Disneyland ::Who We Met::

Because you all were dying to know (or because I am too lazy to come up with a better blog post) I will show you a bunch of pictures of my kids in Disneyland without you. We missed you, though! No. Really. 

We managed to go to Disneyland and not see a single Princess. Some would call this a success, but I think my daughters would disagree. Not that they were in the least unhappy with who they did meet. Note to grandmothers: yes, I will be giving you copies of all the pictures; no, it won't happen this week. Soon!

So that this isn't the most boring post ever for everyone else, here is some unscolicited advice: if your kids are at all interested in charaters GO TO A CHARACTER MEAL.

Seriously. It's worth it to be able to sit down, enjoy a mediocre meal and have all the characters come to you. It saved us hours in hunting down characters and whining from our son who couldn't give a rip if he saw a singe one. It also satiated the girls' need for character interaction enough so that not meeting princesses was really no big deal. Wheew!

Our youngest daughter is super into characters even though she kept saying things like "How does the guy see?" "Why won't the guy in there talk to me?" "Is it hot in there for the guy, mommy?" I spent half the time shushing her so she wouldn't destroy other kids' dreams. Princesses, by the way, she completely buys as real because they are "people" not costumes. Hilarious, that kid. And way too smart for us.

Pannikin Coffee & Tea; Luecadia, CA

If you ever find yourself in the small seaside community of Luecadia I hope you find time to stop in at Pannikin Coffee & Tea. It's housed in an old rail station from the Santa Fe line. The thresholds still have brass plates reading "Santa Fe" which I regrettably did not get pictures of. There's nothing like an old building to get me googling for info. built in 1888 it used to be the Encinitas station and was closed in 1969; purchased for a $1 and moved to it's current location.

In all honesty the draw here for me wasn't the coffee or tea or treats, none of which I really remember. It's the visions of Victorian ladies with parasols and trunks coming and going from seaside vacations that won me over. Apparently there are similar stations in Del Mar and Carlsbad, which clearly means we need to go on vacation again soon so I can see them.

Las Olsas and the Nature Center

Las Olsas, Cardiff

Our first full day in Encinitas we did so much! Besides walking downtown Encinitas, we also drove over to Leucadia and Cardiff to have lunch at Las Olsas. The restaurant was perched on the edge of a lagoon nature reserve, which we decided to check out even though Tyler objected. He felt it was too much like school to go "learn about nature".

Shells in the sidewalk. Hmm this nature center thing might not be too shabby...

San Elijo Lagoon Nature Reserve

We walked a very short trail, which was beautiful even in the grey weather. I can't imagine how magical it must be when the sun is shining. The preserve map cited several small trails and a larger loop accessible from the nature center and nearby neighborhoods and even a vista point on I-5.

Stuffed quail inside the nature center.  The kids were impressed even though they didn't want to be.

Watershed in action. Uncle Gus explains how the watershed works to Tyler. He was interested for .25 seconds, one shouldn't actually learn something in vacation, you know.. Seeing how it works in action was pretty cool though. Tyler liked it in spite of himself, though he'll deny it if you ask him.