I invited my parents to come down and spend the day with us. He was fine with it because we knew that his parents would never make the trip to come down. We didn't know what we would do in the rain but we knew the kids would love it. So I called, she answered, they jumped in the car at the chance to see the girls and they arrived less than 2 hours later, which conveniently was about when we were ready to go as well. (This is one thing I love about my parents - it is totally obvious to everyone that they live for the grandkids!)
The rain had lightened up slightly and I decided that I really wanted to see Coronado Island, which was accessible by bridge or ferry. We drove the few blocks to the harbor and bought ferry tickets. Thankfully the ferry boat had enclosed seating as well as a roof top deck, because it was patchy sun/rain and very cold. When we arrived on Coronado we stopped at a BBQ place for lunch then took a stroll across the island to the beach side. There were lots of 100 yr old homes along the route and we stopped to play at a neighborhood park for a bit before continuing on. We walked out in front of the famous Hotel Del Coronado to play in the sand. I don't think anyone even set foot in the cold Pacific ocean!
The ferry

Tessa playing in sand in front of the hotel

Pt. Loma

Phoebe playing in the sand with Grandma

Tessa chasing pigeons back by the ferry landing

SD Skyline from Coronado

We decided our long walk should be rewarded with some authentic Mexican food and we drove a mile or two to Old Town San Diego. We had several restaurants to choose from and I used my Droid to check out reviews. We settled on the Old Town Mexican Cafe and even though the wait was long it was entertaining. Papa and Tessa watch the ladies make tortillas.

They had a balloon artist and Mariachi to keep our meal lively. Grandma and Phoebe dancing to the music.

Despite all the commotion Tessa conked out in Daddy's lap.

This was the first meal I can remember where Phoebe DIDN'T fall asleep and Tessa did!

The next day we had to head home but seeing the zoo was only a few minutes from our hotel I decided we should stop and use our tickets even if we only see a few things. The zoo was under remodel and it was a little confusing. We stopped to ask an employee a question and she ended up arranging a private tour for us. I think it covered the same route as the regular bus tour, but we had an accessible bus all to ourselves. The driver was nice and well informed and we felt like we had seen everything important when we ended the tour. We strolled through a few exhibits, the koalas, the koi pond, giraffes, rhinos, and the most interesting, the leopard with his companion canine. Yes, leopards at the SD Zoo have pet dogs. We got to watch them take a walk. Pretty cool!

The funnest part of the zoo was definitely the "Skyfari" ride.

We stopped for lunch at our fave CA restaurant (slowly expanding to other states) Wahoo's fish tacos. Back on the road only to see on my Droid that there is traffic on the freeway on our route out of town. I was confused why there would be traffic so far out on a Sunday afternoon but when I clicked for details it said "people in roadway". I'm thinking, someone changing a flat? Illegals being chased? What the heck does that mean? When we got to that point in the hwy we figured it out. The emergency lane on the side of the interstate was being used as a parking lot for the hundreds of San Diegans who were enjoying the novelty of the snow that had fallen the day before. They were actually sledding (on cardboard, trash can lids, etc) down the hill TOWARD the interstate. Brilliant people! The snow did look like fun so a few exits ahead we pulled off the interstate and found a secluded spot to play. Just a few quick snowballs then back on the road.

 

[blessedmom4]

MORE Incredible memories , I LOVE the photos and I am so happy you are continuing to share your family with us.

This is just for Tessa. I hope she likes it.

 

[blessedmom4]

Hi Melissa, I wanted to wish your precious family a

 

[blessedmom4]

I hope you have ENJOYED your day!!!

 

[yinyanggirls]

Thanks for all the fun graphics Judy! Tessa loves them.

I am jumping around on the DIS to refresh my memory about a few WDW details. It looks like Tim and I will be going to Florida for a kid-free vacation next month. We don't plan to do a lot of WDW but I would love to do at least one day. We missed Hollywood Studios on Phoebe's wish trip so I think that would be a fun one to do. Plus we can do the grown up rides.

I need to remember what restaurants we wanted to eat at and anything else we wanted to see. Of course this time, we wouldn't have to worry about kid friendly places or bed times or anything like that.

 

[linhely]

cool, glad you got this started, I was dieing (there is no right way to spell that is there???) from suspense.

 

[blessedmom4]

Thanks for all the fun graphics Judy! Tessa loves them.
My Pleasure! Here is another one for her...Princesses after my own heart!

I am jumping around on the DIS to refresh my memory about a few WDW details. It looks like Tim and I will be going to Florida for a kid-free vacation next month. We don't plan to do a lot of WDW but I would love to do at least one day. We missed Hollywood Studios on Phoebe's wish trip so I think that would be a fun one to do. Plus we can do the grown up rides.

I need to remember what restaurants we wanted to eat at and anything else we wanted to see. Of course this time, we wouldn't have to worry about kid friendly places or bed times or anything like that.

Did you get to go back to Florida? Are you doing a TR??? I wold LOVE to follow along!

 

[yinyanggirls]

Did you get to go back to Florida? Are you doing a TR??? I wold LOVE to follow along!

You are so sweet to be interested in our trip. We went in June and had a blast. Thank heaven for my parents who stayed with the kids. We really needed that. Maybe I will go through and pick a few favorite pics but we only ended up doing one day at Disney.