I have a dear friend named Dakari. We worked as graveyard waitresses back in 1986-87, and have been friends ever since. We were in each others weddings, and have remained close even after she moved to Siberia…I mean, Alaska!
Dakari and her husband, David, decided to go on a once in a lifetime family trip, taking their family on a Mexican cruise and a few extra days in San Diego. They were so kind to invite us along on their trip. We decided not to do the cruise part, but spend a few days in San Diego with them.
DAY ONE
We flew down in the morning and checked into our hotel. Our friends were in a timeshare a couple properties from us, within walking distance. As they were getting themselves settled, we decided to get some lunch, and head to the San Diego Botanical Garden.
We had a quick lunch at Wendy’s, and while we were waiting for our food, I could hear our two little boys, giggling like crazy. They had positioned their bodies against a window painting of the namesake for Wendy’s, and looked at their shadows on the floor that made them look like they had the hair braids that the painting had…such nuts!
On to the garden…
Located in Encinitas, CA, about 20 minutes from San Diego, we thought this would be a good place to spend a little bit of time, but did not have high expectations. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the kids loved this place! They were awestruck over the different plants and art pieces. We spent much more time there than anticipated and are so glad we went.
Lizards were everywhere, especially in the desert garden. (If I were a lizard, I’d want to live here…). There was one lizard who seemed to enjoy having his picture taken. The boys had their own cameras, and I imagine we have about 20 pictures of a single lizard. It also let us get really close. Once, when we moved away from it, it moved closer to us!
Our little ‘R’ (who’s not so little any more…), loves to give me little pieces of nature. He is always bringing me home a flower, rock, pinecone, etc…Here he is offering me a flower from a tree…
This is a garden sculpture covered in succulents…
Another cool sculpture in the garden…
Entering the bamboo garden. Have you ever seen bamboo this big???
The bamboo garden has a pond. We were happy to discover four big toads right next to us, eating Fruit Loops!
Banana tree…
Banana flower…
This tree is the cork oak tree, where cork comes from…
This sculpture startled me…
The Childrens Garden has an incredible "treehouse". The tree is not real, but it contains a bunch of live plants.
This is an area to create music…
Giant adirondack chairs…
I love this idea. They took rocks and wrote a single word on each, then divided them into boxes (nouns, emotions, adjectives, etc…) The kids can take the rocks and create poems. Here is what ‘A’ made…
We knew we were close to Legoland, so we decided to stop by and check it out. The grounds were closed, but this sculpture was in the parking lot. On the other side of the car was a Lego mom and baby in a stroller…
We spent the rest of the evening at the Ralph family timeshare. Dakari and David treated us to a delicious dinner. Here is (almost) the whole gang…Marcus flew in the next day…
‘R’ is showing ‘R’ the Legoland map…
Friends for life…
