Once every few years I make a trip out to my company’s corporate headquarters located in kinda/sorta/sometimes sunny San Diego. I normally don’t mind going but this time I needed to be out there a full week and I was really hating the idea of leaving my girl (and my husband) for that long so we finagled our schedules around, asked my mom if she’d watch the dogs, and worked it our for J and Ava to come out with me. The plan was that they would have plenty of time to explore while I was working and then we’d do a few more things at night and on the weekend.
But oh how I was dreading that flight. The last time we flew with her she managed to pee on me right after we’d checked all the bags. This was before I learned to always carry a full change of clothes for both baby AND parent, although I did learn that day that one cannot wash a leg of jeans in the airport bathroom and expect the hand dryer to be sufficient to dry them in the 15 minutes or so before boarding. The flight before that with her was our return from China and that is an experience that I would like to blot out of my mind completely. And really, it’s not that she was so bad. I, on the other hand, was an exhausted, sickly train wreck of a new mom and cried every single time anyone looked at me sideways which meant that it was the longest (figuratively and literally speaking) plane trip of my life.
My point? I was expecting the worst. We had to get up and leave our house at O’dark early in order to drive 4 1/2 hours to my parents’ house in order to drop off the dogs, then turn around and drive another hour back to the airport, stop and get her lunch on the way, heft way too many bags + car seat into the airport, and make it onto the plane with as little stress as possible. J boarded earlier than we did in order to get the carseat installed so I was left to manhandle her, my carry-on, and her backpack down the stairs, across the tarmac, and up the teeny ladder stairs into the plane. And you know what? It mostly worked. There was a bit of a fuss when the plane started taxiing – just enough to make my stomach clench up in a ball of nerves – and the next thing I knew she was asleep. Slept all the way to our layover airport. Easy-peasy.
The Sit-n-Stroll once again proved that it is worth its weight in gold. It came in very handy maneuvering our way through the airport and got lots of envious looks from other parents trying to corral their unruly toddlers.
My new iPad was also getting lots of envious looks from curious bystanders. And Ava? Well, she pretty much thinks it belongs to her.
Our second flight was as uneventful as the first. I pestered the lady at the gate until she let us pre-board with Ava early since we had the car seat to install and J got the seat in place lickety-split. Just in time for her to settle in for some light reading and a snack…
before snuggling up with her Elmo blanket and her ‘yam.’ It took her about an hour to fall asleep this time and then, once again, slept the rest of the flight away.
Our arrival in San Diego was uneventful and our most pressing decision was choosing what color minivan we wanted from the rental car fleet. The hotel was marvelous as always and J was fortunate enough to be officially welcomed to the state by a California Highway Patrol officer who kind of wanted to know why J made a funky (and obviously) illegal turn. Thankfully Officer Poncharello was very understanding when J pleaded ignorance and let him go with a cheery “Welcome to San Diego.”
Indeed. Welcome to San Diego.
There is nothing quite like the first beach day of the season. And in April, no less. Which is one of the main reasons we love it here sooooo much.
She headed straight for the water with bucket in hand
but got a little wary when confronted with actual (veryveryvery cold) water and waves.
“Uh, Daddy. Can you help me?”
You know he couldn’t turn her down, right?
Sucker! Guess who ended up toting the water back and forth?
It’s okay, though. She kindly repaid him by liberally coating him in sand
and allowing him the pleasure of basking in the most radiant smile on Earth.
Love these days where we just dash off to the beach after a long workday. I can’t think of a better way to end a Monday than this.
The Easter Bunny visited our house and left a plethora of eggs throughout the house and yard – all just begging to be gathered. Being the earth-friendly recycling type of people that we are we kind of just cheated and reused the eggs and goodies collected from the daycare party and local egg gathering gathering here in our local park. What? It’s not like we she needed any more candy.
J may have helped the Easter Bunny out a bit – but that’s our secret.
Unlike last year, Ava needed no encouragement to start collecting her eggs
and very little assistance in finding them.
She followed the bunny droppings all the way to the back yard
and up, up, up to the best Easter basket EVER.
Crayons, cheap jewelry, a(nother) fake cell phone, and her very own digital camera.
And that, my friends, may just inspire a whole entire photoblog dedicated solely to her fledgling attempts at becoming a professional photographer before age 4. Ansel Adams she ain’t, but she is showing a remarkable leaning toward fashion photography – shoes, to be specific. Primarily her own but no feet are safe nor is any space sacred to her.
We finished up the day with an afternoon spin or 8 round the carousel at our local theme park. What a great way to kick off Spring!
This year I swore we would be better prepared for coloring eggs. I mean really, it was all about J and I last year since Ava pretty much cared less but we still made a heckuva mess that I hoped we could avoid this time around.
I pre-planned and actually bought the egg dyeing kit in advance – meaning that Ava got the one she wanted as opposed to whatever kit they had left at W*lMart on our last minute shopping trip to buy eggs and dye and vinegar. Um – not that we would ever do that (again), you understand.
What we did forget were the little plastic cups specifically designed for dunking the eggs. No matter – we improvised.
Except we kind of forgot about basic concepts such as water displacement which led to a last minute equipment change.
It was so cute watching J and Ava fight over who got to dip the eggs. It probably wasn’t so cute listening to J and I snipe at each other over how long the eggs were supposed to stay in the color to reach maximum saturation.
And that was before we all expressed our opinions on how to decorate the eggs. Guess who won?
Ava took this job very seriously.
Her dad? Not so much.
Although he did decorate his own egg, too.
These are the Kodak moments you dream about pre-kids, aren’t they? You know what? It was almost every thing I dreamed it would be. Lots of laughter, only a few tears, and great fun.
Well, fun except for the fact that she hates the Easter Bunny with a passion which is why there are NO pictures of her within a 3 mile radius of him. She did deign to attend a neighborhood egg hunt where she flat refused to go near the bunny despite being enticed with an extra stuffed egg – heck, she apparently didn’t need it anyway since she flouted the rules completely and found (and kept) six eggs instead of the five each kid was allotted. I blame J since he dressed her like a commando for her first real Easter egg hunt. I kid you not – camo pants, a black shirt, and a black satin fake fur lined (tiger print) jacket. She was fierce (well, except for the bunny thing) and totally rocked the outfit AND the Easter egg hunt.
to continue buying you unhealthy* happy meals from McD.onalds by looking exceedingly cute by simply wearing the box on your head all through lunch.
*at least the McNuggets are sort of recognizable as white meat chicken these days. Back when I was little at least half of them were kinda slimy chunks of brown meat (those were my favorite) and they only came with fries and a Coke. We do at least opt for apple slices and milk for her.
P.S. Please excuse the bags of crap paper goods in the background. The recyclables were working their way toward the front door but hadn’t quite made it there yet.