Adventures on Planet Appa: 47 in San Diego

Well. Yesterday was my 47^th birthday. Yup. They just keep coming. Odd to be transient and celebrating something like this that one is used to celebrating with one’s “community”. And to top it off, I can’t get WiFi on any of my devices (they have it here, Marcus says it is incredibly fast but I can’t get it and he hasn’t had time to help me get my computer on it), my data is used up on my phone and so I am completely disconnected. I tried for an HOUR last night to post this entry. I was able to check FaceBook and saw a TON of greetings from all parts of the world which really made me love FaceBook... From the moment I awoke, my children were adorable. They love birthdays. Ben reminded me that today is also Sam’s “half birthday” since her birthday is April 22! Fun. I love that. Ben gave me a loose tea steeper in the form of the Titanic and Samey chose some funky socks for me). Max got me a trophy that says “Best Mom” on it. I LOVE IT. A big treat for me and for my mental health (I’ve been worried about her) is that my mother was able (thanks to Randy, Adri, Sandra and Linda) to come down and be with us for a couple of days and nights before we leave for Mexico (October 28!!!!). Coming meant getting coverage cobbled together for my father’s rapidly declining mental health (he has early onset Dementia at age 74). I have been worried about my mom and thought a few days of respite in the sun with some of her “sunshines” (my kids) would do her some good. She arrived mid-afternoon and is staying at the Sheraton that is walking distance from Sun Road Marina where we are staying now in San Diego. We were two nights at San Diego Yacht Club before coming here and had a lovely stay in their marina with the great pool and hot tub! We got to spend some fun hours with San Dollar and Unleashed and Dawn Treader and met Palarran, too. But here, where Marcus’ step-dad has a son who is a yacht broker (Peter Zaleski) and who has been incredibly kind, generous and helpful to us, we have a slip in this amazing marina!! The pool yard and hot tub here are stunningly beautiful! And we have full facilities – even laundry. Simple pleasures, eh? Last night, Peter took Ben, Sam and Marcus for a short trip on a $2.4M Italian yacht that he is selling! Ben even got to drive!!! They loved it. Anyways, back to my birthday. As we are getting down to the wire before leaving, we decided to rent a minivan for the week so we could do errands, go to Sea World, possibly Legoland, and take my mother with us (and later this weekend my in-laws who are coming to join us for the Baha Haha!). It meant that last night we had the extreme pleasure of going to TARGET! For supplies! Familiar and yet so odd, too. Today, my birthday, Marcus decided he really needed to get the new inverter installed. It was failing/failed and he had ordered another one. He awoke this morning completely consumed with the project, like a warrior going into battle. I know it was important to get it started early in the week so that he would have time and days to make it work if there was trouble with the installation and I know that it was just poor timing that it had to be today but it did put a huge dark cloud over the day since he stayed on the boat all day and got increasingly frustrated and angry and tore the boat apart and so we were all a little out of sorts and displaced since his tools and parts were EVERYWHERE on the boat (as he likes to do). I decided to get out of his way and to get away from his bad mood and take the kids with me to do errands. IN A CAR. That minivan turned out to be the best birthday present ever this year since it meant that I was able to almost feel normal as we: 1. Went to Mexican Consulate (attempting to find out if we can get a year visa or can only get 6 months that have to be renewed), 2. Went to Chase Bank (to see why, once again, my credit card was denied even though I have asked that the fraud department be alerted that I am traveling in California, 3. Went to Wells Fargo (for Max), 4. Went to get our Mexican Fishing Licenses, 5. Went to Einstein Bagel (made me heart-miss Keri and Wendy and even Max got nostalgic as well), 6. Jamba Juice, 7. Radio Shack, 8. The Party Store for Halloween costumes (Sam is going to be Dora and the rest of us are going to be pirates!). 9. CVS to get more Scope patches, 10. TJ Maxx (for a new tea kettle, a new cookie sheet, a loaf pan for bread (I hope to make)), and then 11. To Goodwill for more Halloween costume elements!!!! OMG! 11 errands! Minivan world! I almost felt back to “normal” (how scarey!)! We got SO MUCH DONE and all that before 2 pm!!! We needed to get the car back to poor Marcus who was getting deeper and deeper in the electronic doo-doo as he needed to go to West Marine for supplies. To top it all off, he can’t find his wallet again. And is VERY frustrated!! Max, Ben, Sam and I got again out of his way and went over to the Sheraton to see my Mom and go for a swim in the fabulous pools there. It is great to see her and have her here. She and Samey are so cute together!!! As usual, she had TONS of presents for everyone. Around 6, we came back to the boat and Marcus was still battling with the electronic demons on the boat but he was able to get away so we go all go out for my birthday dinner. Samey, naturally, went dressed as Dora in her new costume. So incredibly cute, she is. We decided to go for Mexican in the Old Town part of San Diego and so we went to the Old Town Café there and my Mom says it looks exactly the same as it did when she took Randy and I there when I was 10 and Randy was 8. We had a GREAT dinner with great Margueritas. It was a fun day… Tomorrow, we are going to brave Sea World. And my poor husband is going to brave his inverter project. Wish him luck. Some photos from yesterday and today...