San Diego, 2008

Let me just start with this. I refuse to die any place other than San Diego. It is gorgeous. The weather is always perfect, the people are nice, there is more than enough to do and it can't possibly cost any more than the DC area.

So our trip to California....whew, what a week. It all started when I learned I would be making a trip to LA and San Diego for work. I figured since Rick has sisters out that way, bring him and Ricky along. I had to work Mon - Thurs so I didn't join him at his sister, Barbara's place, until Thursday evening, but I am so glad they came along. I guess I'll start at the beginning.

The flight. The flight was fine. United Airlines however - YOU SUCK! Here we are, waiting to board (pre-board actually) carrying a squirmy kid, diaper bag, laptop case, stroller & carseat and they did not let us pre-board. You have got to be f'n kidding me!!! I was assured at the time of making the reservation that "families with small children are always given priority". Um, yeah -right. I mean, I suppose if someone with a 9 year old tried to pre-board, that could be seen as sketchy. But seriously, with an infant? We have an assigned seat, we aren't taking anyone else's seat, you KNOW it takes me longer to get settled but FINE! I mean, even everyone else waiting at the gate with us insisted you let us pre-board, yet you refused. But, when you do refuse my apparently unacceptable request (although every other airline in the world allows this to occur), kindly do not get on that darn speaker and yell at us all to hurry up and get in our seats so we don't lose our place in line for takeoff. The plane was here. You were supposed to be at the gate to get all of your standby folks taken care of 60 minutes before takeoff and you arrived 45 minutes before instead. So - don't get snarky with me because YOU were late. I can't stand you. You and Delta can both go suck an egg. And lastly, keep your pretzels. I didn't need them anyway. Are you really saving that much money by not giving me a 1/2 oz bag of pretzels?

Ok, I'm off my soapbox now. So, the flight, it was ok, even landed a bit early. Ricky however did not enjoy things. He dozed off about 30 minutes in and slept for about an hour then woke up with the runniest nose ever. I did some walking and we watching some Baby Einstein so he managed as well as could be expected but he was clearly miserable for the most part. He had this cold all week long with Rick and he slept miserably. The dry climate didn't help much either. Poor guy, not sleeping well, all these strangers around, hungry....I feel so bad that I wasn't there for those first few days. According to Rick, he was great during the day. It took him a day or so to warm up to everyone. It was just at night, he would get so congested.

Friday afternoon we made a family trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo. I love this zoo. When I lived here, I was a member and on every trip, I would discover something new. I always loved the polar bears. They were my thing. Of course Ricky fell asleep in the car on the way and continued to nap until in the stroller for a good 30+ minutes. Side note - his naps are definitely getting longer. Anyway, the weather was beautiful - mid 80's and sunny the entire time we were there.

On Saturday, Rick's sister Janice and her daughter Sonia came down from LA. Combine this with folks already living in the house and a few locals in San Diego and it was a full house. I think there were 18 people total in the house. Rick made his awesome spaghetti and we just had a great time visiting with family. Being with Rick's family is amazing. They are so passionate and so happy when they are together. No matter what the occasion is, they always enjoy each other and have a good time. I will say one thing, it is loud. So loud. And to the family reading this, please don't take that the wrong way. Just at home, it is only the 3 of us and other than some yelling at the tv during a football game, things are pretty quiet around here. Being around such a big family makes me wish I had a bigger family, that I was closer to my cousins. That we could see each other after years and just pick up where we left off. So, I'm kinda jealous and lucky. Unbelievably lucky that I married in to such an amazing family.

Fortunately the flight home was much less eventful. The gate agent in San Diego was a little more lenient with the pre-boarding. The flight was delayed a couple hours, but Ricky took it in stride. We had plenty to eat and drink. He ended up falling asleep before we even boarded the plane, slept through takeoff and landing. He was awake for a bit in the middle, but for the most part, I think he knew we were going home. We were all so relieved to be home. I swear when I was changing him for bed at midnight on Sunday night, he woke up, looked around and saw he was in his own room and he just got the biggest grin on his face. Of course, I was on west coast time so I was up until 2am. Ricky slept until 8am. It was nice.

So here we are, home again. Only to head out to Ohio in mid December to spend some time with my family right before Christmas. Chances are we will all get over our colds just in time. At least this time we are driving, so no icky plane people to deal with.

Enjoy the slideshow.