Tatum and I returned from our CA tour Wednesday night.  What a fabulous birthday gift to myself, I must say!  I have been to California a few times in my life, but it was nice to be a part of friends’ everyday lives, and not do all the touristy stuff.

Kelly (who is very preggo, yet doesn’t look it and looks amazing) picked us up from the airport.  We hung out at Venice Beach for a few hours.  The CA weather was nothing like Austin – pretty cool actually, I think the highest it got while we were there was 65 or so degrees.  Definitely not bathing suit weather (which I secretly was happy about).  

The last time I visited Venice Beach, it was COLD & RAINY (anyone from our LA missions trip … SAGU…remember that?)  It has a neat eclectic feel to it.  Tatum was able to put her feet in the sand – which didn’t go so well…ha.  However, she loved the ‘play’ (which is playground in baby terms) and kept herself busy doing that for a while, giving Kelly & myself a good chance to chat.  At about dusk, we realized, we needed to head out of there! 

We met Vida at a very ghetto Taco Bell/Pizza Hut that was guarded by a police officer.  I swore he had a tazer in his hands.  Tatum was exhausted & I was starving – so we treated ourselves to a greesy little meal with watered down pink lemonade.  Ick.

Vida then carted us off to beautiful Santa Barbara.  I could not wait to see her fun little town.  I hadn’t seen Vida since October 08, however we talk regularly.  But as we all know, talking in person is much better than email, phone, or video chat. 

The weather was perfect.  We walked basically EVERYWHERE, which I loved.  Saturday (my actual bday) we took our time getting up & around (Vida got a good taste of what mornings with Tatum are like:  waffles, peanut butter, and Elmo).   We then went to do a little sightseeing of the beauty in SB.  Flowers, greenery, trees everywhere!  Everything is so bright & colorful – a natural high for your mental health.  Kind of gave me the itch for gardening. J

We shopped, ate, walked, shopped some more, ate some more, walked some more.  I was glad I had myself a stash of money from my bday – so I could enjoy every minute without thinking “budget” – like normal life is!  One little shop was treating everyone to beer, cokes, or margaritas.  Nice having yourself a mid-afternoon (FREE) frozen margarita.  Tatum wanted a taste – I think she thought it was “ice” (meaning snow cone).  Don’t worry, she didn’t have any.  We also tried the beach that day – but like I said, it wasn’t beachy weather, and all the sudden there was a sand storm!  So, we lasted maybe 20 minutes.  Enough to get a few windy pictures & write Tatum’s name in the sand! Somehow, we also both managed to break our ankles on the walk.  Every 5 minutes, one of us was tripping over something. Amazing how we didn’t injure ourselves!

We really needed Zach to tag along with us – because we realized, no ‘group’ pictures, unless we held the camera ourselves for close face shots.  That silly Zach – he had better plans than to spend his whole day with us. J

That night, Vida had planned a yummy dinner at a café that serves amazing desert (so I hear).  However, Tatum was not the best trooper & half way through dinner, we had to call it an evening!  She was tired, cranky, low grade fever, and I had had enough of her whining!  So, we headed home & put her to bed.  I think when you get to be a parent, you get used to having some of your plans change last minute – whether or not you like it.  I was pretty upset for a bit, but then just let myself forget about it.  Can’t blame a 2 year old for being off her schedule, right?  So, even though bday night was a bust – relaxing on a soft comfy couch eating Sour Apple Twizzlers with a good friend isn’t so bad.

Sunday, we were even MORE lazy in the morning, but who cares – that’s what vacationing is about, right?  Tatum was still not herself – so we made sure to do a nap in the morning before we ventured out into the world.  After the nap, we made sure to buy some Children’s Motrin for her small fever & some shakes/drinks since she was eating.  It seemed to help for the most part.  That afternoon, we did more shopping, had PinkBerry, and then more shopping!  I found a super cute dress that would have been perfect for our cruise and/or wearing to Wicked (IF I’m not huge & preggo by then) – however the top button was broken.  Saved me $50 I guess.  I then found another cute long dress just for summertime fun.  I was pleased.   Note:  we learned that Tatum is freaked out when any sort of male figure approaches her to pick her up or give her a present.  Wow. She FREAKS out.

We had yummy pizza at this little joint & then Zach took us around the houses on the hill (Monticello?).  I mean, how can people live like this! Huge HUGE houses!!  The roads were so windy & curvy, by the time we got back home, I was feeling a big nauseous!  Vida was coming down with a cold, so we all plopped ourselves on the couch and caught up on Heroes (and finished off the Sour Apple Twizzlers). 

Monday was the day to head back to LA to spend time with Scott & Kelly.  Kelly met us at In & Out burgers with the kiddos and we enjoyed a yummy lunch.  It was sad saying bye to Vida – especially since we weren’t sure when we’d be ‘face to face’ again.  However, we had a great time in SB.  Exactly what I was wanting from our trip.

I was anxious for Tatum to play with Zooey & Keeton!  They are all so close in age, I knew it’d be fun to see their interactions together.  Once we got to Costa Mesa, we walked to a nearby park to let them get rid of energy.  We basically played the whole afternoon!  Kelly made yummy homemade waffles (note, Tatum was STILL not herself & barely eating, but somewhat playing ok).  After bedtime, a friend from High School came & picked me up & we went to have dinner together to catch up.  Poor little Tatum, while I was at dinner, she woke up & just cried. Thanks to Kelly for getting her back in bed! 

Tuesday was a little cloudy in the morning, so we went to a nearby outside mall to do a little window shopping & ride the carousel.  We admired all the fun things in Anthropology & Lucky stores.  I just LOVE clothes. Really.  We wanted the kids to ride the carousel – and it was so cute.  We need carousels in Austin!  $2 a ride is not bad to see a smile on your kiddos face.

We came home to have the kids play some more because the sun started to come out.  Ha, I swear, Tatum kept falling!  Let’s see, she skinned both her knees TWICE in a 30 minute period outside (major Boo Boo on her knees).  And then later that day, she fell down little steps outside Kelly’s patio trying to push her baby in a stroller.  Wow, so many tears, I was about to go insane!  Not mad that she was hurting, because there were plenty of tears for lots of other things as well.  However, it was confirmation to me that she is a normal 2 year old because there were other little tantrums from other little kids during our visit.  So if mine wasn’t crying, Kelly’s were for something or other!  Kind of comical now. Scott came home for dinner & we all ate & visited for a while that evening.  Of course, Little Miss woke up about an hour into her sleep & wouldn’t stop crying, so early to bed for me. J  I was sad to cut our conversations short, but had to let Tatum sleep.  Seriously – 4 days of crankiness had to end!  The low grade fever was still occurring, she still wasn’t eating or napping well – I think Kelly might have been worried about my sanity. 

Wednesday was the end of CA trip for us.  We had a tattoo party (thanks to Vida) with the kids.  We let them “color” their own tattoos, which ended up meaning marker all over their arms.  Thank goodness it washes off.  We took a nice little stroll around the neighborhood and then came back to eat a little lunch.  Scott took us to the airport & helped me get all our luggage together.  We definitely don’t travel light!  Let me tell you – I was starting to worry that Tatum had the swine flu because of all her crankiness that week!  BUT – the minute I ordered us a pizza in the airport, she ate 1 whole slice by herself.  Really.  Was she just wanting to be alone with her mommy in order for her to be in a good mood?  GEESH!  And the plane ride home she was PERFECT.  She watched Elmo on the DVD player, laughed, played, read a book, and then fell asleep in my lap for the last 20 minutes of the flight.  Too cute.

My love greeted us with flowers for me and a balloon (her favorite) for Tatum (that said, Get Well Soon…hahah).  Yes, please God, let her get well soon! Haha.  I knew he missed his girls.

It was a fabulous trip – even with all the temper tantrums & crankiness of my daughter.  I resorted to giving her the pacy, blanket & baby most of the trip – just to calm her nerves!  Now we are back settled at home & I’m at work catching up from a week’s worth of emails & things to do.  I think everyone should return from their vacation on a Friday – makes going to work easier.