San Diego

Our intrepid biologist...

...found an unfortunate, huge shell that had beached itself, probably in the last big Pacific storm.
Did I mention it was huge? A nautilus?

So she gave it a good home back in the kelp beds past the breakers off the lee side of the pier.
Mommy, Daddy, Great-Mommy, Great-Daddy and the little pearl.

We also visited Dana's grandmother Bettie. It was the first time she had met Alex, and vice-versa. I couldn't resist a 4-generation photo:

Susan (3), Bettie (4), Alex (1) and Dana (2)

Bettie is a very happy great grandmother.

Later we met up with Dana's cousins and Aunt and Uncle...

Everyone had a ball! (Susan, Ruthie, Nealy, Shimshon, Leslie, Dana, Scott, Me, Alex and Herb)

Speaking of balls, later still we went to Balboa Park and visited the Science Center with our friends Martha, Jeff and Veronica (age 3). Along with an entire section devoted just to little babies, where Alex got to play with huge foam blocks, they also had tons of interactive exhibits that were appealing on many different levels, from infant to Berkeley grad.

Here Alex learns about Bernoulli's Principle, which states, "Balls are fun to play with."

We also learned how trains work. This will prove to be good experience later this week when we ride the BIG train to California!

Look at all the animals!

All aboard! (rear to front, Martha, Jeff, Veronica, Dan and Alex)

Thursday morning we board the California Zephyr!