San Diego Pt. 2

When I last left you, it was Wednesday and our trip was ending the following day. Or so we thought. Wednesday night, Julien and I went out to dinner with a couple of his coworkers. Then we came back to the hotel and had a drink with them. A very nice evening. I started to pack for our return trip home and was really looking forward to seeing the kids. I was done with being on vacation at this point and wanted to hug my babies. Thursday we checked out and headed to Mission Beach for our last morning in California. We parked the car, turned around and saw a big flag on a bar that said "Home of the Iowa Hawkeyes." We looked at each other and decided we must have a drink there. (Apparently the GM is an alum. They even sell a mug with their logo and the Hawkeye logo on it, which we now own. :) ) After that, we walked down Mission Beach, collecting shells for Aidan and putting our feet in the water to say we were in the ocean. We finally found Aidan a little surf board on a magnet at a little shop. About that time, my phone rang. It was an automated message from the airline telling me my flight had been cancelled and I had been re-booked for a 6:15a flight the following day. This is where I start to freak out. Julien and I had booked separately and he didn't get a call. So we thought I had been bumped from the flight and Julien had not. We took off to the airport to figure out what was going on. The whole time I'm worrying that I will get left in San Diego or that we will both get stuck and that I really want to go home and see my kids. By the time we get to the ticket counter, I'm a mess. The agent felt so bad for me she went and got me kleenexes. Turns out, there was a maintenance issue with the plane so it was cancelled. They put us up in a hotel for the night since it was their fault. (And since we hadn't turned in the rental we still had a car for the night.) The agent told us we were confirmed for the flight tomorrow so we'd be on for sure and that she would try to seat us together. There was no way to get to St. Louis that night. So we had one more night in San Diego, which we spent at Old Town for more Mexican food and Margaritas. The next morning we were up at 3am. It was the first time I had been at the airport before the ticket counter or security were open. Never been first in line for either before. At the gate they printed out our seat assignments, all except Julien's for the ATL to STL flight. (Yeah we went to Atlanta before coming back to St. Louis.) We were able to get that in Atlanta, all though we weren't able to sit us together. I had been upgraded to first class, another first. Julien was a little jealous but considering how upset I was, he thought I deserved it. All I have to say is that was a much more comfortable flight. And I had no idea first class got a drink before they even took off. But the best part of the flight was landing in St. Louis. The hug Aidan gave me when we got home was the best hug ever. It was fun to show him all the things we got for him too. I think I hugged Olivia for about two minutes straight. There were lots of hugs and kisses all around. No matter how great a vacation is, it always awesome to come home.

San Diego or Bust!

Hello everyone from sunny San Diego, CA! This trip has been awesome. But, let me start from the beginning. Friday night, Nana and Grampa arrived to take over Aidan and Olivia duty. Grampa stayed the weekend and had to go back home, leaving Nana with the kids this week. So far it sounds like things have been going well. Both kids have been doing well and they've been keeping busy. That being said, Saturday was an early morning for us. At 4:00a we got up and told Olivia goodbye, as she was up too. Off to the airport and our 6:30a flight. We sat in Minneapolis for 3 1/2 hours for our layer over, had breakfast and tried to keep ourselves entertained. We landed in San Diego at 1:30 with the whole day ahead of us. So, off to downtown to have an awesome seafood meal at the Fish Market down by the Midway. Then we drove up the coast, stopping at La Jolla, Solana Beach and wherever else looked cool. We checked into the hotel around dinnertime. Talk about nice! What a cool place. We have our own patio which is cool. The TV is nice and big. The bed is comfy. They have a spa, two restaurants and bars, outdoor fireplaces, a golf course and is all together pretty posh for us. Sunday morning we took off for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Park. It's where they started their breeding program and have since opened it to the public. It was a lot of fun but a ton of walking. Can't imagine doing it with the kids. After the park we got a late lunch at Fatburger and then went to see the A-Team movie. Not a bad Father's Day. Monday, we went to Old Town San Diego. We toured the Whaley House, which I had wanted to do last time I was here. It's supposed to be one of the most haunted houses in the country but I didn't see any ghosts unfortunately. We grabbed some great Mexican food while we were there too. Carnitas, yum! We walked around and visited all the shops. Lots of touristy things to buy but still fun. Then after a little break we headed to the Stone Brewery for their brewery tour. The tour guide was funny. He spent the whole tour drinking a beer, which in my opinion is the greatest ad for your product. At the end we got free samples of beer, which I passed on. They also have a restaurant so we stayed for dinner. Very good food but we were still pretty full from lunch so we didn't eat much. Then back to the hotel to pass out. The time change has been hard on us. We start to fall asleep at about 9p here cause to our body it's 11p. I usually don't know what time it is and I have been confused as to the day it is on more than one occasion. But it is vacation and I have no real responsibility while I'm here. The closest thing to responsibility I've had is to make to the spa on time. Which came the next day when Julien had to go to work. Poor guy, the day he has to go to work (since this was a business trip to begin with) is his 30th birthday. Nice of me to have a day at the spa for him huh? I got a massage, a pedicure, then relaxed by the pool with an appetizer plate and a flight of wines. It was awesome! I sat around all afternoon and read by book. When Julien got back to the room from his difficult day at work, we went to a restaurant here for dinner. Dinner was wonderful and the wine was very good. They even brought him a dessert with two candles in it for his birthday. Today I've hung around the room. Julien went back to work today and then he'll be done with his business part of this trip. I went to breakfast by myself this morning and felt a little weird about it so I decided to have lunch in our room so I wouldn't look so pathetic having lunch by myself too. Tomorrow we don't leave until the afternoon so I'm hoping we will be able to do something fun in the morning. I know work was a little difficult for Julien yesterday and I would hate for him to end the trip on a sour note. I think there should be enough time to do or see something. We don't have to be at the airport till 3p. Let's hope that our return flight goes as smoothly as our flight here. This has been a lot of fun and I've really appreciated the time away and the time we were able to spend the two of us. We don't get to do that nearly as much as we should. Hopefully we won't wait another four years to do this again. As great as this trip has been, I miss my babies. And I know they miss us too. We've really enjoyed San Diego and its perfect weather but it always feels good to go home. I could use a hug from my buddy and my little chica.

Happy Anniversary!

The beginning of this month brought our anniversary. We're steadily working towards a whole decade. We decided not to do anything special on the day since we have big plans coming up. So we spent a nice afternoon together as a family. That day, Aidan had refused to take a nap and instead fell promptly and totally asleep in the car. I've never seen him actually hang half out of his car seat before. When we woke up following our drive he was NOT a happy camper. In fact, he completely melted down. We arrived at our favorite Thai place for dinner and after Aidan through a fit about where we were seated, we finally were able to enjoy a celebratory dinner. The promise of ice cream helped Aidan find the will to calm down and we were able to stop at Oberweis afterwards. Instead of eating it there, we took it to Bee Tree park. Aidan loved eating his ice cream at a picnic table by the pond. It seemed to perk him up and he was ready to go play on the playground. Of course, that perk was short lived. Olivia signaled it was time to go by getting cranky and tired and Aidan responded by having another meltdown. All in all it was a lovely family evening. :) Actually it was a fun and Julien and I had a good time. Family doesn't always mean happy and chipper but we cherish every moment of it.

May Recap

It seems I've been neglecting my blog. I do try to keep it up to date but when I get the opportunity to actually type something uninterrupted, I usually find that I have no energy or inspiration. So I'm taking a moment to recap the month of May.May brought us the close of Aidan's first year of preschool. It's hard to believe that the school year is over already! We made little candy bouquets for his teachers. I'm not very crafty but I try hard and they seemed to like them.
Aidan had fun with his classmates at the end of year picnic. We had a minor "peanut" incident involving a contraband dessert a parent brought. Don't worry, Aidan didn't get sick. The teachers got all panicked when they realized there was peanut butter in it (which I appreciate) but I realized that I will be "that parent" as long as Aidan's allergic to them.
Right after I picked Aidan up from his last day, we took off for Iowa and my niece Liz's High School graduation. Aidan had a great time playing with the cousins at their house during the graduation party. And we couldn't be more proud of Liz. Congrats on your Academic letter too! After the graduation ceremony we had to take off for Des Moines. Julien's parents needed help repairing their fence. Two new 4x4 fence posts and 32 fence boards later, Julien and I were done. It will look really sharp when it's all painted.
We spent Memorial Day weekend at home. Aidan went to the birthday party of a playgroup friend. Julien cleaned out the garage and built shelving for it. It looks great! Then yesterday was our anniversary but that's another post. This summer we have a lot planned. The grading work in the backyard might get started this weekend but I have a feeling the weather is going to get in the way. Julien and I have a trip to San Diego coming up. Yes, kid free! Then Olivia's party is coming up soon. I'm busy planning that now. And then as soon as we have her party, I'll have to plan Aidan's. Then it will be fall. This summer is going to fly by and it just started!