Our Vacation

Warning : Very Long Post

For family journal purposes, this post might be a little TOO long for you to take in. There will be lots of pictures, probably more than you'd like to see - but where's the fun in blogging without pictures anyway?

So our original plan for the week of Memorial day was to attend one of Sean's best buddies' wedding in Utah and visit good old Rexburg for a week. After examining our finance situation, we decided that it may be a little stretch to pay for hotel, food, and gas for a week. If we had that kind of money, we would probably be living in a house, not in a crappy apartment.

With Sean's vacation time already scheduled, we decided to go down to Sean's parents and spend a week there. Laying at the beach and visiting nearby tourist spots sounded more relaxing and less stressful. Needless to say, it was a fantastic week. It was great to hang with Sean all day for 10 days! I felt like we were back at school or something, just on a spring break or something. It was fun!

The drive down to Pismo Beach from Roseville wasn't too bad. We just made sure that we had Matt's favorite music CDs in the car. We left Roseville on Friday evening, at around 5 pm, after Sean came home from work. I made lots of yummy cinnamon rolls for the road. I must say, those cinnamon rolls made the trip so much easier - whenever we got bored, we ate. Now I know why I always gain 5 lbs whenever we travel. - The first half of the trip was piece of cake. Matt napped the whole time. After that, we played his favorite CD over and over again, so he was pretty entertained. When we had only one hour left to go, that's when things got a little rough. Even the McDonald's farm animals didn't help him calm down. But we survived. We arrived at Pismo at around 11 pm, which wasn't bad at all.

Saturday
(The crazy, crowdy day)

There was a lot of other family members visiting at my in-law's. I think everyone was just in the mood of visiting. We got to see aunt BJ, uncle Steve, Jared & Emily + their three kids, aunt Lisa, uncle Chris, and their daughter Kara. There were some other people at dinner, people that we didn't know, so 18 of us were there. Wow, that was crazy. But it was fun to visit with them.

Matthew fell in love with one of his cousins, Carlie. He chased her around wherever she went. Carlie was very good with him, too. They don't see each other too often, so it was good to see them get along well.

Their friendship strengthened as Matt started poking Carlie in the eye.

Then he decided to crawl in between Carlie's legs.

Matt sat with Carlie until she had to go home.

After dinner, Sean & I went to the pier with our little guy. It was a little windy but fun to see the ocean. Here are some pictures from the pier.

Playing peek-a-boo

Daddy and Matty

Someone at the pier offered to take a couple pictures of the fam. Later he said, he is a professional photographer. He's pretty good, isn't he?

Another shot of the family.

Sunday

We went to a strawberry festival in Arroyo Grande for an hour. My mother-in-law is way into that kind of stuff. She persuaded Sean and me to go for hours so we gave in and decided to go. It was fun. We walked around and saw what they had there. One hour was enough for our family. So we took off and went home. But here are some pictures we got from the festival.

Matty eying on my drink..

He loved the drink.

Then we took some pictures of us in Pontiac, the car my mother-in-law won on the Price is Right back in December, 2008.

Monday

On Monday, we went to a local petting zoo. They have lots of GREAT fresh vegetables and fruit that I wish I could get around here. If you ever go down near Pismo Beach, you must go there and get some fruit. They also have a little petting zoo. Matt was still a little hesitant to pet the animals but did like feeding them.


We discovered Matt's love for corn. We should've gotten his own corn!!


Oh boy... So cute, isn't he?

After eating the corn, we headed to Morro Bay, which is only about half an hour away from Pismo Beach. We had some yummy pastries at a local bakery, then went by the beach for some pictures. It was a bit windy but we had fun taking pictures.

Didn't want to stand up for so long... He doesn't like the fact that he has to work so much to get around. He loves to be held. :)

Papa and Nana - Matt definitely bonded with his grandparents while we were visiting. He followed them around wherever they went, which was really nice for me, because I was able to read books without any interruptions.. Thanks papa and nana for watching him all the time!

I like this picture...

That night, upon my in-law's request, I made orange chicken for dinner. It turned out so yummy. Everyone loved the tangy and sweet flavor of the chicken. Mmmm... just thinking about it makes my mouth water....

Cooking is fun!!

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we went and lay on the beach for a couple hours. We originally planned to go to Pismo Beach after eating at Splash Cafe (we HAD TO have their world famous clam chowder, of crouse!), but it was too foggy and chilly. So we drove a few more miles to Avila Beach, hoping the weather would be a little better. Sure enough, it was sunny and the sky was clear and blue. Sean and I took books to read and also some sand toys that Matt could play with. Well, actually, they weren't really toys, we just grabbed a shovel and plastic cups and a plastic hat. Matt LOVED playing with them! So we were able to read a few pages from our books before we decided to play with Matt.

Matt had fun playing with the sand..

Sometimes, the simplest things make the baby happy.

We were trying to bury Matt's feet, but he wouldn't stay still.

Just watching Matt having fun.

Matt wasn't so fond of the cold ocean water.

On swing at the beach

That night, while Sean's parents watched Matthew, Sean and I went to a hot spring nearby Avila Beach. This hot spring is seriously the BEST I've been to. There are individual outdoor hot tubs in the mountains. We got there a little later, at around 8 pm. It was quiet and romantic. It was nice to get away just the two of us and enjoy the warmth of the water. I think all of the knots on our back were gone by the time we left!!

At the hot tub

By the time we were done, we were anxious to go back and see our little Matty boy.

When we got back, we asked Sean's parents how Matt was while we were gone. They said Matt didn't even cry a bit and that he was a happy boy! We were relieved.

Matthew played with his new popper for a while.

Talking on the phone with "Rose" - Rose is one of the new words that he learned along with flower. He's been saying Rose all day, all week.

Wednesday

The Santa Barbara Mission

On Wednesday, we went to Santa Barbara to visit the SB mission and the zoo. Somehow, I mistyped the address for the zoo, (apparently they didn't recognize the address and asked me if I wanted the address for the center of the SB zipcode), so we ended up in the middle of nowhere. We were SO confused when we got to the destination. We were in some really bad neighborhood, too. ha ha So our joke was that now we've been to the center of that particular zipcode in SB. Anyway, we managed to find our way to the Mission. The Santa Barbara Mission was beautiful. There were many cool drawings on the cement. It was really neat to see all the great artwork there.

Some of the artwork at the Mission

We learned a lot about the mission. The tour costs 5 bucks per person. A little pricey but it was a good experience.

Matt, about to enter the cemetery of the mission. There are thousands of priests and nuns buried at the mission cemetery. Some bodies were buried in the walls of the mission buildings. It was really interesting to see different kinds tombs and graves.

Matthew looks so grumpy in this picture, doesn't he?

I thought the tree in the background looks quite unique.

Inside a chapel... It reminded me of the middle school I went to. I went to a Catholic school for three years and I was required to attend their Tuesday meetings during school hours.

The statue in the background was dedicated when the United Nations was organized.

After walking around at the mission, we got hungry. We drove to the wharf and ate at a seafood restaurant. Although the restaurant had a great view, I wasn't too impressed with their food. I have had much better seafoods at Red Lobster or Quarterdeck in Arroyo Grande, CA. But it was fun to sit out, looking out the great view of the wharf.

Before eating...

It's always fun to read the names of different boats.

He was actually flirting with a girl who was sitting at the next table over. I heard a girl giggle and saw Matt smiling at someone and just knew that he was trying to flirt with the girl. He always does that whenever we go out to eat. The kind of smile he has on his face when he flirts with pretty girls is totally different from his normal one. It's pretty hilarious. The Zoo!!

I have been wanting to go to the zoo for a long time now so I begged Sean to go to the zoo in Santa Barbara. It was really fun. It's a pretty big zoo, very family oriented, especially with younger kids. There is a picnic park where little kids can run around and play. There are over 300 animals at the zoo and we made sure to see all of them while we were there. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to look around and we had a blast. Matt's favorite was leopard, I think. He also liked giraffes and monkeys.

Matt amazed by the giraffes

The elephant was one of my favorites.

About to see pretty birds..

Friday

We went to the beach for a bonfire! We had s'mores, of course. It's one of the best American food!! Mmmm... I want one right now!

Matt loves nana..

Yummy!!


Saturday

Sean's grandparents - Matt's great grandparents came to visit with us on Saturday. Sean and I cooked chicken parmesan for dinner and everyone enjoyed it. We got to take some pictures of the four generations - great grandpa, papa, dada, and Matty boy.

Well, the vacation was fun and we got to spend lots of family time together which was MUCH needed. Next year, we plan to go to the Seaworld (I really, really want to go there!!)... just hoping that the plan will go through. :)

I hope you get to have a wonderful time on your summer vacation, too, if you're planning one.