Vacation

We decided to go to the ocean for vacation this year because Steve absolutely loves everything about it.  I like the beach, but the ocean I can take or leave.  The west coast waters are too cold for my blood, and the east coast waters are too murky for my fears.  I don't even like swimming pools that much and there are things that can eat me in the ocean.  Steve told me his boss said once that he didn't like going places where he wasn't sure if he was the top of the food chain anymore.  Well put, I say. Well put.

But, to make Steve happy, we planned a trip to California so he could see the ocean.  It was even more exciting for me when we found out we could stay with my cousin Bill and his fiance Carolina who have a house in Orange County.  We didn't have to pay for hotels, AND we got to see Bill.  Sounded like the best of both worlds to me.  And that part of it really was.  Bill and Carolina were very gracious hosts.  It was great to get to know Carolina better (I'd only met her once at my cousin Lavi's wedding).  She made us some excellent guacamole and tacitos.  Yum!! We had fun playing games after the girls went to bed at night (Steve HAD to teach them Dominion). We got to go to the beach (Huntington Beach to be exact), as planned, and they were only about 1/2 hour from many great beaches.

The rest of the trip, though, was difficult, stressful, and tiring.  We left on a Wednesday night and drove down to Steve's sister's house (Thanks Joe and Cindy for putting us up!) in St. George.  I had had a cold for the last 8 days, and the next day, Thursday, I knew it was a full on sinus infection.  My face hurt, my teeth hurt, I was getting achy all over, etc.  I got some antibiotics and took a nap and felt up to driving again.  We were supposed to meet some old friends of mine in Vegas, but they failed to call me back, so we ate in Baker--which I don't recommend ever doing.  The selection was terrible.  We ended up eating at 3 different restaurants, mostly because I'm still on the crazy nursing diet.  Oh, and did I mention I had taken sudafed for my cold and my milk supply diminished so badly that Mira was eating every 1 1/2 to 2 hours for 3 or 4 days? She finally got back to a 3 hour schedule around Thursday night, so that was good at least. Friday we went to the beach and it was really hard on the two girls.  I didn't get to walk the beach or play in the water at all because I was trying to give Steve time in the water.  With the two girls, i didn't have a chance to do much. On the up side, Steve spent an entire afternoon at the beach without getting sunburnt.  That's a first since we've been married! :) Saturday and Sunday were better and we drove home Monday, but we were all exhausted.

Here are some pictures of the fun times we had.  I have to admit, though, I am a terrible vacation photographer.  I forget to get my camera out to take pictures of people.  Give me a beautiful landscape or interesting building and I whip the camera out.  But that's not really what a vacation is about.  Many of the people pictures below were taken by Carolina, which I stole from facebook. :D Thanks Carolina!

Here is us at the Splash Pad in dowtown St. George.  Emilia loved it despite her look in the first picture.

 At the beach.  This first pic is what Emilia did for like 45 minutes.  She would kneel down like this and dig her hands through the sand and then throw it up in the air.  She was mad at us that night when we had to scrub sand out of her hair.

 The best pic I got of Mira at the beach.  I warned you I was bad at this vacation photography stuff.

 My goofy family in front of the waves.

 If you look really close at this picture, you can see heads peeking out of the water after the second wave.  Steve is the one furthest to the right.

 This was Sunday night at Laguna Beach.  It was a beautiful landscape, so I had my camera out, of course. :)

Bill and Carolina kindly offered to walk back to the car and come pick us up closer to the beach.  While we were waiting I thought to snap some pictures.

These are the ones from Carolina. This is us chillin in the back yard while Steve cooked barbeque chicken over the fire pit. Emilia is inside watching Finding Nemo.

Bill holding Mira. They seemed to get along well. :)

Me. If I had known how unflattering that outfit was, I would never have worn it.

The three of us exploring. Mira was sleeping in her car seat.

Bill and Carolina.

Me and Bill.

So the lesson I learned was that a vacation with small children is a very different animal than a vacation with no kids.  I think next time we go to the beach, we'll take Grandpa and Grandma along. ;)