Texans Come West

Guess who popped in for a week while we were in San Diego… a whole bunch of Texas family!  We had a blast showing them around some of our favorite spots in SD.  We spent time at a couple different beaches, went paddle boarding, did some seal watching, did some seaport village shopping, and ate some awesome Mexican food.  We squeezed a lot into the four days they had in SD before we all headed up to Disneyland (pictures from that adventure later).  

Savannah and her cousin Cheridan at the beach (day #1).  Savannah had so much fun showing Cheridan how to boogie board and how to build sandcastles and jump waves.  

The whole gang digging tunnels for Ryder to drive his sand trucks through.

Paddle boarding in Mission Bay (day #2).  Everyone loved this activity!  The kids who got to hitch a ride on the front of the board especially.  Savannah, Ryder, and Cheridan were too little to paddle their own board, so they got to sit on the front of our boards and enjoy the ride.  

She wanted to do it on her own so badly… maybe next year.

Ryder was totally content and happy riding in the front.  He wasn't the least bit afraid and was really sad when his turn was over.  At one point a sail boat almost hit us (or we almost hit a sail boat) and I thought for sure he would start freaking out, but he just laughed and said "that was awesome!".

Seal watching at La Jolla Cove (day #2).

More beach time (day #3).  Cheridan and Uncle E burying Savannah and Ryder in the sand.

Bob's Beach House

The BEST part about visiting Bob down in Mexico is that his house is on the beach… directly on the beach.  The days were perfect… morning shell hunts, boogie boarding and sand playing whenever you want for as long as you want, and then falling asleep to the waves.  Beach house living is the absolute best kind of living.  Maybe one day my Texan husband will realize that and agree to move west.  I am certain that if he spent a few days living at the beach that he would be in love.  The kids sure were in love.  Both of my little beach bums could stay out on the beach all day if I would let them.

The view from my dad's patio… not too shabby.

The stairs that lead to the beach entry and the shower to rinse off before coming in.

My little boogie boarding princess.  This girl is dying to learn to surf.  I am going to have to make sure that lessons for her are on the agenda the next time we come out for a visit.  She has so much fun out there in the ocean.

I just can't bring myself to cut his sandy long curly hair.  I love it way too much to let it go.

I can't get over the cuteness of these little boy speedo shorts that I found at the Walmart in Mexico.  Time to tan those little boy thighs… I'm sure his father totally approves.

These next few pictures perfectly capture how much fun Savannah has out there in the ocean.  I love her big toothless smiles.  

Early morning (really long) walk looking for treasures.

We found lots of goodies… lobster tails...

and crabs… his face doesn't show it, but he actually was really excited about the crabs.

Rinsing off after a full day at the beach.

South Of The Border

Since my dad is now living down in Mexico, there was no way we could get away with not venturing south of the border for a visit.  I'm very happy that we made the trip.  Savannah is now old enough that she was able to notice and question cultural differences.  She pointed out things about Mexico that she liked (the shopping, the food, the fruit) and things that she did not like (the military carrying guns at the grocery store, the border wait).  Overall, she loved her time down at Bob's house and is already asking when she can go back.  Ryder was totally oblivious to the fact that we had crossed over into another country.  Traveling with him and his food allergies down to Mexico was actually not as stressful as I thought it was going to be.  My dad's girlfriend was able to communicate fluently and find out ingredients in things for me.  Surprisingly, the items he is allergic to were not in a lot of the mexican food down there.  Yet, they make up most of the ingredients in the mexican food here in the states… crazy.  I don't get it.  

One of the days that we were down there we went and did the touristy shopping, margarita drinking, and lobster eating thing in Puerto Nuevo.  It was a lot of fun. 

Obligatory ridiculous sombrero and tecate drinking touristy pictures.  You just gotta do it.

A $5.00 Captain America mask/cape combo… you just don't pass up an awesome deal like that.  It was hilarious watching Ryder cruise through Puerto Nuevo wearing his cape.  

Savannah with my dad's girlfriend's kids people watching on the patio of the restaurant we ate at.

The lobsters at the place we ate were HUGE!

Always Our First Stop

No shocker here, our first stop after we saw grandpa and unpacked, was of course the beach.  Both kids were begging to get to the beach.  Savannah is the happiest little girl in the world when we are at the beach.  There is no doubt in my mind that the beach is her absolute happiest place.  She is fearless in the water… jumping and diving and going out as far as I will allow and trying to catch every wave possible.  Ryder is finally warming up to the idea of playing in the water.  Last year the water was much too cold, so he spent all of his time building sand castles and driving trucks in the sand.  He will now run down and play ankle deep in the water with his toys.  The water is a lot warmer than last year when we were out here, so I think after a few more days at the beach he will have no issues with going in a little deeper.  

Road Tripping Out West

Our annual summer adventure out to California to see my family snuck up on us this year.  I planned it later than normal, and still somehow I was not ready to leave on my scheduled date.  It didn't help that Ryder ended up having asthma issues the day before I was planning to leave.  The doctor put him on breathing treatments every two hours, so I decided to postpone for a day so that he could stay on schedule with his meds and so that he could rest.  Doing breathing treatments while we were on the road SUCKED.  Savannah was a huge help.  She put the medicine in the machine and hooked everything up for Ryder while I drove.  The other thing that became a bit annoying on the drive out was how frequently Ryder had to go to the bathroom.  We stopped way more than I would have liked.  There were even times that there was no where for me to stop, so he had to sit on our travel toilet and pee in the back of the van.  Awesome.  It was a pretty crazy trip.  The kids were both very good though.  Not one bit of whining or fussing or crying.  That is pretty much all any parent hopes for on a two day road trip through the boring desert with two kids.