We spent the last week at San Diego, California visiting my two daughters. We stayed with my oldest daughter, her husband and new baby son. He's our first grandson. Since I'm from a family of mostly girls and have raised three girls, I'm not sure about boy babies. All I can say is that he's physically more active than I remember my girls being.
While we were there, he managed to get up on his knees. He still travels pushing himself backwards and is frustrated because he was aiming for something ahead of him, but by the end of the week he learned to throw himself forward -- or to roll somewhat toward where he wanted to go. He’s going to be crawling soon and his parents will be in Trooooble.
We also enjoyed using their condominium pool (and hot tub).
On Sunday, we sailed on The Stars and Stripes, a large sailboat that competed in the America's Cup races. My daughter's husband is the captain. Tacking home back up the bay was a wee bit scary with one side or the other of the boat leaning over, not quite capsizing. (They kept saying it was impossible for boats like these to turn over.) My daughter had brought the six-month baby. On one tack, her diaper bag swept my feet out from under me and I was hanging on by one hand. I kept thinking, when they change their tack, I’ll be all right. About halfway through the tack, one of the crew noticed and got me upright again. Later the 11-year-old said she saw me, but just laughed because it was so funny. Hmmmm.
Monday, we had dinner with my younger daughter and her new husband in their new house – which is an old, 1930s hunting lodge built with lots of redwood. Although the 11-year old had brought her swimsuit, it was too chilly that evening to swim in their pool. The evening ended with the 11-year-old and her mother playing ping-pong, coached by her husband who is a professional ping-pong player. Lots of laughter and wild balls.
Tuesday -- to the Wild Animal park/ Safari Park, which is part of the San Diego Zoo, but further out into the back country. That evening, we all (including the baby) went out to a Mexican restaurant, where my daughter's husband did a lot of the ordering in Spanish.
Wednesday, my husband began a huge technical updating of all of their computer equipment, helping them convert from PCs to MACs and install Apple TV etc. It took him until Friday to complete the job. Wednesday evening -- grilled steaks and a little bit of pool time.
Thursday, my daughter's husband took off to San Francisco (a place I would have flown to, but he drove to with other crew members and the boat owner) for the boat’s yearly examination by the Coast Guard. That evening was HARRY POTTER night! I finally have seen the last installment -- not in 3-D, thank heavens. The 11-year-old insisted that we needed a large tub of popcorn, which all of us shared and weren’t able to finish. Cold Stone Creamery (ice cream) afterwards. Yum!
Friday, we went to Del Mar beach and waded in the Pacific Ocean. Although I had gathered my long skirt into a knot above my knees, several waves caught us unawares (were stronger and came higher onto the beach than expected) soaking the hem of my skirt. I now have a salt-encrusted skirt. Found a beach store with a sale, so the 11-year-old got several shirts and a long sleeved lightweight sweatshirt. Which she immediately wore to dinner at a popular hamburger place.
Saturday, we flew home and found our home a little bit stuffy because of all the closed windows, the sunporch buckets full of water from the multiple storms that had rolled through, but otherwise everything was fine.
