San Diego 2015: Days 3 & 4

We got slapped in the face by reality on Monday since we both had to go do work-related activities. Up until that morning, I had kind of been in denial that that's what we were both there for.  After another leisurely morning of not having to get anyone ready but ourselves, we parted ways and Brian went to his office and I headed to my conference.  The conference was fine, and Brian picked me up there around 4:30.  Another night to ourselves, woohoo!!  We decided to head to the downtown part of La Jolla, which was just a few minutes drive away from our hotel. 

First up....MEXICAN DINNER!!  We went to a restaurant called Puesto, based on a recommendation from someone at the hotel....it did not disappoint!  I am not a huge fan of guac but I could have downed the entire bowl that we ordered.  I also had a really yummy white sangria and tacos.  Puesto for the win!

After that, we headed down to the beach to catch the sunset:

Once the sun went down, we walked a bit further down the beach and stumbled upon some seals just hanging out on the beach!  It was pretty amazing to see them up close.  We also decided that they all looked like they loved sleeping so much, Gracie would blend right in if she were there.

Look how close we were!

We decided to call it a night after that, pretty hard to top the sunset and seal spotting!! View walking back to the car:

On Tuesday after completing our work obligations, we went to the Mission Beach area of San Diego and walked around the boardwalk for awhile.  It was interesting to see such a contrast to the La Jolla area, which is more....I don't know, tropical?  Tropical is not the best word, but more remote feeling, I guess with the giant cliffs everywhere.  Mission Beach felt more Jersey Shore, and I mean that in a loving way since that is where we vacationed for years!! I felt right at home.  After a quick dinner and drink at a brewery, we headed to check out the ritzy Hotel Del Coronado .  This is what happens when you try to take me somewhere fancy:

The hotel itself was gorgeous, inside and out and it was fun to walk around. 

We headed back to the hotel after walking around the Coronado area for awhile, then had to say goodbye to San Diego the next morning.  It was the trip from hell on the way back home, including a canceled flight, numerous flight delays on the new flight, sitting on the plane for almost an hour before taking off, not landing in Pittsburgh until 3:15am only to find that our luggage was lost, and then getting home around 4:30am.  (thankfully, our luggage was delivered to our house the next morning)  However, it was all worth it.

This trip was great for us.  I don't post about Brian's job too often on here, but like many husbands out there, he works really hard for our family (yes, I work outside of the home too, but I can say with certainty that his job is much more demanding than mine).  His days are often booked with clients nonstop from the second he gets into the office until the minute he leaves, and I know there are many days he doesn't even have time for lunch and comes home looking exhausted and starving.  On top of that, he's been building this treehouse for the boys and serving as the head coach for Jake's baseball team....he loves doing those things, but I know it's been tiring for him.  I appreciate everything he does for us and how much he strives to succeed at work to provide for our family.

That being said, sometimes everything we have going on between work, social commitments, sports, the kids, and the house tends to overshadow what we have as a couple.  I've talked about this with a few fellow moms at a recent gathering, and it's not something anyone is purposely letting slip through the cracks, but when it comes down to it, it's easy to put it on the backburner almost by default.  We talked about how days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, and the next thing you know, you're realizing that it's been 6 months since you've been out with your husband with no kids.  It's just easy to do....time goes so quickly that you don't even know it's passing. 

Brian and I talked on our trip about how we both agree it's important to carve out time for each other and we need to focus on making it a priority. It doesn't have to be a fancy date night out or a trip away....something as simple as putting the kids to bed then sitting on the patio with a glass of wine and good conversation is a great place to start.  It's so simple, yet it's also so easy to just go through the motions of the day, put the kids to bed, then collapse on the couch.  Why not collapse on the patio instead? :-) 

So, my overall review of our trip was that I loved San Diego, I loved spending time with Brian, and I loved coming home to see these sweet faces waiting for us.  A huge thank you to Nana and PopPop for making this trip possible by watching the kiddos for us!! 

San Diego 2015 - Days 1 & 2

7.5 years. 

Actually, a bit longer than that even, if you count the last time that Brian and I had actually gone somewhere together, just the two of us.  The last time Brian and I went anywhere together, outside of the Pittsburgh region, was for our first wedding anniversary....September of 2007.  A few months later, we had Jake and hadn't gone away since then.

It's not that we don't leave the kids....I've gone away for work, and we've both left separately for time with friends....he's gone skiing or fishing, I've gone away for some girls weekends with the bestie.  But together?  Not in SEVEN years. 

A few months ago, I learned that a conference I have attended in the past for work was being held in San Diego....Brian's company has another office in San Diego, and it's actually where his boss lives, so the location could not have been better.  We could both combine work with a trip away for just the two of us!  Perfect!  It was time.

So last Saturday, after some tearful goodbyes Friday night (me, not the kids...they were totally fine, knowing they were going to have a fun week with Nana and PopPop!), we stepped on a plane and took off for the west coast! 

Funny side note- I was telling Liam that I would miss him and his response was "Don't worry, I'll miss you too...but I'll still be alive when you come home!"  Well, ok then. :) 

Airport waiting.

 After a long flight and 1 layover, we arrived!!!  Thanks to the time change, we still had half of the day left; this also meant that we were very early to check into the hotel, so it gave us a chance to walk around and check out the area.  We stayed at the La Jolla Shores hotel and it was great...spacious, clean rooms and the hotel was literally right on the beach.

courtyard area of the hotel

Who let these pale people out in the sun??

 The weather was absolute perfection.  I'm not exaggerating either....70 degrees, sunny, no humidity, slight breeze. 

After checking into our room and getting settled, it was pretty much time to get ready to leave again; we had dinner reservations at Jake's Del Mar (sweet name, right?) with Brian's boss and his wife, which was very nice.  Unfortunately, the jet lag (and just general tiredness, I couldn't sleep the night before we left, I was like a kid at Christmas!) and sinus/ear issues (presumably brought about on the plane) caught up with me at dinner.  I was having trouble hearing most of what was said throughout dinner, which was annoying, and I felt like I could fall asleep into my food.  But dinner was very nice (what I could hear of it, ha!) and the food was delicious, and of course, it was very kind of them to take us out.  I was in bed by 8:30pm...so much for trying to adjust to west coast time! 

We woke up bright and early the next morning after such an early bedtime, and after a very leisurely breakfast (I didn't have to make anyone food!  or pour milk! or remind anyone to brush their teeth!) we headed out to Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve.  When we pulled in, Brian asked the attendant where we should park and she told us it would depend on if we wanted a serious hiking trail or more of a scenic walk....I'll take the scenic walk, thank you very much!!  (also, if that's what they consider a scenic walk, I would have died on the actual hike) 

This ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for us, we LOVED it here. Again, the weather was great, so I was warm once we started walking, but not miserable by any means.  The views were spectacular, I feel like these pictures don't even do it justice, but here they are:

We did a few different trails that all lead to different views; one of the trails had this giant stone staircase that was fun to go down:

YAY, stairs!!  All smiles on the way down...

But the way up?  Not as fun, let me tell you.  I had to stop halfway up (where they very conveniently had this little bench....gee, I wonder why?) and Brian snapped this lovely picture of me:

On the next trail we came across this little bit of um, festive scenery:

He noticed my Pitt hat and told us that he's a huge steelers fan, tries to get out to Pittsburgh sometimes because he loves the city, goes to see the Steelers whenever they play the Chargers in San Diego, etc....super friendly (though also a touch creepy!) bunny.  We do not have any reason as to why he was dressed like that.

After that, we found another trail that led down to the beach....only to get to the other side of the beach where it wasn't nearly as crowded, you had to squeeze through this opening...thank goodness we're not particularly claustrophobic!

squeeze it in there, kids!

But it was worth it once we got to the other side! 

Grown ups only trip, woohoo!!!

 

 
Brian is crazy and decided to jump into the ocean (it was 61 degrees.....BRRR, no thanks!)

 

After all of that hiking, we were starving, so we headed to a place called Gliderport, where crazy brave people jump off of cliffs and paraglide or hang glide over the ocean.  They also happen to serve delicious sandwiches (at the appropriately named Cliffhanger Cafe) there and have picnic tables outside, so this was our view during lunch:

 

 

We had 5pm reservations for kayaking and unfortunately, I don't have those videos or photos uploaded yet (they are on our knockoff Go-Pro camera, I didn't bring my phone) so i'll have to get those posted another time.  But for now, I'll say that we had a great time (and didn't get attacked by sharks, score!) and that we were able to see dolphins and sea lions, so that was really fun. 

We were exhausted after our big day, and quite stuffed from our late lunch, so we decided to skip dinner, walk around the little area by our hotel and have a froyo dinner :)  It was the perfect way to wrap up such a fun day!

Days 3 & 4 recap to come soon.....

Recent rundown

We are really in the homestretch here; June just snuck right up on us and today is Jake's last day of school and it's only a half day!  Let the summer camp shuffle begin!

Work on the treehouse has continued; I forgot to snap some shots of the actual updates, but I did get this one of the hard-at-work boys, doing their thing in the garage one day.  We are hosting the end of the season baseball party at our house in just a little over 2 weeks, so Brian has set that as his deadline so that the team can enjoy the house.  Fingers crossed!!

Speaking of baseball, Jake's team is really coming along.  It seems like they have fallen into a groove as a team, and many of them are getting some great hits and making awesome plays in the field.  For some reason this video is sideways, but here is a recent hit that Jake had:

 

 

As for Liam...well, there's only 2 games left :)  I don't know, he really does a nice job once he's there (with the exception of some poor listening skills/attitude at the game last week) but he really seems to dread going.  We started Jake in t-ball at roughly the same age (he was 4, but a few months older into the age of 4 with the way their birthdays fall) but maybe it was just too young for Liam.  Oh well....we'll finish out this year and give him the choice again next year.

On Saturday, we were supposed to have our annual neighborhood outdoor movie night, but off and on all-day storms prevented that from happening, so instead I had a temporary lapse in my sanity invited over some of the neighborhood kids and moms for an indoor movie night in our playroom.  We ended up with 10 kids, who were WILD when they first got there, but did settle down to watch the movie, so all was well.

Sunday morning, everyone was dragging due to the late night the night before.  We had plans of going to church, but then I realized that summer hours had started and there was no usual 9:30 service so we'd either be rushing like crazy to get there by 8:30 or not going until 10:30.  We decided to just skip it, and instead took the kids biking over at Jake's school (which is something he has been begging to do, apparently lots of kids at school talk about how they come there on the weekends!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this week, Jake's class had a field trip to the Science Center and I chaperoned....I've said it before, but it's worth saying again....every time I'm in that classroom or around teachers, I appreciate them even more!!  It was fun, but phew...tough to keep track of kids in such a crowded place! (his shirt has those boxes on it to block out his school name)

 

Jake had to go back to school to finish up his day, and then when I got him off the bus we decided to pick up Liam and take a little impromptu trip to the laser tag place by our house.  Here was their reaction when I said where we were going:

  We had a blast!! 

We decided to keep up the fun by making a stop at our local library on the way home; they have a cute little play area in the children's section, so these two set up shop.

So that's been the last few days for us....Happy June, everyone!

What I'm Reading Wednesday: Nantucket Sisters by Nancy Thayer

After finishing up Elin Hilderbrant's Nantucket Nights, I'm continuing my obsession with reading books set on beaches (and apparently, Nantucket specifically) by reading Nantucket Sisters by Nancy Thayer.

What's on your summer reading list?