For at least a few Thanksgivings, we've headed south and called the kids in "sick" to school from a beach in Mexico. (Once, literally from the beach. I walked inland a bit so my voicemail didn't include the sound of crashing waves). Of course this year, when the school district changed Thanksgiving break to a full week, we decided we didn't really have the vacation time or budget for Mexico this year. It's fine, we said, we'll just go up to the mountains and ski, it's already snowed a few times. Then, it warmed up, and there wasn't any new snow, and the ski resorts pushed back opening day, and pushed it back again. So, time for Plan B -
Welcome to our Thanksgiving Stay-cation!
I took the neighbor kids one day when their parents couldn't get out of work, and we all went to the zoo. Disappointingly, the guinea pigs were off exhibit (there have been recent requests for a guinea pig, so I'm trying to find alternatives to actually having one.) (I mean, guinea pigs are what you get when you're negotiating down from getting a dog. They already have a dog. The only thing better on the kid scale is a pony. Or a dragon.) So they settled for cooing over the meerkats.
We made the most of all our memberships, also spending the better part of a day at the California Academy.
It was the Academy's opening day of their annual holiday "Season of Science" exhibit, so we took advantage of the special early morning member's hour. We learned about polar climates and animals, and enjoyed playing in the "snow" they pump into the atrium once an hour.
Best of all, the Academy had something new for the holiday season - ice skating!
Yes, the rink was small and crowded, and they only had 1 hour time slots, but it was a relative bargain at $7 each (Union Square sets me back about $16 each, plus "convenience fee" - as if there is anything remotely convenient about getting kids into skates and upright on the ice).
I mentioned there was a warm spell and no rain, right? So it was great weather for hiking up Tank Hill with Roux, or goofing around at the playground.
We decided we had to go SOMEWHERE, even if just for a day. We were long overdue for a visit to Santa Cruz - we did a little shopping:
More importantly, Brennan and Lucie are now tall enough for most of the Beach Boardwalk rides. I got them all day wristbands, which paid for themselves in the number of rides of the viking ship alone:
There was next to no line, so they would just hop off and run back around to the entrance and ride again. They even had the entire ship to themselves one time:
They did eventually branch out and ride this terrifying vomitorium, which both spins and swoops up and down on a track.
As well as this rollercoaster, riding in a car that spins freely around a base while it travels around the track. This also would have made me sick. Even Lucie had to admit defeat afterward, and declared it "too scary" to ride again.
We made the mistake of letting them join the long line for the haunted house ride. In addition to the outsized wait, I was worried it would be too scary, especially for Lucie, and result in nightmares and kicky children sleeping in our bed later. But Lucie reported that the minute the car pushed through the doors into the haunted house, she shut her eyes and covered her ears and basically had no idea what happened in there. We then caved to Brennan's request to visit the arcade, where I was talked into buying too many game credits. It is about as noisy as it looks:
The rain finally arrived on Sunday, so we capped off the break with a trip to the movies. They both actually really liked Coco, but Brennan's enthusiasm for my photo ops is waning as he gets older.
