Beth and Aidan's visit

My very good friend Beth and her son Aidan came down from San Luis Obispo for a visit this last week. It had been a year since I had seen them when they came to see us in North Carolina but as with some lucky friendships, it seemed like no time at all had passed. Aidan is a year older and getting tall. He and Brenden had a lot of fun together doing all the water activities that we could get our hands on. Being 112 degrees made it mandatory pool/sprinkler weather.
There were two places that I wanted to take them to that were new to me as well. One was the Carver Water Feature Park and the other was the Valley Aquatic Center. Both offered welcome relief to the oppressive heat! Of course our swimming pool was well used at the end of the day as well with plenty of bloody beers to go around. Brenden had a big moment when he discovered he could kick on his own around the pool (with help from the awesome 'Puddle Jumper'). He is definately a water boy!

Queen Califia's Magic Circle in Kit Carson Park

Just a few miles from Dave's parent's home in Escondido, CA is a nice park tucked away from the freeway called Kit Carson Park. Within the park is a sculpture garden inspired by the story of California's namesake, Queen Califia of the Amazon. French sculptor Nikki de Saint Phalle created the garden as a tribute to her majesty. Featured in the huge walk-in Queen Califia's Magic Circle are nine large-scale sculptures, mirrors and colored tiles galore.

 The sculpture garden, which opened in 2003, is located in the Iris Sankey Arboretum area of the park. The garden consists of nine large-scale sculptures, a circular "snake" wall and maze entryway, sculpturally integrated bench seating, and native shrubs and trees planted within the interior plaza and around the perimeter.

The centerpiece is the 22-foot Queen Califia and Eagle Throne, where you'll often find people sitting within the bird's legs, just enjoying the whimsical setting. The circular snake wall welcomes you into the garden, and as you navigate the mosaic maze, you deposit into a plaza of an array of totems, all bearing the unmistakable stamp of the artist."Queen Califia's Magical Circle Garden" is a wonderful spot to disappear into and escape into a magical and fanciful world, even if only for a few short minutes as I did with Brenden, my niece Jordan and Shirley.

Legoland = great Memorial Day!

We decided to do a 'staycation' on Memorial Day and drive to San Diego for the extended weekend. I had been eying the military discount on Legoland annual tickets and thought that with it being relatively close to us, it would be worth the splurge so we loaded up both cars and the dogs and went due west.
We braved the crowds for three days and took Brenden on his first amusement park experience. Granted we could only stay at the park from 10-12 each visit because of his nap schedule but we were able to do a lot in the two hours we were there each day. Since Brenden is just at 36" in height, he was able to ride some of the rides that kids his age probably couldn't. Not that we took him on anything extreme or anything - unless you consider the kiddie planes and helicopters extreme. The one ride he sort of got overwhelmed on was the Pirate boat ride where everyone has water guns and you aim them at other riders. Not a bad thing but then the general public has access to some on the outside of the ride - bad thing. We got absolutely drenched and he freaked out about that until after the ride when my friend Jen and I were laughing so loud at being completely wet and then he got the idea it was funny. He also loved riding the little train and the little toddler splash park. The kid loves water!!  Looking very much forward to taking him many times in the next year.