Somewhere over the rainbow. . .

Today was a day spent with some very interesting characters. . . I'm not talking about Mickey and Minnie, these characters were . . . almost as entertaining. . . but not ones that I would especially want my children to be around all of the time. Let me explain.
Today was Tijuana day. The girlies were so excited to finally be going to Mexico again because they had so much fun going to Mexico on our family cruise a year and a half ago. Well, I have been to Tijuana before and I didn't especially want my girlies to have to see all of the poverty that was there so Otto and I decided that our best bet would be to take a tour bus to Tijuana and then the tour bus would drop us off in a more clean part of Tijuana and it would be safer for the girlies. I am glad that we did things that way. (Plus the cost of it was included in those passes I bought so yay. . . bonus!!) It is always an interesting experience going into a mexican market with my little girls. People always want to stare at them and touch their heads and so it is nice to have Otto around to act as a sort of body guard for the kids. Today we had a lot of fun buying some beautifully hand embroidered dresses for the girlies and a shirt for Dustin. We also had fun buying my Mexican Vanilla (the best!!) and some nativities for me (I actually found some that I had NEVER seen before so I was really excited!!). And, of course, the kiddies had to buy some guitars (totally fake) and some little souvenirs for themselves. Just as I was heading onto a bus, the cutest little Mexican boy came up to me with an arm full of bracelets and asked me to buy one for $1. I KNOW that they are not even worth close to that, but I did have 3 little girls and they DO love bracelets. . . and he was SOOOOOO adorable (which I am sure his parents use to their full advantage), so I bought 3 of them. It made everyone happy, and I felt good about it. Mexicans are hilarious. . . we walked all the way down the block and back up and we had the Mexicans shouting the most hilarious things to us. They would tell us that there was free parking in their store (for our stroller) and that there was a special discount for items seen the second time around. We even resisted the urge to sit atop of an authentic "Mexican Zebra" and get our pictures taken. . . .I believe the people in San Diego call these "Zebras" ZONKIES because all they are are donkeys painted black and white. . . sooooooo hilarious!
After Tijuana we went to the zoo. I have to be honest. I am not a huge zoo fanatic. I get bored really easily with zoos and I don't really see the point of staring at animals behind bars. The exception is, of course elephants, giraffes, monkeys and a lion or two. . . .okay and you can throw in a hippo and a rhino and I won't complain. However, I don't have the attention span or the interest in knowing all sorts of facts about each and every animal and their habitat and their surroundings. I am sorry to all of you zoo fanatics out there. I am glad that we have people like you because I am sure that we could all do more to help out the animals. So why did we go to the zoo you ask? Well, because I have kids, and they like animals and I like my kids. . . . good enough reason for ya? However, we did the Megan/condensed version of the zoo and walked in (after showing our passes), went to the children's section and pet the animals, went on the 35 minute tour and left. A perfect day at the zoo, if you ask me!
After the zoo, the kiddies were quite cranky and very hungry. So, I took them to the closest fast food place I could find. It was a Jack in the Box on University Avenue. Now I don't know how familiar any of you are with San Diego, but apparently I was in a more . . . ummm. . . flamboyant part of San Diego. I didn't notice this before I went into the restaurant. You see, I was standing in line to order my meal and directly in front of me was this cute little blond girl. I didn't pay much attention to her until I heard her speak, because out of this little blond girl's mouth came this Latino man's voice. . . turns out . . . .well, I'll let you figure this one out. So, I turned around to see if Otto noticed and he was nowhere to be found, however I did get a great front row seat to these two men totally groping each other in line. Then, while I was waiting for Otto to get his drink, I was sitting with my kiddies next to this guy who was yelling and swearing and being soooo loud right beside my kids. I was so upset that he didn't have the courtesy to curb his language with my children present. And then I was just grateful that I wasn't sitting next to the super skinny guy who was flying higher than a kite. I felt so sick to my stomach that my kids were at this restaurant, and I then I looked at the toys that came with my kids' meals. . . yep, they were tattoos. OF COURSE THEY WERE!!! Normally, I don't have a problem with kid's temporary tattoos, but it just seemed so appropriate that they were being handed out at this particular restaurant at this particular time. I told Otto that they should have some sort of signs warning us about this or something, and then when I walked outside I saw the signs. . . big, bright, colorful rainbow flags all over the place. . . why I didn't notice this before . . . maybe because the kids were crying and fighting and I was hungry, but that will never happen again. I have a few friends who are gay and they never acted like this, but there must be something about this part of town that attracts some pretty colorful characters.
Oh and speaking of colorful characters. . . when we got back to our hotel we found my sisters and my dad had arrived. The kids were so excited to see them and after chatting with Jenna and Kristin for a bit we all went swimming. I didn't realize how much I missed my family until I saw them. I, of course, immediately asked if Amanda had had her baby yet, and she hadn't and so now there are 4 of us down here anxiously awaiting the arrival of her little one.
Tomorrow is the beginning of our family reunion (which is the reason we came down here in the first place) and so we are excited to see our cousins and our other extended family!