Pickleweed Part 2

The main reason I went to San Diego was to spend time with my dad. And it was The. Best. Time. My parents divorced when I was 16 and my dad and I didn't get along during that time. But 4 years later when Chuck and I got engaged, I desperately wanted my daddy to walk me down the aisle. We reconciled and have been close ever since.

I was at the kitchen table at my sisters when my dad came into the living room. "Would you want to go see some of the old houses we've lived in?" "Absolutely!!" So the next day he and I drove through our old neighborhoods, visited some dear family friends, he even drove by my old high school! Then he took me out for lunch before heading back to my sisters.

We reminisced, we talked and laughed, he shared some memories of his time in the Navy, it was truly a day I'll remember forever.

 This is my old high school - and the only picture I got that day!

(When I attended in the late 70's there was no ramp or gates.)

 

 Another day my oldest sister Kathy and I went out to the Ocean Beach Pier. Neither of us had ever been there before and it was so much fun! We had lunch at the cafe right on the pier. We walked all the way to the end and she spotted a baby whale!

 

(Thanks Google for this pic)

We then walked around on the rocks at the shore. We sat and watched the waves splash onto the rocks and I crawled down to explore some of the tide pools. We laughed at how easily all the young people walked around on the rocks, even that slanted part, they'd just walk past us like it was perfectly flat! We don't know how they did it!

And this is where I got some pictures of pickle weed. It's also called Ice Plant. It's a ground cover and grows wild all over San Diego. When I was little, my friends lived by a canyon and we'd slide down the pickle weed on our bums. When you open one of these stalks, it's filled with a clear fluid that would ruin our pants. Our moms would always get mad but we had so much fun doing it!

 

Then we headed East and stopped at Sonic for some ice cream. We sat at Santee Lakes for quite a while, just playing Yahtzee and watching the wildlife. 

 The other big event was a family reunion with my dad, sisters and our cousins. I had created a 5-Generation family tree and brought copies down with me. We looked through old photos and reminisced about when we were kids. At one point we all looked up to see my dad licking his fingers over by the cupcakes. Busted!

Me, my dad, and my sisters Debbie (middle) and Kathy

Three of our four cousins.

When I was 2 my mom took a picture of me and my sisters and I had us re-create it at the reunion.

My cousin took the picture, THEN we had to get up! That took a little more work than we expected!

Oh my gosh we laughed so hard! There's nothing like fun and laughter with family!!