San Diego: a little slice of Heaven.

For my birthday this year, Rob bought us tickets to see my sister & her husband out in San Diego. My Mom and Dad offered to watch our kiddies so we could have 4.5 WHOLE DAYS of kid-free VACATION.

Airport selfie

Even the travel time felt like a total vacation.  We got to drive in a quiet car while having adult conversation.  We made it through security at the airport without sweating or causing a scene.  I perused a few magazines at an airport gift shop while waiting for our flight.  I didn't need to pack an entire bag of coloring books, snacks, toys, and the iPad.  I even read a book on the plane.  Wow.

My goals for the vacation (b/c even on vacation I have to have goals...) were to play hard, eat good food, and sleep.

Sisters

First morning: We "slept-in" without our human alarm clocks to wake us up, but on Pacific time we still got to enjoy an hour of lazing around before breakfast.  Katie & Russ took us to a delicious breakfast place on the beach.  I got a breakfast burrito that seemed to be about the size of my newborn babies.  Off to a good start.

What a beautiful place!

Over the rest of our trip we:

• Went kayaking with sea lions
• Snorkeled in the c-c-c-cold Pacific water
• Hiked in Torrey Pines State Reserve
• Went to Old Town San Diego
• Visited Balboa Park 
•  Walked on the beach
• Played tennis
• Took a nap in a hammock (!!!!!!!!)
• Experienced Peter Lik's photography gallery 
• Ate reallllllllly good food (fish tacos, homemade biscuits, shredded pork burritos, french toast, churros, etc etc etc).

Torrey Pines

I absolutely LOVE the beach

La Jolla Pier

Russ and Katie were such good hosts.  They even went above and beyond by renting a wheelchair for Katie b/c her 9-month belly was getting in the way of all of the fun activities we had planned.

My sweet sister

Handsome Rob

Russ..........

Much better.  

As a side project, the boys spent their free time playing (and beating) Super Mario Brothers on Russ' old-school Nintendo.  

So proud.

And Katie and I (mostly Katie) worked on a little snuggle-blanket for her baby.  It turned out SO cute and I can't wait to snuggle that baby WITH that blanket!

Katie outlined the elephant in grey and it is even cuter now!

On our last day in San Diego we rented a car and drove to visit Mark & Aupreille in Temecula.  We went to church with them, played with the kids in their beautiful backyard (seriously, this area is SO GORGEOUS), went on an evening walk, and of course played a game or two before heading home.  

Tennyson

Juliet

Teairsa

Eww.  Gross.  ;)

Their kids are such dolls and being around them made me really miss MY cute kids.  So when it was time for our early-morning flight back to Houston the next day, I was totally ready to jump back into life as Mommy to my three littles.

Heaven on Earth.

It was the perfect vacation.  Long enough to remember that Rob and I have a lot of fun together, long enough to spend some much-needed, long-overdue sister time with Katie, and long enough to realize how much I love my normal, hum-drum life in exotic Houston.  Thanks to Katie & Russ, Mark & Aup, and especially Mom & Dad for the trip!