Now that we’re back in Oceanside and only for one month more, we had to make a to do list, so that we don’t miss out on things that we didn’t see before. It’s like a second chance. So this past week we checked off a couple of boxes before the sun starts to set on our trip.
There’s this cute little, yellow always-busy coffee shop in Leucadia (on the way to Encinitas), that we’d been eyeing up for months because its always SO busy, and one day we decided to park the car and wander in its general direction. It’s called Pannikin and it has the hugest baked goods ever. Giant muffins, giant pieces of pie; all sorts of giant yummy treats. And, outside on the lawn, wee little kid sized chairs, which suited Rylie just perfectly to share one giant muffin with her parents.
Another day we went downtown to the Maritime Museum, which was comprised of 4 old ships and 2 submarines that are nestled in the San Diego Harbour. Josh was a fan of the Russian submarine,I enjoyed the experience, but was sadly disappointed because the pirate ship I had longed to explore (for nearly a year) was closed for the day. Whomp whomp.
Rylie’s least fave was the US submarine (due to its tight, dark quarters, and narrow hallways) and her favourite was the Berkley Ferry ship as it was bright and open, with beautifully intricate stain glassed windows and church pew like seating. The open concept allowed for toddler exploration, and climbing ALL of the bench seats. One thing is certain, if she’s not climbing, she’s riding something, and she found a nice horizontal low to the ground metal pipe that decoratively wrapped around the ferry’s bar area.
After the museum we popped across the street for a picnic lunch and to check out a fancy new playground. Unfortunately it was designed for older children, and adults couldn’t even go up the slides with the littler ones, but that didn’t stop our “le park tour”, for Rylie cruised around and played with pretty much everything else. She is rather a fan of swings, and things that spin, but only after she gravitates toward the teeter-totter and its taken. Which it usually is. Every. Single. Time.
We’ve also put miss busy bee back in gymnastics, over at play gym. It’s more free play than our last place in Palm Springs, but its great for her to hang out with other kids her age, and to develop more climbing and gross motor skills. She LOVES to ride the silly pink donkey (the same one we got from grandma last summer) and this place has FIVE of them. She rides them all in sequence until we drag her out of the corner to play with other things. We are quite in awe watching her play here, because unlike her parents she’s pretty assertive, and knows what she wants to do. She doesn’t hesitate when Miss Amy offers a new toy, or activity, she’s the first one in there showing them all how its done. That’s our girl.
She might wear pretty bows in her lovely blond locks, but she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty. We’ve also taught her to stop and smell the roses, little did we know she would take that literally, by smelling every petal of every flower, on every bush.
