Spring Break SD

We are just finishing up spring break here.  Yes, I know it's pretty late in the year.  I guess that is okay because it made things less crowded in San Diego where we went for a few days of the break.

 These pictures are in no particular order.  Mostly because blogspot changed their template for creating a blog and I will have to figure out how it works.  San Diego just happens to be where Dennis went to boot camp back in the day so of course we had to stop there.  We were able to get on the base, walk through the museum and take this fun photo with a drill instructor in training.

 There was a nice pool at the hotel where were were staying and some fun times were had in the pool and the hot tub.  Cooper could of course spend all day there, but we didn't.  Mostly it was in the late afternoon.  They had a cool fireplace at one end so after dark you could sit by the fireplace and relax and still be warm even though you were wet.

 One day we took a drive up North and just happened to notice that the Torrey Pines golf course was not too far away.  Of course we had to stop there so Dennis could get a hat and pose for this awesome picture.  We watched a couple of really bad golfing groups tee off from the first tee which goes right towards the ocean.  (No, we did not play--no golf of any kind was played on this trip--shocking I know)

 Cooper, Spencer & I got tattoos.  They were henna of course, but it was still fun.  I got a lizard, Cooper got a Chinese symbol for energetic (I think) and Spencer got an anchor.  There is still a little residue of my lizard on my ankle.

 If you go to a place with a beach, you do have to at least dip your toes in the water--which I did.  It was a little chilly the first two days so we only wandered the beach.  We did not sunbathe.

We visited the Mormon Battalion visitor's center which is in San Diego (because there is where the battalion finally ended up after 2000 miles).  We did the "tour" which was a video/interactive kind of thing, kind of like the talking pictures in Harry Potter.  Too hard to explain, but it was interesting a fun.  We were the only people in our group so Cooper got to be the guinea pig for dressing up like one of the battalion members.  You can see he is thrilled.

 Unlike every where else we went where they take your picture in front of something and expect you to pay for the picture at some point, the visitor's center gave us the picture for free AND sent a jpg to my e-mail.  Now how cool is that.  Everywhere else we went and I do mean everywhere they take your picture and you have to pay!

 We visited the zoo of course and it was pretty cool.  Lots of walking and really great weather.  It is a huge zoo.

 And of course we also visited SeaWorld.  It was pretty awesome as well.  That was actually on the first day we were there.  Cooper & I both got wet on rides and Spencer got a really good (bad) sunburn (that he is still trying to recover from)

 The last day we visted the USS Midway which is stationed in San Diego bay.  It is pretty amazing.  I don't think I could ever be in the Navy and live in such closed quarters.  You could walk all around the ship and we took a tour of the crow's nest.

 We also visited Balboa park which is where the zoo is located but we did them on two separate days.  They have all these really cool buildings that were built specifically for the 1935 International Exhibition.  They are very ornate and interesting.

 There is also an artist colony (for lack of a better word) there in Balboa park.  They have there own little studios.  It's a little bit like Pike Place but without the fish and produce--plus I think the artists actually work in their studios.  it was pretty cool.

 

 This is the view from Sunset Cliffs which were just north of where we were staying and naturally we went to watch the sun set.  All and all it was a pretty awesome trip.

The Flying Trapeze

Dennis' Aunt Doris was in town to celebrate the 60th birthday of her son, Steve (Dennis' cousin of course) and wanted to have a family party. Steve's daughter Katie happens to work and live at a place that offers the opportunity to try out a trapeze. It is located in an old foundry in the south end of the city. It's basically a three story building with a huge opening right in the middle. It usually costs about $74 for lessons but because Katie works there we could try it out for $25. Tucker and Cooper both decided they were in. Here are a few pictures of Tucker giving it a whirl.You got three different tries to get the "routine" down necessary to be able to to a "catch" which is letting go of the bar and getting caught by the guy on the other trapeze. Of course you are safely hooked up and there is a big huge net under neath.
I, of course forgot my camera, which has been my M.O. lately, but luckily Doug remembered his so these are courtesy of Doug.
This picture above is the pose you would have just before the "catch". Tucker was able to qualify on his third try and did an awesome "catch". Cooper, sadly had a little trouble with the arching your back part and the back flip dismount. He kept flipping forward. I will put a link to the videos that Doug took at the end in case anyone wants to check Tucker and Cooper out in action. Cooper's is pretty funny. I guess Tucker's is too, because it was his first or second try and he was having trouble following directions--which was the most important thing to do.
These two kind of give you a little idea of how high up they were. That is why Spencer opted not to participate. He took one look at the ladder you had to climb up to the very high platform and said no thank you.
It was a pretty fun evening. Even Dennis' brother David qualified to do the "catch" although the catcher guy might have wished he hadn't. David got of sync and the guy was trying not to catch him but David launched himself into the air and nearly pulled the poor guy's arms out of their sockets when he grabbed the guy's hands in the wrong place and stopped the momentum of the swing. (Oh and Dennis & I didn't try it because--well basically we are wimps and didn't want to hurt our backs!)
Hope this one works if you want to click on it to see Cooper & Tucker in action:
https://plus.google.com/photos/110035507136900895846/albums/5729653187432714257?authkey=CP7p8IXNsqPGcQ#photos/110035507136900895846/albums/5729653187432714257

City Champs

Cooper's basketball recently finished up their season playing in the championship for 6th grade for the community centers. I don't think they were in any hard division because they really aren't that good. Still they ended up winning the championship game. They played a scrappy all-Asian team. Cooper even made a buzzer beater shot at half-time from the top of the key that was nothing but net. It was very exciting (and unusual for him). He also got called for traveling about 5 times. Every time he would get thrown the ball he would do this little happy dance which of course involved moving both of his feet. It was pretty funny.As you can see, he is one of the taller kids on the team and definitely has all of them beat bulk. Nobody wants to run into him when he is blocking on the court. He's good at defense, not so much on offense. I was really bad and did not take any pictures all season long. This is actually one that some other parent took. I took some on my cell phone at the last game but i cannot figure out how to get them off my cell phone. That's the life of the poor neglected third child I guess. Now we have moved on to baseball season--longer games and outside colder weather!