Visit to San Diego with Mary, June 16 - 19, 2001

My new best friend, Mary, and I journied to San Diego on Saturday afternoon (to get the $149 ticket price) for an update on Robin, Mary and kids. We had an absolute ball.

Ross took us to the airport around noon-thirty and saw us off. We arrived at about 4:30 in the evening. Robin, Mary, Erin and Kate were there to meet us at the airport. We then drove back to their apartment in Oceanside in sunny but cool weather. After enjoying a steak dinner, we spent the first night at Robin and Mary's just relaxing, and letting Mary get acquainted with everyone and me getting reacquainted with Erin and Kate.

The following day, we spent a bunch of time on the beach. We had to walk a little over a block to get there. There were a ton of people on the beach and the weather was fantastic. Mary and I really enjoyed watching the kids playing in the water. Erin immediately made some new little friends on the beach while Kate spent her day frolicking in the sand. After we returned from the beach, we had a great turkey dinner and settled down to a couple of movies with the kids, "Mulan" and "Emperor's New Groove".

Both Erin and Kate really "took to" Mary. Kate, especially was all over Mary, so I got to give Kate a few hugs, too. Erin talked up a storm and let us know a lot of things that were on her mind. Both kids were absolutely on their best behavior and we enjoyed them immensely.

On Monday morning, we all went to the San Diego Zoo with the kids. Once again, the kids were fantastic. No fussing (even 9-month old Kate didn't fuss even once for the entire day!) and just enjoyed the exhibits. We came back from the zoo about 4:00 p.m. Everyone was tired from all the walking and fell asleep in the car except for Robin and I. At 6:00 p.m. we walked out to the end of the pier to Ruby's restaurant for great hamburgers and a shake. On the walk back to shore, we spent time watching the fishermen and the surfers until the sun went down.

That evening, we went to bed a little early, because Mary's and my flight was leaving for Portland at 7:00 in the morning. We were up at at it about 4:45 a.m. Robin drove us to the airport and we said our goodbyes. Ross picked us up again at the Portland airport and took us home. What a fantastic, fun weekend (and a day)!