Goodbye, Vacation

Friday night was definitely the low point of the trip. :) Hazel kept waking up and ended up in our bed from about 2:00am on. At least she slept until 7:45, which was a big improvement from her wake up time that morning of 6:15. I don't know how people can sleep with their kids in bed with them on a regular basis. One night of it wore me out. Even still, I couldn't help but enjoy seeing cute chubby cheeks, puffy sleepy eyes and crazy bed head from the glow of my computer screen.

Saturday morning we opened up the doors and enjoyed our walk out patio. I could have sat there all morning.

 

Then we went and enjoyed the pool area (which had a splash pad, two big water slides, a smaller slide, a kiddie pool complete with a sandy beach area in addition to the regular pools and spa).

We got smart (without our smart phone) and looked up a Jack-in-the-Box before leaving. Jason finally got his JITB fill for the week. Wewsh.

Next up was the beach. We went by the Carlsbad Pier and had lots of fun. It's been so long since I've been to actually play at the beach and so long since the weather has been so beautiful on the beach. It was sunny, warm and the water was cold, but not too frigid. I attempted to build a sand castle with Clara, I walked in the water with Hazel and I taught Clara how to catch sand crabs. Clara put her sand crabs in our sand castle. She held one of them up to her face talking to it. Later she told me it did something she didn't like so it was in trouble. I had to think twice before I sat down in the sand to play. I'm not gonna lie, I didn't really want to get all sandy. But I had already decided I'd get down in the sand and play with Clara, so that's just what I did. Few things make me feel as young as playing in the sand on the beach. Hazel and Clara loved it and I'm happy to report I don't believe Hazel ate one grain of sand the entire time.

Before leaving, we walked to the end of the pier and I tortured Jason with pictures. Apparently Hazel was feeling rather tortured too. And my neck was feeling like it needed to flaunt all my extra neck skin.

There were some lifeguards training and they had to jump off the pier. It was pretty crazy, but fun to watch.

I loved the wooden railing against the aqua ocean with the structures on the coast in the background was lovely. Very picturesque.

From the beach, we headed to Emily's. We got cleaned up and went to dinner at a fun BBQ place in Fallbrook with Emily and her kids. I got ribs and they were really, really good. Clara and Hazel inhaled their steamed broccoli, I'm sure because they had about 300 too many fries up until that point. We also tried fried avocado. Not bad, but I prefer it fresh.

That night we stayed up late talking. Sunday was Mother's Day. I woke up bright and early to these little beauties. Of course I would have liked to sleep in, but what's the fun in that? Besides, they are the reason I'm a mother.

I teased Jason that the reason he wanted to stay until Sunday was so he didn't have to do anything for me for Mother's Day. But what that really meant was that he got to make breakfast for us and Emily's family. Justin and Alexis helped him make waffles with strawberries and whipped cream and sausage. Mmmm.

On Saturday, Clara prepared for my surprise. She put on a dog show for me for Mother's Day Sunday morning. She did tricks with Sydney.

Then she told a story using pictures she'd drawn the night before. She even had flowers for me that she picked the day before. I got her story on video. Man, I love that girl.

We went to sacrament meeting and Hazel made it about half way. Then her and Jason napped together on the couch. We went back to Emily's, packed up our stuff and headed home.

Our trip home seemed really long. There was lots of traffic, an unexpected and long detour in Palm Springs (we now know how NOT to drive to Palm Springs) and another stop for gas. Plus, my little dear Hazel didn't cry but was sure to fill at least half of her time awake with "mom" "momma" "maaaaaaa-maaaaaa", etc. It was so nice to come home. Usually after a vacation, I appreciate my bed and bathroom more than anything else. This time, it was Hazel's crib that earned all of my appreciation, hands down.

"Mom, take a picture of my x's." Hazel: SOOOO frustrated when she couldn't quite reach the balloon.

Some final thoughts on our trip... Forgetting the pack-n-play was a joke. I doubt that'll ever happen again. We had a really good time, but it wasn't long enough and both Jason and I were ready for another vacation by Wednesday of the following week. I think this is the first vacation that I haven't tried to pack food and be super frugal when it came to meals. We did buy apples, bananas and granola bars for breakfast, but that was it. It's funny how when I mentally prepare myself for spending money, I'm okay with it. I felt a lot less stressed not trying to stick to a meal budget the entire time. I know you're supposed to budget, but I decided I'm not going to budget for food when we go on vacation unless we are attempting to be frugal. It's just an extra headache in my opinion. Plus, I am that much closer to getting a smart phone. On this trip, it would have saved us lots of gas and time, 7 pieces of paper and our marriage (just kidding, but we did joke that a smart phone would save our marriage because we wouldn't be stressed trying to find certain things when we are all tired and cranky). 

Hello, Vacation

We've been talking about going on vacation for the longest time and just never scheduled time off work. We finally took time off and planned a quick trip on May 10th. I was wishy washy on where to stay, what to do, when to come home, etc. In the end, we booked a resort two days before we left, decided to stay Saturday night a day before we left (nothing like asking Emily if we can invade with only 72 hours notice) and bought tickets for Sea World in the resort room the night we arrived. So yes, the planning was not great. But that didn't keep us from having a good time. Forgetting the pack-n-play did, however, us from getting a good night's rest. The best part about the trip was that we didn't tell Clara. I picked her up from school and told her we had a surprise for her. She was hoping for a toy. I think the whole time she was a bit dumbfounded and kind of confused. She couldn't figure out if I was being serious when I told her we were going to Sea World and the beach and to see Aunt Emily when we got in the car after eating lunch. She figured it out eventually.

We got to Carlsbad later than planned, stopped and got dinner and food for breakfast and then drove to our resort, where we ate Panda Express for dinner on the floor in all our classiness.

Fortunately the resort itself more than made up for our lack of classiness. It was definitely a step (or ten?) up from our "normal" life and we enjoyed it. Jason's friend got us a good rate on our room, otherwise, we would not have been there. It was still more than I would usually pay, but very much worth it.The first night sans pack-n-play wasn't too bad. Clara slept peacefully in her very own big, comfy bed.

Hazel slept mostly peacefully on the floor. It was the one time in my life I wished my kids didn't fall asleep on their own because laying on the floor next to her for 30 minutes while waiting for Hazel to fall asleep was not my favorite part of the trip.

We made it through the night, although waking up at 6:30am on vacation almost doesn't qualify as "through the night" in my opinion.

Friday morning Jason went to check out the jobsite Emily is the project accountant for. It just so happened to be about 5 miles away and she figured he'd enjoy it. While he was out, I walked around with the girls and just enjoyed pretending like staying at high-end resorts is part of my normal life. If only. The grounds of the resort were simply beautiful. I loved it. Being somewhere like that is my kind of relaxing vacation.

If (hopefully when) we get to go back and stay at the La Costa, I am going to make time to enjoy these swings. They just have them randomly placed all around for anyone to sit in and enjoy. Meanwhile, I think I need one on my back porch.

We squeezed a quick nap in before Jason got back. When he did, we left for Sea World.

Once again, we found ourselves searching for a place to eat. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard. It was. We ended up eating at Sea World, which is what I had hoped to avoid. It was not great and was expensive and you know that annoys me. I got over it and we had a really great time at Sea World. Clara's favorite part was the shows. My favorite part was that I kept Hazel from getting burned and Jason's favorite part was being with family. Towards the end of the day, Clara and I went on Journey to Atlantis, the "big" ride there. It's been a while since I've been on a roller coaster like that and it kind of scared me. It kind of scared Clara too, but we had fun. The initial drop killed my stomach - it was almost more thrill than I could handle. I wanted to buy our picture so bad! I wish I wasn't so cheap, but out of principle I couldn't handle paying $15 for a 6x8. I just wish everyone could have seen Clara's face and her arm involuntarily thrown up in the air. 

We stayed until closing time, which was just right for all of us.

I love the San Diego temple. We attempted to squeeze a visit into our trip but realized driving by on the freeway would have to suffice.

We stopped for Italian food on our way back to the resort. Hazel and Clara were exhausted so we ended up getting our food to go half-way (1/4 of the way?) through our meal.