Awa! Awa! (San Diego)

The Animalia, the travelin' bean that she is, went to San Diego over the weekend. She was surprisingly good on the way there, learning to blow dramatic kisses (MMMMmmmm-muah!) and the answer to the question,"¿Como te llamas?" (ahh-YA!). She got fussy at the end of the drive, much later than we thought she would. She was tired of looking at her Tata and sitting in her chair and the boring toys she'd already seen 50 times. She was asking for her Nana. So we got to the place where we were staying, a beautiful two bedroom condo overlooking the ocean, with sliding glass doors out onto the balconies that had NO SCREENS, and a marble coffee table and a glass topped dining room table. Totally not for babies. The Animalia was thrilled though. The closets had mirrored doors and the beds were fit for rolling around. We changed our travelin' clothes and immediately headed out to eat with the Nana and the Tata and the Mama's Nina. We found a brewery. The food was great and the Animalia ate garlic mashed potatoes and yummed a bunch. We headed back to the place, pushing Animalia on the boardwalk and she was happy. Then the Tío Tío and April showed up and the Animalia was even happier. Not much else happened that first night but it was nice and the ocean was loud. We all slept soundly when we finally went to bed, around 11.

DAY TWO. Wake up early, the whole bunch dresses for breakfast at an incredible place called the Belgian Frie. Animalia has pieces of waffle with sour cream and strawberries. She is thrilled. Head back to the place and get the car and go to Sea World, the Animalia, the Mama, the Daht, Tío Tío and April. The Animalia dozes on the short drive there. She wakes up as soon as the car stops. She looks suspicious. We get into the park and immediately head to the dolphin show. She watches the dolphins with interest but still looks suspicious. We get splashed lightly. Animalia purses her lips. After that we head to the Sesame Street area. We get on this teacup type thing, Animalia's first ride. She hates it at first but cracks a smile at the very end. She's finally really awake. After that, she was happy. She loves the shark exhibit and the small aquarium. She stands at the manatee tank in awe. She waves at Elmo during the 4D Sesame Street movie. She woos appropriately at Shamu. We head home, not having done half of what we wanted to but still happy. Animalia falls asleep as soon as we hit the parking lot.

NIGHT TWO. Animalia. Napping. 2 hours. Wake up, get dressed in the most beautiful little dress, ruffle butt tights, black velvet slippers, cardigan. Animalia is going to be the ring bearer at the Tías Grandes wedding at a fancy restaurant overlooking the ocean. I was worried but it went OK. She was a little upset by the time the wedding started so I fed her cheese. She also got upset when the Tías walked down the tiny aisle without her. I think she thought they were all going for a walk. Then she seemed tired but quickly got a second wind. Photos, then dinner. The waitstaff brought her a miniature bottle of sparkling cider for the toasts. She drank it from a straw and made faces when the bubbles hit her mouth. During dinner she ate gourmet mac and cheese, pieces of fruit. Dessert was from my plate, some kind of berry icy thing that was delicious. After dinner, she kicked off her shoes and wandered around, stopping to grab different people to dance with her. She really made the rounds on the dance floor. Then around 11pm she was DONE. She was EXHAUSTED. She wanted to LEAVE. So we did and she fell asleep pretty quickly. She was great though, the entire night.


DAY THREE. She woke up early and walked down the hallway to bang on the Nana and Tata's bedroom door. She was banging on the door saying "Nana! Tata! Nanatata!" We immediately got ready and went to breakfast at this Irish pub where she ate her first teeny tiny bit of scrambled egg.
After breakfast we headed to the beach. At first, the Animalia stayed close, sitting on my towel and touching the sand cautiously. Hmmm. She was interested. After a few minutes, she realized she loved it and really threw herself into throwing sand into her little pail. One of her shovels looked more like a spoon than a shovel and she kept picking sand up with it and asking,"Papa?" We kept telling her "No es papa. No en la boca." I think she may have eaten a tiny bit anyway. After a bit we decided to take her down to the ocean. She wailed. How could we take her away from her precious sand?! We dragged her closer to the ocean. In a fit of pique she threw herself down on the sand. But this was wet sand. Oh my god. She looked at us with joy in her eyes but I could see there was a question. Why hadn't we done this sooner? Why didn't we let her play in the mud? She squished around a bit but I was determined to have her touch the water. I picked her up. Another wail. How could I show her mud and then take it away?! She was indignant. UNTIL... The water. I stood her up next to me and the water came rolling in. She laughed hysterically when it touched her tiny feet. We took her deeper. The water rolled in and peels of laughed rolled out of her as the coldish water hit her butt high. Then she acted indignant, like we'd been hiding this from her the entire time. Needless to say, the beach, the sand, the water, all hits. We will be taking her to the beach again as soon as possible.

THAT AFTERNOON/EVENING. A serious bath that didn't take all the sand out of her as I saw grains in her tiny ears later. A nap. Later we ate Thai food. The Animalia enjoyed her lovely Thai vegetable soup. We stopped at the Tías Grandes hotel room and she showed off her pink crocs. We went back to the condo, dropped her off with the Nana and the Tata and took off for an hour or so of parent time. The Animalia was ready for bed when we got back and so were we.

We left the next day and the trip back wasn't so bad either, minus the short vomiting by the Animalia. Cleaned her up and got her back in the car. I think she was happy to be home but it took a couple of days to get used to the fact that her Nana and Tata weren't just down the hall. She was asking for them as soon as she woke up in the morning.