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Gloomy skies have arrived, so it must be summer here in San Diego. It is always interesting to hear about how hot is in the rest of the country, when is grey and cool here. Well, we get our summer in September/October, in time for fire season.

Anyway, when the marine layer finally burns off, we do get to enjoy summer and with it a lot of fun activities. Summer, of course, for Keegan meanly means WATER FUN. There are so many opportunities to get wet in San Diego.

We went to Seaworld, and for the first time, we actually skipped the animals and shows and went straight to the rides and games, the wetter the better. We met with two of Keegan’s friends from school, Julia and Kenzie, and since Julia wanted to try the big Atlantis roller coaster, Keegan went along too. He barely met the height requirement. Well, it was an experience: it is an actual, adult roller coaster, starting with a big drop, landing in water (and getting totally soaked). Then the car is lifted up by an elevator, and down you go through very fast turns and twists. Granted, we were in the first car, the scarier one, but Keegan was not too happy during the ride. He did not cry but he did not want to try it again, even though he kept on saying how fun it was. It reminded me of the log roller coaster we did in Italy.

watching Julia come down the big jump

We were soaked, on a chilly, grey morning. I did not planned for this, but fortunately I had a change of clothes for Keegan. I even splurged on the $5 drier not to have to walk all day with wet pants. Then we headed for the kids area for some rope climbing.

We finished the day with another big soaker: the shipwreck rapids. It was really fun. This was the first time I went to Seaworld and  I really went on the rides.

More traditional methods to get wet abounds, of course. It is amazing how rarely we go down to the beach, even if we are 10 minutes away. Between the crowds, no parking, and all the stuff we have to lug, we often get discouraged. Plus, it is not all that fun when it is overcast and chilly, a common weather by the coast in early summer. The rare days the stars align just right, we do have a great time.

father and sun watching the waves (or checking out the babes?)

Of course it is a lot easier to bring the water at home, and Keegan had plenty of fun splashing around in various water vessels.

dinosaurs pool with dad. Who is having more fun?

Hannah’s and Natalie’s pool

slip and slide at Kenzie’s house

Unfortunately Kenzie, one of his best friend, left school in May. It was very sad, and we have been trying to get the kids together as much as possible. They get along so well, and even if they are not at school together, they still consider each other as the future spouse.

Seeing how much Keegan liked the slip and slide, we got our own, and invited Hannah and Mila over to try it out. It was a great success, even if the meaning of “slip and slide” got lost somehow. It was more of run and jump in the pooling water at the end.

Oh well, the important thing is that they had fun. And fun they had: no fights, and almost no injuries.

Even Father’s Day celebration involved water: the dads are paired up and they have to throw a water balloon to each other, in many outrageously difficult ways, and try not to drop it. Poor Matt got drenched.

Of course summer is not only splashing around. There are many other fun activities going on. Usually Torin’s birthday party kicks off the season. It is always a fun event. This year the theme was Lego and there were many, many Lego styled items: Lego pizza, Lego cheese and crackers, Lego flavors and decorations.

And of course, Lego cake.

Another fun, annual summer event is the San Diego County Fair, better known to us as Rides Galore, since we really don’t do much fair-related activities, and go straight to the rides.

This year is the theme was Out Of This World, which is great theme for us, since Keegan is really interested in anything space related.

 

In fact, we even went to the airspace museum once and got to listen to a real shuttle astronaut, who kindly posed with Keegan.

Colonel Sherwood “Woody” C. Spring

We went to the fair on Father’s Day, and we explored some of the animals pens, the famed piglets race and swim, and the space exhibit. It was pretty interesting: they even had an “alien” spaceship.

All of this, of course, was just a “side dish” to the main event: the rides. This year we planned better, and bought a wristband, valid for unlimited rides. This was a good idea, since we made up the price of the wristband with the first ride, that Keegan rode 10 times! 10 times, at 4 tickets per ride, at 75 cent per ticket…you do the math.

Another great thing, this year, was that he was tall enough for almost all the rides, so we did not have to go with. When all was said and done he probably went on 50 rides, at least!

He went down the Goliah slide, the only ride I would have not minded riding.

… and many, many car, trucks, and assorted vehicle rides…

Despite our fears he would not ride as much since he did not have a friend with him, Mr. Social Butterfly did not lose any time making new friends while waiting in line to find riding partners.

He went on dragon spinning rides, roller coaster rides, canoes rides…

…they even had the Bruco roller coaster he liked so much from Italy.

…and he rode on any other rides imaginable. The only ride I had to accompany him in, was the ferris wheel, which for some weird reason really fascinated him. I find it pretty boring, but it did offer a nice view of the fair.

We left exhausted past 2pm. It was fun, but I am glad the fair comes only once a year.

Summer or not summer, there is always time to spend quality time with mom and dad. Dad is usually great for wrestling matches, climbing and building.

engineers at work

Mom, on the other hand, is great for book reading and cuddles. In fact, Keegan reprimanded me before because I did not pick him up from school in my PJs, since, according to him, I look better in those, because they re a lot softer and better for cuddles.

Well, summer has just began, and I am looking forward to more fun adventures in the months to come.

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