California Babymoon

In July, we were able to go on our original plan of a babymoon...one last trip before baby comes. In May, we got super lucky and got another trip out of the deal and went to Santa Ana. This time our trip was to Santa Barbara.

 

What I loved about this lucky deal we somehow squeaked out, is that since we already went to California for a short weekend trip in May, we already knew some places that we wanted to revisit and knew that we'd be within driving distance. But we first enjoyed everything about the overcast day. It seems crazy to enjoy an overcast day but now that we're on day 34 of triple digit heat here with no end in sight, an overcast day was exactly what we needed.

 

We stayed an hour outside of Santa Barbara but it was great because it allowed us to be right smack in the middle of the two places we wanted to visit.

On one of our day trips to Santa Barbara, we took a couple of hours to walk along the beach.

Why yes, Texas friends, I was actually wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt in JULY! The high was 68 that day and my jacket even made an appearance a few times.

My back was absolutely killing me this particular day but I made myself just sit down and enjoy the view. The ocean air, cool temps and the amazing view helped me get through the pain.

Along our walk we found some surf schooling taking place. What must it be like to live in a place where this is offered. That's how they roll in California.

It was pretty painful walking up these stairs but it was worth every ache.

The next day, we made a day trip to visit Santa Monica beach. It was actually a complete accident that we went there. We thought it was Venice Beach but I'm so glad we stopped. It was so much fun, and quite a landmark...the end of Route 66!

The boardwalk was so pretty with the ferris wheel and the view of the mountains and ocean.

After our pit stop to Santa Monica, we headed to Venice Beach. We were warned, and it's a good thing we were. That was a pretty crazy place! We saw some men flipping over six people...

And saw some other things that I'd rather not have seen. But I was a big fan of the fresh fruit and the view of the ocean.

The waves against the rocks were amazing!

The following day we drove down to our same destination that we went to in May to see Laguna and Newport beaches, and Balboa Island. Crazy enough some friends, the Wakefields, from Dallas were there for their month long stay. They lived there for their first year of marriage but moved back to Texas. Still not sure why they moved but Reid says going back to visit for a month every summer is helping "ease the pain" and keep Emily happy....don't blame them one bit!

After our lunch with the Wakefields, we just sat on the beach for a hour and that's where we both got sunburned. Guess it helps when you don't leave the sunscreen in the car.

And it wouldn't be a complete trip to Laguna without some Casey's cupcakes! It was strawberry for me this time and I think I liked it even more than the cinnamon one last time.

 
 Our trip was wrapping up but we were able to squeeze in seeing my cousin, Scott, and his adorable wife Mayra before we headed to the airport for brunch. It's been 12 years since I've seen my cousin. And there wasn't enough time to catch up on everything we needed to in just a couple short hours. We used up every last second before we had to be at the airport.

But he's coming to Texas hopefully this fall so now we won't let another 12 years go by.

I'm so so so grateful for both sets of grandparents that made this babymoon possible. They split up the days. While I was a worried mess, not that they couldn't do it, but that the boys were behaving.

My favorite text from my father-in-law while on our trip after asking how they were behaving..."sunny to partly cloudy." I'm pretty sure I know who partly cloudy was.

The boys loved every minute of their time with them. They talk about both sets of grandparents still three weeks later and the things they did with them. So just as much as we enjoyed this trip and our time alone before we're a family of FIVE (gulp!) our boys enjoyed making memories with their grandparents.

Looks like it's FORCED FAMILY FUN trips for a loooooooooooong time.

Hotel California

Planner...it really should be my middle name. Andrea Planner McDonald...doesn't exactly roll off the tongue though. I like knowing what to expect. I'm the nerd who has lesson plans done weeks before I actually teach the lesson. When I see an organized closet or office with labels it makes me down right giddy. Not because that's what my closest or office looks like but because it's what I aspire to be.

My life lately though has not gone according to plan...not even close. A pregnancy during the triple digit heat of Texas was definitely not part of my plan. Being a year behind in scrapbooking was not part of my plan. My sister's recent news of her recurrence of breast cancer was certainly not in my plan.

But for the most part, I'm working through this so called "plan" and trying to bring some sort of order to chaos.

At Justin's company Christmas party, he was lucky enough to win a trip for two anywhere in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Carribbean. Because if you don't know, my husband was pretty much born in a bed of clovers with the amount of luck that oozes from his skin. Margaritas were singing my name and crystal clear beaches were in my dreams.

Cue the record scratching.

Then a positive pregnancy test surfaced a few weeks later. There goes that "plan" out the window again.

New plan...stay in the US. We decided to go to Santa Barbara, California. Justin's never been to Cali and I haven't been since I was in the 5th grade so pretty much it was fresh to me too. But in a miscommunication our trip was scheduled to the wrong place and we ended up getting tickets to Santa Ana instead of Santa Barbara! Oops. So fortunately, all was fixed and we somehow were lucky enough to get TWO free trips out of this! See, told ya....bed of clovers, people!

I've got to admit, I didn't even know where Santa Ana was on a map nor did I have any clue what we were doing. Everyone kept asking, "So what are you doing on your trip?" And I would just say, "I have no idea. We're just winging it." But in a place like this, it's not hard to wing it.

And we did.

And I loved it.

Every

single



unplanned

moment of it.

The words "so what do you want to do next" haven't come out of our mouths in probably 6 years and I gotta tell ya...we should really say them more. As prepared and planning might make me feel, the feeling of being unstructured was equally as exhilarating especially in a life of schedules, sports practice, games, and meetings.

We fell in love with Laguna Beach. Parts of it reminded me of Europe. Not sure if it was feeling the cool breeze or seeing dogs with their owners eating at cafes outside but it just had that feeling. We have some friends, Emily and Reid, that lived there shortly after being married and we just kept wondering what they were thinking moving back to Texas. She gave us all the hot spots to eat and we pretty much did a Wakefield tour of Laguna.



We found this adorable cupcake bakery and in my make-believe life... I'd open one up just like this one. Pink, adorable and I would feel like I was playing "store" every day I opened it. It was something little girls would dream of.



And I swear had there not been all kinds of airport restrictions, I would have brought 2 dozen home with me (if they would have made it home before I ate them).

 

 Newport Beach just miles down the road reminded me of something completely different. It had more of a Nantucket, Massachussets feel. Not that I've actually been to Nantucket, but I've got really good visions in my head and in my little world, it looks just like this.



And they grow bouganvilla there like it's a weed.

There was this universal feeling of being laid back. I mean even the dogs were on surf boards...



I lost count how many times Justin or I said, "What in the world do these people do for a living?" I know the real estate there is absolutely outrageous but it really made me want to bold enough to just knock on their door and ask.


We got to enjoy our first ever ferry boat by car ride and have the freshest seafood we've ever had.

One of our "what should we do while we're here" conversations with the locals landed us whale watching. While we didn't see any whales, we saw sea lions and tens of dolphins just swimming along with us showing off. I mean we're talking we- could-see-their-blow-hole close.

  And look at all that sea lion snugglin' going on.

On our last day, we even squeezed in a short trip to Disneyland. Now before you go thinking how mean we are going to Disneyland without the kids, we only went to Downtown Disney.

 

The trip was absolutely positively exactly what we needed. We needed sunny skies, feet in the sand, time alone and throwing our schedules out the window. We needed to recharge.