Guinevere's Travels: San Diego

-->

Last weekend, Guinevere and I went down to San Diego for the second time in her life.  Aaron had some work stuff that he needed to do in LA, so he wasn’t able to join us.  There were several reasons for this trip: a) I wanted to finally show Guinevere some of the sites of San Diego b) I wanted to clean out my room at my parents’ house c) attending a friend’s wedding.  It was so hot (again) that I ended up not getting much cleaning done, but at least I got 2 out of 3 goals accomplished!  Poor Guinevere is going to start to think that San Diego is hotter than LA!

On our first full day in San Diego, I took Guinevere down to Seaport Village while we waited for my sister’s plane to land.  Sharon was a bridesmaid in the wedding this weekend, and I thought it would be fun for her sister and niece to pick her up from the airport.  I am so glad we left as early as we did!  When we arrived at Seaport Village, it was already 85 degrees at 10am!  By the time we got back to Mira Mesa, my car was reading 101.  

Guinevere at Seaport Village

Guinevere with the Coronado Bridge in the background.

Back to Seaport Village – I’ve always loved this place!  For those not from San Diego, Seaport Village is a cute little shopping area downtown.  It’s on the water and super close to the airport.  In fact, it was much easier for Guinevere and I to stroll around at Seaport Village than to sit in a parked car in the cell phone lot.  I walked Ginny out to the waterfront and we wandered around for a while.  I even bought myself a big floppy hat.  

I don’t care if it looks silly.  I’ve been having some issues with irritation with my eyes and am trying to avoid contacts as much as possible lately, so I needed to get a hat.

Later that day, I attempted to get started on cleaning up my room.  Some kids have parents who turn their room into a guest room the moment they leave for college.  Not me.  My room in SD is almost like a time capsule to my teenage self, complete with bunk beds and all.  Yes, Aaron and I still sleep on my bunk beds (me on the top bunk, him on the bottom bunk) when we visit!  I had this great idea that I would go down to San Diego and clean out my room and donate the bunk beds and all the other stuff that has accumulated over the past however many years. Then I would go to Ikea, buy a new bed, and voila, we would have a real guest room to sleep in.   Yeah . . . that didn’t happen.  First off, it was so hot that I could barely move.  Also, Aaron wasn’t there to help hold Guinevere while I cleaned.  I thought that would be fine since I would be in San Diego and my mom and my sister would be fighting over who got to hold her . . . but my sister had loads of bridesmaid duties and so wasn’t around and my parents were busy getting the final arrangements done for the Mira Mesa Street Fair, which was the next day.

I tried putting Guinevere down for a nap in her pack 'n play in my room while I cleaned.  But there were two problems with that:  1. She was hot and fussy and didn’t really want to nap 2. I realized as I was putting my old trinkets into the various “keep,“ “donate,” and “trash” bags, there was a ton of dust in my room!  I really wasn’t comfortable stirring up that much dust with my 2 month old in the room.  So I finally gave up on finishing everything.  I figure if I just allocate an hour or two of cleaning/organizing every time I visit San Diego, we can eventually turn it into a more grown up guest room.  In the mean time, the bunk bed stays!  

Saturday was the Mira Mesa Street Fair.  My parents are very active in local community planning, so they played a big part in putting on the street fair.  It was forecast to be even hotter than Friday, and my dad was worried that the heat would make people stay home.  I took Guinevere to the street fair as early as possible to avoid the heat.  My friend Corey and her daughter, Mikaela, joined us.  We had fun pushing our strollers up and down the street.  We found my mom selling her book on the history of Mira Mesa.  Of course, when we showed up, mom wanted tons of pictures.  After the “grandparent paparazzi” session was finished, Corey and I bought some snowcones and ate them in the relative comfort of some shade.

Guinevere in front of mom's book signing table.

I have no idea how hot it was while we were at the street fair, but later that day, my car’s thermometer said 107!!!  I don’t EVER remember it being that hot growing up!  The newspaper said it was the hottest day on record since 1988.  Guinevere and I ended up escaping the heat at my friend Jfer’s house.  I’m actually really glad we hung out in the air conditioning for a couple hours.  G and I were much more comfortable and it gave me time to tell Jfer what Guinevere likes and doesn’t like, what time she goes to bed, how often she eats, etc. since I had Jfer lined up to watch Guinevere while I was at the wedding the next day.  

I’ve learned that with the baby, it takes a long time to get ready for an event where I have to do more to my appearance than just throwing on a pair of yoga pants and a nursing tank.  I think I took about 3 hours to get ready for the wedding this Sunday (including a couple of feeding breaks).  The wedding was beautiful!  I’ve known Becky, the bride, since she was in kindergarten with my sister.  My Girl Scout troop and hers would get together for camp outs, service projects and other events. I love Guinevere, but I will admit it was kind of fun to leave her with a trusted friend for a couple hours while I had fun.  I was able to dance and have a couple glasses of wine!  

My sister and I at the wedding.