SEAPORT VILLAGE

Yesterday morning was a really lazy start to the day, as everyone, including Gracie, chilled out. I decided that Seaport Village was our destination for the day, and it wasn't until 11:30 am, that we arrived at this seaside shopping mecca, near the convention center.

In 1994, we attended our very first Harley-Davidson Dealer convention, right here in San Diego. That was the last time we were in the convention center area, and I remember Seaport Village as being this very unique collection of small shops, with mostly unusual merchandise for sale. The village hadn't changed much since our last visit, and there were quite a few street vendors, offering everything from fortune telling, to these handmade bracelets that we had made for Laila.

Laila's new personalized, handmade bracelet.

Laila picked out this shirt at Mission Beach.

Grandma & Laila on the Seaport Village wall, with the Coronado Bridge in the background.

There's an area near the water, where this guy takes rocks from the jetty, and balances them on top of each other. 18 years ago, there was an individual doing the same thing, in the same area, and it's truly amazing to watch someone do what looks like impossible. I don't know if this is the same guy that was here almost two decades ago, but if not, he had the same talent. With a pretty good breeze blowing, it seems that there would be no way to do this, but, some of his stacks remained aloft despite the wind.

When we walked by the face painter, someone became very focused on having her pretty face transformed into a bunch of colors. Grandpa resisted for awhile, but come on, it's a known fact that my job is to spoil the Granddaughter rotten, before returning her to Mom & Dad. On our way to finding some lunch, Laila got her wish, and a peacock magically appeared over, and around her right eye.

Laila became the "bird girl", with a colorful peacock on her face.

We had lunch at Seaport Village, before walking a couple of blocks to the New Children's Museum. We only spent about an hour at this activity center for kids, as it just wasn't nearly as much fun as the Children's Museum in Tucson. Laila has been taken to several kids museums, and she agreed, the one in Tucson is by far the best.

There were a few activity areas that seemed to keep Laila's attention for short periods of time, but, after checking out all 3 floors, we were walking back to the jeep by mid afternoon.

She enjoyed taking all of the puzzle pieces out, and putting it back together.

Wall climbing is always lots of fun.

Laila and Grandpa each built their own skyscrapers, then, at the same time, became demolition experts.

This was our 6th day of almost non-stop activity, and it's probably safe to say that we're all just a little bit worn out. Having Laila with us for the past week, has been a very special time, one that we will always treasure. At 6 1/2, she's at an age where she can communicate like an adult, but the playful child is always lurking just below the surface. We've had a lot of fun, explored new adventures, and most importantly, spent some wonderful time with our precious little girl, who's growing up way too fast!

It's a little past 6 am, and time to wake all of the girls, including the four legged ones. We've got about 400 miles to cover, and I can almost bet that we'll hear "are we there yet" more than once!