I forgot about a couple of simple yet cool things I noticed while in San Diego. Many parents may already know about these bits but they were new to me, so here goes:

1. There was a group of kids at Lego Land that were all part of a birthday party. They were all wearing custom yellow (read: easy to spot) shirts with the birthday info on them. One could easily get a head count and if one of the kids got lost, the park employees would know exactly which group they belonged to. Of course, "yellow" may become the favorite for parents and too many of them would defeat the purpose. But the custom info on the shirt was a really good idea. We write our cell phone numbers on our kids' arms or shoes so if they get lost an adult will know how to reach us. But we also dressed Ben in camouflage shorts so finding him might not be as easy. I've said it many times: I'm much more of a butter knife than a steak knife, if you know what I mean. If you don't know what I mean, you're a butter knife too.

You can go to CafePress.com and create your own shirts and have them delivered in mere days. And no, I do not get a cut of your purchase price... they're just easy. There are surely other services out there too but this one rolled off my tiny little brain.

2. Baggies: If you have a cell phone or a camera or some other electronic device, it might be smart to carry a little plastic baggie to protect those devices, *if* you plan on going on any of the water rides or sitting in the "soak zone" at Sea World. You WILL get wet so the only question is, to what degree. Be prepared (yes, I was a scout) and save yourself time and money by protecting your investment(s) with an inexpensive protective bag. I have a couple hundred in the house and would be happy to mail you one if needed (if you take me up on this offer, you're one cheap bastard!).

I'm sure I noticed other things but these two obvious bits stood out to me and might be useful to you. That'll be a nickel.

Our vacation this year was to be rather short and not too far from home. We traveled all the way from Thousand Oaks to Carlsbad (appx 2.5 hour drive) where our hotel was located and ventured as far as San Diego proper for one of our outings.

Our hotel accommodations were nice enough; A two bedroom unit with a kitchen and family room area. The staff were pleasant though not overly helpful. I really only have two complaints: 1) Check-in time was 5pm and check-out time was 10am. I'm not shittin you folks, that was the real deal... something I didn't know about in advance (my own fault, I'm sure). Please re-read the check-in/out times again. Insane, huh? And 2) Their marketing material was a bit misleading as to our access to Lego Land. It stated "Private Entrance to Lego Land". Being that the hotel was directly across the street from the Lego Land parking lot, I would have guessed a little overpass we could walk across and get right in or perhaps their shuttle would drop us at a location where our private, exclusive access could be utilized. Not so. The "private entrance" was the minivan's (their shuttle) ability to not have to go through the parking line to pay for, you know, parking. We got dropped off about as far away as one could be from the real entrance and then proceeded to get in line with all of the other ticket holders. I'm all for creative marketing but that was a bit more than one should bear. No big deal though... I'm a man of the people so it was fine mingling with every other waiting-to-be-disappointed family in the regular line.

Lego Land: This was a tough one because we had kids ranging in ages from 3 to 15 years old. My guess is, it would have been great if we had a few 6-8 year old kids. Ben was two inches too short to go on many of the rides and he didn't understand that very well. As far as he was concerned, I was punishing him by not letting him go on rides that his sister and the other kids could go on. It seemed a bit crazy in most circumstances -- He couldn't go on their equivalent of Disneyland's Tea Cups though he's been riding the DLand ones since before he was two. Whatever... I'm sure the policy has the child's best interest in mind, or their insurance carrier had influence or something like that.

I guess I was expecting a bit more based on commercials I had seen and their ticket pricing. They basically charged Disneyland prices for everything and operated more like a mobile carnival.

I'm sure y'all think that I'm a bitter little troll with nothing good to say about anything or someone who simply cannot be pleased but I'm just stating the facts (with a small twist of bitterness). But fear not because our second outing has nothing but good news and fun times to describe...

Sea World: I'll start with: Great! Fun. Exceeded expectations. I'm a native Southern California guy so you might be shocked to know that in my 36 years on this rock I had never been to Sea World. I was feeling a bit like Eeyore as we lined up to get our tickets, given the hotel and Lego Land experiences. But before we entered the park I was heartened to see a sign which indicated that all military and/or their direct families were welcome to enter Free Of Charge! Go Sea World Go! I see discounts for military families from time to time but these folks (owned by Anheuser-Busch) really stepped up to do their part for those who make us safe and risk EVERYTHING to do so. My spirits were beginning to lift and I was preparing myself for an exciting day, more like Pooh and less like Eeyore.

Our first adventure was to be a sit-in for the Shamu show. We ventured down to the "Soak Zone" where there was a high probability that we'd get wet. I wish I had gotten soaked because it was still early and I would have known better when sitting in on the Dolphin show later in the evening. More on that later. To begin the show the emcee once again addressed the military families. He spoke of our collective thanks for their service and asked them all to stand which resulted in cheers and clapping and "woohoo!'s" from nearly every attendee. He gave us all a bit of info on "killer whales" and focused squarely on the need for conservation and the trainers' love and respect for these animals. The last piece was truly self-evident.

Next Anna, Christopher and myself took to the rapids -- Shipwreck Rapids to be precise. It was hot out so a little [fake] river spray seemed to be in order. It wasn't until we were very close to the front of the line that we could see folks getting off the ride and they weren't "wet", they were drenched. I decided to put my electronic devices in my pocket, cover that pocket with my shirt and cover *that* area with my hat. It turned out that I'd need every bit of those preventative measures to keep from having to buy a new phone and camera. To say we got wet would be like indicating that the Colorado River has had a bit of an erosive effect on the earth. We were soaked to the bone, as if someone had a fire hose aimed at us for ten or fifteen minutes. Next time I'll buy one of those cool Sea World Ponchos.

The rest of the day went swimmingly. We saw great show after great show and one awe inspiring exhibit after another. Kerri and I both love animals and we want to be sure that our kids grow up with the same respect for them that we both share and this is a great way to reinforce such a notion.

Oh yeah, that dolphin show thingy... So we did NOT get wet at the Shamu Show even though we were in the "soak zone". When I saw others getting wet it just looked like "spray" so tis time we sat in the 6th or 7th row in hopes of getting a little action. Well, along with the dolphins there were a couple of small whales trained to fling water out into the crowd with their tails. These small (2,000 pounds) whales did their jobs well and much like the Shipwreck Rapids, we got soaked to the bone. I don't know how I underestimated the volume of water so badly when choosing our seats. Abby got it the worst but really, it was like comparing a bunch of people, all of whom had been tossed into a pool with their clothes on... it was hard to tell who got the wettest and it didn't really matter. The problem was, it had gotten to be nearly 5pm and it was starting to cool down a bit so there was no hope of drying out any time soon. I had some spare clothes in a backpack for the kids (just shirts) and while Ben was fine with his wet shorts, Abby needed to get out of her denim skirt and into a fresh pair of shorts which were available for sale at a nearby shop. Us older folks just toughed it out.

Finally, Kerri and Anna took to the one big coaster in the park -- The Atlantis, I believe. I hung out with the younger kids in a play area where they climbed ropes, crawled through tunnels and went down slides. Ben didn't slide too well because, well, wet denim shorts on plastic doesn't make for a slippery environment.

A couple of closing notes: I love the fact that they sell beer at Sea World. I didn't partake of the opportunity but it's nice to know that a cold one is available when the conditions are right. And me being a smoker, it was also nice that they had a dozen or so smoking areas. I don't mind being shoved out of the way and in fact, even if I were allowed to smoke throughout the park I'd still hide away in a corner out of respect for the non-smoking adults and the kids. At Lego Land you have to leave the park if you want to smoke... not one single hideaway which just seems silly to me (it *is* outside for goodness' sake). I respect their ability to make that rule but I also won't be sending any of my dollars their way in the future... I'm sure they respect that right as well.

While there were some unexpected disappointments the trip, on the whole, it was most excellent, if only because I got to spend four quality days with my family and away from work, something I rarely get to do.

Go to Sea World and get stoked!

Oh yeah, if you have a AAA card, you get a gnarly discount at Sea World; Adults for the price of a child and children at 50% off. This one outing saved us enough money to pay for the AAA card for a couple of years. Yeah baby!