Travels • Masshole Mommy

Why I Will Never Fly United Airlines Again

May 172013

When we went to San Diego, we booked our entire trip through Expedia. It is the second time I’ve booked through them (I booked our NYC trip in January through them) and we found that since we needed flights, a rental car and a hotel for this trip, it was much easier to book it all in one place. I’ve been very happy with both trips that I booked through them and will definitely use them again.

Anyway, when we booked the trip and selected our flights, we were given the option to select our seats right then and there. Since I wanted to make sure I sat with both boys and Chris was on the aisle across from us, I chose to select my seats instead of leaving it to chance.

Other than some delays, we flew American Airlines to California and there were no other issues. But on the way home, that’s a different story.

Here are the three boys on their way into San Diego International on the day we left:

So, on our way home, we flew United Airlines and when we arrived at the airport in San Diego, we checked in at kiosk like we were told and proceeded through security to our gate. I’m not sure what made him look at the tickets, but about 30 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave, Chris told me we had a problem. My heart sank. Continue reading »

Ponch or John?

May 152013

On our recent visit to San Diego, we stayed in a hotel that included a continental breakfast. Especially when we travel with the kids, Chris and I tend to look for hotels that offer breakfast since it helps cut down on food costs a little bit. I have to say that the breakfast at our hotel was kind of lame, but hey – it was free, so I suppose you get what you pay for.

Anyways, in the breakfast area at the hotel, there were five or six tables, but there was one in the back with a C.H.I.P.S. statue next to it, and you know the boys wanted to sit at that table every single day.

Our Day at SeaWorld San Diego (Part Two)

May 142013

Yesterday I told you about our morning at SeaWorld, but since we were able to squeeze so much into the day, I wasn’t able to get it all into one post. So, here’s how we spent the rest of our day.

Once we were done at the Turtle Reef, we headed over to see the dolphins at Dolphin Point. When we arrived, there were several dolphins and trainers in the water & the dolphins were doing tricks. A minute or two after we got there, the dolphins made a huge splash and we got all wet, so we left. Water doesn’t mix well with my hair (keratin) and I didn’t want to get wet again…..

So we headed for the Skytower ride.

Spending the Day at SeaWorld San Diego (Part One)

May 132013

On our recent trip to San Diego, we thought it would be fun to bring the boys to SeaWorld. They’ve seen the commercials for it and have both been asking to go – so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take them. On Saturday, I told you about our amazing breakfast with Shamu (FYI – that costs extra), and as we were finishing up, we came across this guy holding a hawk. The boys were fascinated and headed right over him to ask some questions & of course, have their picture taken.

Mightly cool, right?

As we were walking away from Shamu’s pool area, an announcement came over a loud speaker that the Sea Lion show was starting in a few minutes, so we decided to take in the show before we went to any of the exhibits. Continue reading »

Breakfast With Shamu

May 122013

Before we left for San Diego, Chris and I decided that we had wanted to take the boys to Sea World. They’ve both seen commercials for it at one time or another and have both expressed interest in going. I figured that our trip to California would be the perfect time to go. I was looking at their website (before we left) because I wanted to see what exactly was in the park so that I could try to plan ahead a little. I noticed a tab on the site that was called “Dine & Shop” and I clicked on it to see what kind of food options they had. Immediately the words “Dining with Shamu” caught my eye. When I looked further, I found out that we could make reservations for either breakfast or lunch with Shamu, in which guests get to dine (buffet style) poolside while the killer whales do some tricks and swim around. How awesome is that?

After looking at both menus, I decided that I needed to book Breakfast with Shamu. The lunch menu actually sounded really good, but I have a picker eater in my midst, I thought my son would eat more from the breakfast menu than the lunch menu.

First off let me say that I am SO glad that I made reservations for this. It was awesome. First, I wanted to show you some of the pictures I took during breakfast and then I will give you the details.

Splash Mountain – You Either Love it or you Hate it

May 102013

At Disneyland, Chris took the boys on Splash Mountain. I won’t go on it, so I parked my ass on a bench and ate an insanely delicious, two foot long churro while they went on.

In case you’re unaware, Splash Mountain is one of those rides in which they snap a picture of you on the way down the gigantic drop. I insisted that Chris purchase the picture after the ride because the last time they went on the one in Florida, the picture was classic. This time, they are all making almost identical faces and yes, I bought it.

It was well worth the $20!

Our Day at Disneyland – Part 2

May 092013

If you read my post yesterday, you already know that we go to Disney World in Orlando every year. My boys have been there four times and their fifth is coming up in October. Whenever we go, the Magic Kingdom is always our first stop and Pirates of the Caribbean is always our first ride. It’s tradition. So, in keeping with tradition, our first ride at Disneyland was, of course, Pirates of the Caribbean.

There were a few slight differences between the ride in California and Florida, but basically it was pretty much the same.

Those of you who know me in real life know that the Haunted Mansion is my favorite ride in all of Disney. The one at Disneyland looks different than the on in Florida on the outside, but the ride was exactly the same on the inside. And it was all kinds of awesome.

At Disneyland, the Buzz Lightyear ride is called Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters and in Florida it’s called Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Whatever it’s called, it’s exactly the same and it’s wicked fun! If you’ve never been on it, it’s it’s like you’re inside a video game and have to shoot targets to get as many points as possible. Continue reading »

Our Day at Disneyland – Part 1

May 082013

Those of you that have been following along with my adventures for a while already know this, but I am a huge Disney fan. HUGE! We spend a week in Disney World every year (this year we’re going in October) and when we went to California a couple of weeks ago, there was no way I was going to leave the state without a trip to Disneyland. I had never been there before and I really wanted to see how the other half lived – HA!

What made the day even more awesome was that my sister in law, brother in law and nephew were joining us for the day. It was about an hour and a half ride from San Diego, so we picked up the others and set out early because we expected traffic. As much as I had hoped to be there when the park opened at 10 am, there was quite a bit more traffic than any of us expected, so we didn’t arrive until about 10:30. Such is life.

We parked in a lot up the street, bought our tickets right there, and caught a shuttle bus which took us right to the entrance of the park.

After a short ride, we had arrived. I have seen pictures online, but once I was there in person, I was really kind of surprised at how similar Disneyland is to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World in Florida. Of course there were some exceptions (the castle being the obvious one), but many of the rides and the layout were very much the same.

Anywho…..

Here is the gruesome twosome when we first arrived at the park. Continue reading »

I Love Pandas

May 072013

The highlight of our day at the San Diego Zoo was by far seeing the panda bears. They definitely do not have pandas at any of the New England zoos, so we were all excited to see some up close and personal.

The Footsie Wootsie

May 062013

A few years back when my mother in law visited the San Diego Zoo, she came back raving about this foot massager thingie that they had there. Apparently for the low, low price of just 25 cents, you could recharge your sore tootsies after a day of seemingly endless walking. The zoo is huge and if you spend the entire day there like we did, you end up walking miles and miles.

My brother in law also highly recommended this amazing contraption and informed Chris and I that the official name of it was the footsie wootsie. Clever.

Chris was busting a gut to give it a try and after we had been at the zoo for about two hours and hadn’t come across one yet, he asked one of the zoo employees where the nearest one was located. Yes, the guy laughed at us, but there was one relatively close by and we headed straight for it. Since we knew about the footsie wootsie in advance, I brought about $5 in quarters with me – just in case.

What you do it sit in the chair and there is a panel in which you put you feet on that vibrates for about a minute or so. As you can see by the look on Chris’s face, he clearly hated it. HA.

The boys got a kick out of it and all three of the boys did it three or four times each that first time.

Me? Continue reading »

In-N-Out Burger – Secret Menu Item

May 042013

One of the things I knew that I needed to experience while I was in California was a cheeseburger from In-N-Out Burger. We don’t have those on the east coast and anyone that knows me in real life knows that I am obsessed with cheeseburgers – oh, and Chris really likes a good burger, too, so he wanted to go just as much as I did.

As much as it pains me that we didn’t go there the first day that we were in California, I have to say that it was totally worth the wait. My burger was kickass.

One thing that I thought was interesting about In-N-Our burger is that they make a whole bunch of things that aren’t on the menu. I guess you have just know about those secret things, and lucky for me, my sister in law was with us and she had the inside scoop of their “animal style” fries (see below). Continue reading »

San Diego Zoo – Part Two

May 032013

I know you’ve been anxiously awaiting to hear about the second half of our day at the San Diego Zoo, so wait no more.

Chris, myself and the gruesome twosome spent the entire day at the zoo – 9 am until 6 pm. We had such a nice time there. At some point in the afternoon, my sister and law & nephew met up with us there and along the way to meet up with them, we got to see some giraffes and rhinoceroses (and some other cool animals, but these are two of my favorites). Sure, there are giraffes & rhinos around here, but they never get old.

One of my sister in law’s good friends drives a zoo tour bus through the zoo, so we all took the bus tour late in the afternoon. It was about a half hour long and it was a nice break from all the walking. I liked that she gave us some facts and stories about some of the animals while we were driving. Plus, it gave us a chance to see a few of the animals that we hadn’t seen yet. Continue reading »

San Diego Zoo – Part One

May 022013

On our fourth day in San Diego, we finally made it to the San Diego Zoo. We couldn’t visit the city and not stop at the zoo, right? We ended up spending the entire day there (open to close) and had such a good day there. If you’ve never been, I have to tell you that the San Diego Zoo is huge. So huge, in fact, that we never even got to see everything – but we saw a good majority of the animals, so we were happy.

Huge thanks to my fabulous sister in law for scoring us some free tickets (Chris got in free with his military ID – yay)! She and my nephew met up with us in the afternoon, so it was just the four of us for the first part of the day. We grabbed a map, and trust me we needed it – and off we went.

When we first got inside the zoo, I stopped for a coffee (side note: it’s not easy to find a good cup of coffee San Diego – In fact, it’s practically impossible) and as we were in line, this mommy duck and her ducklings strolled by. It was so damn cute. Continue reading »

La Jolla Shores

May 012013

While we were in San Diego, we had a chance to hit the beach. When we were at the Birch Aquarium, we saw the La Jolla Shores and decided that’s the beach that we wanted to go to. So we did.

I have to tell ya, it was cold that day. The temperature wasn’t much above 60, but clearly that didn’t stop my two from running right in.

After a little while, some clouds started to roll in, but it was still gorgeous! Continue reading »

The Nat – San Diego Natural History Museum

Apr 302013

After our morning at Kid Ventures, Chris and I took the gruesome twosome and our nephew to The Nat, which is San Diego’s Natural History Museum (located in Balboa Park). We hadn’t planned on visiting this museum, but as you may remember from reading my post yesterday, the weather wasn’t all that cooperative that day (it was chilly and a bit drizzly), so we wanted to do something indoors. My sister in law, who had to work and sadly couldn’t come with us to the museum, did a little research (actually she just asked her Facebook friends) for something cool that we could do and The Nat kept coming up. So we decided to head over there and check it out. I’m really glad we did because the boys all had an awesome time.

When we first got in, we came right to this dinosaur play area called Camp-O-Saurus. There were tents and a whole bunch of tables set up with toy dinosaurs. All three boys loved this area, but we had so much to see – so off we went.

I have to tell you that after playing with the dinosaurs, the first exhibit we went to see was called Dr. Entomo’s Palace of Exotic Wonders and by exotic, they mean bugs. BUGS! Anyone that knows me in real life knows that I am NOT a fan of insects, so I was pretty much sick to my stomach for the entire time we were in that exhibit. They had this huge centipedes, tarantulas, cockroaches…..you get the drift. It was beyond gross and needless to say, I didn’t take any pictures while I was in that room with the kids. Of course, the kids all loved it, but I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Continue reading »

Kid Ventures

Apr 292013

The third day of our San Diego vacation, we (the four of us, my sister in law and nephew) had planned to visit the San Diego Zoo, but the weather wasn’t really cooperative. So since my awesome sister in law lives in the area and was familiar with all the kid-friendly places around there, she suggested that we go to a place nearby called Kid Ventures.

Kid Ventures is a small chain of indoor play places and the one we went to was in Pacific Beach. When I first walked in I have to admit that I was a little concerned that my eight year old would be bored there because the place seemed like it was more geared towards younger kids, like my five year old and my nephew (who is also five). And even though it really was for younger kids, my oldest ended up having a blast with his brother and cousin, so I was really relieved about that.

There was a big pirate ship that they could climb on…and they did!

Old Town San Diego

Apr 262013

On our second night in San Diego, my sister and brother in law kindly agreed to take the gruesome twosome overnight so that Chris and I could have a date night. We pretty much already knew that we wanted some good, authentic Mexican food and got a great recommendation for a restaurant in a part of San Diego called Old Town.

Old Town is the oldest settled area in San Diego and the neighborhood currently recreates life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872. It is part of the San Diego State Historic Park, so you have to park and walk through the Old Town neighborhood. It has so many great many places to shop and eat. There are tons of shops filled with all sorts of unique and really, REALLY cool products – a few of which made their way back to Massachusetts with us! In addition to all that, there are a few museums in Old Town and so many cool things to see. Things like this old stagecoach:

Oh, and this super cool outhouse (insert eye roll here)…. Continue reading »

I Do Love Me A Good Cheeseburger!

Apr 252013

This will not come as a shock to anyone who knows me in real life, but I am a total cheeseburger junkie. I mean, I could eat one for lunch and dinner every single day and be a very happy girl.

We had had an awesome morning at The Birch Aquarium in La Jolla and were starving by early afternoon, so imagine my delight when my sister in law suggested we go to a place for lunch called Slater’s 50/50 – Burgers by Design in nearby San Diego.

They had a regular menu, including “pre-designed” burgers (and tons of other stuff), but all the adults were given a checklist so we could design our own burger and then we each named them. Awesomeness.

Here’s mine.

In case you can’t read it, here are all the options: Continue reading »

The Birch Aquarium – La Jolla, CA

Apr 242013

On our second full day in California, we met up with my sister in law, brother in law and nephew at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. My in-laws are regulars there, so they thought it would be a fun place to visit while we were in the area – and they were right. The boys absolutely loved it there, and not to mention that they had many different marine animals on exhibit at The Birch Aquarium than what we’ve seen at the New England Aquarium in Boston or The Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT. It was an awesome day!

Here we all are outside the aquarium.

Once we got inside, the boys eels (and my brother in law) loved looking at the eels. They were one of the highlights of the day. Continue reading »

Pool Time

Apr 232013

When we arrived in San Diego on Friday night/Saturday morning (sometime around midnight), we grabbed our rental car and went straight to the hotel to get some sleep. Midnight in California is 3 am in Massachusetts after all, and we were beyond tired.

I don’t remember what time we woke up on Saturday, but it was definitely an east coast wake-up, so we were up early. Chris and I had a feeling that something like that was going to happen, so we had already planned to keep our first day there low key. Since we were up so early and ready to go, we decided to head over and surprise Chris’s brother and nephew, at their house (my awesome sister in law was working that morning, so we had to wait a little longer to see her). Since they live all the way across the country, we don’t see them as much as we wish we did, so we were all excited to get over there that first morning and see them.

After my sister in law got home, we had some lunch (yay for my first time at Jack in the Box) and then the three boys got to spend some time at the playground. I was too busy catching up with my SIL to get any pictures of that…..do you believe that? Me not taking pictures? Words I never thought I’d say. Continue reading »

Older Entries