Comfortingly Familiar

So much for blogging from our trip, ha! I did have some downtime here and there but my internet was very spotty so after trying a few times I just gave up on blogging and well ... ventured outside to enjoy the overcast skies.


7.3.12

Day 1

Well ... we spent our Independence day week/weekend in San Diego. Honestly this trip back home was not planned but we always end up having a lot of fun and of course always nice to visit my parents and friends and with a full agenda. We initially had plans to visit a different area {which I'm very excited about} but we changed our plans at the last minute and will visit at a later time.

I ended up going with my default start time which was to go with the flow. We didn't leave the house before 5:00 am like we had planned. I went to bed so late the night before that I found it sooo difficult to get out of bed the following morning. After hitting the snooze button twice I forced myself to get out of bed and while I showered I had Jacob wake up Sydna and Nathan. We waited until the last minute to get the little guy out of his crib for a diaper change and to put him in his carseat. We left the house at 5:43 am.
It was already 80 degrees when we left ... insane but thankfully we were on our way out of AZ before it hit 100 degrees.

We love to begin our road trips with some country music. Always good to hear George Strait early in the morning ... makes for a pleasant drive. We're country folk at heart.

I'm a pencil and paper kinda girl.

I love to write in pencil. If you would ask my husband if he likes to write in pencil he'll tell you that writing in pencil makes him gag. He's such a dork. I even brought my little manual sharpener with me.

A friend of mine once told me that I have such great memory ... that because I remember everything about our outings and how everything I talk about is always in such detail. I told her that I always write down the fun and important things that we do during our outings that way I don't forget key points. I am the type of person that pays attention to detail though. I'm very observant.

I loved that it was cloudy and it even sprinkled a couple of times.

Riley slept through the first part of our trip and woke up shortly before we stopped in Yuma.

I even spotted this....

I thought it was pretty cool to see the circus traveling from town to town. Totally reminded me of Dumbo.

It was 90 degrees when we filled up in Yuma. Yuma is the halfway mark to San Diego and we all needed to stretch our legs and get our blood circulating again. There were lots of little bug corpses and blood spats on my windshield. Nasty.

It was also time for breakfast so we made a quick stop at McDonalds.

Riley had eaten about half of his egg and then he stopped. Lately he's been getting a bit lazy about feeding himself so big sister helped him out a bit and he actually ate about all of his egg.

Somewhat windy passing through the sanddunes in California.

This check point was the only one that was open {in service} during our trip. We usually go through 2 and 1 Agricultural check point. Not enough funding maybe?

On a clear day you would be able to see the ocean way back in the distance from the mountains but instead we see the marine layer.

We arrived in Poway at 12:45 pm ... not bad at all. Just in time for some lunch but first we made a quick stop at the hotel. We checked in plus Riley had spilled his water bottle on himself so he needed a change of clothes.

Happy to be out of his carseat and almost naked.

We left the hotel and made our way to Ocean Beach.

Anticipating being home brings a sense of comfort ... even driving on the busy streets and freeways. It doesn't matter how long we've been gone. Everything is still so familiar ... that never fades. 

Sea World.

Hopefully we'll visit next time. We had other fun plans awaiting us.

Sure beats graffiti.

Seagull -photo crasher. It flew by as I snapped this picture.

Jacob's mission on this trip was to stop and eat at Hodad's. He's a big Guy Fieri fan so when Hodad's appeared in one of his Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives episodes he just knew he had to try one of their burgers.

My mom and sister Claudia met us there and were already waiting in line by the time we arrived. The line sometimes gets so long it wraps around the building but luckily it wasn't that long when we arrived. Lots of hugs and kisses were exchanged.

I sure missed my momma and sister.

At first Riley didn't know what to think about my mom and sister. Last time he saw them was in early January but it didn't take long for him to warm up to my sister. He was soon smiling and being his sweet self with her.

There were some funny and interesting license plates.

In case you're wondering what a Hodad is:

A Hodad is someone who pretends to know how to surf but doesn't.

They serve their milkshakes and malts to the brim with a large scoop of ice cream on one side. You gotta get to it quick or else it drips all over the place. Sydna and Nathan were trying to drink theirs fast so it wouldn't make a mess ... and let me tell ya, one is enough for two.

My gosh ... their onion rings are super but I mean super good dipped in ranch. Ok, by now you all know I love Five Guys right? Well the Hodad's burger is it's competition because this burger is SO freakin good. They do put a thick layer of onions. All you have to do is take out a few rings and bite. I noticed that the onion was soooo good. I really loved my burger. Jacob got blue cheese and grilled onions in his and he said it was alright. I told him how good mine was and he said he wished he had ordered a regular burger instead. See that's what happens when you want to go all gourmet on a burger.  He said that next time we visit he'll most definitely order a regular burger. He did love their onion rings and malt. I prefer a milkshake. Malts are not my thing.

Whenever the time comes for us to move to San Diego we're gonna have to alternate between Hodad's and Five Guys, forget you IN N OUT. It'll depend on how far we're willing to drive, lol.

After we ate we headed on over to the beach.

Riley was excited to see multiple seagulls flying around.

Getting his feet used to the cold water. The pacific ocean is always sooo cold.

After a few minutes we were walking comfortably along the shore.

Even the little guy enjoyed getting his feet wet. I'm so glad he's not afraid of the ocean.

Running towards Tia Claudia. He makes the cutest face when he speed walks/runs. He leans forward a bit, scrunches his face, shows his pearly whites and closes his eyes. One of these days he's gonna bump into something and get hurt.

After about an hour at the beach my mom and sister had to leave. I wanted to walk several blocks. I was taking in the awesome chilly weather, enjoying the overcast sky, listening to people in the distance laugh and seeing them have a good time while someone played R & B from a boombox. This scene never gets old ... although you will see a transient here and there and sadly they are part of society it's still a wonderful place. I don't easily trust but I don't easily scare either.

Sydna had tennis shoes on and she took them off when we walked on the beach. She chose not to put them back on when we left and she ended up getting a splinter on her foot. After waiting for her about ten minutes she finally got the splinter out.

We thought this was funny ... pedestrians and people on bikes walking up to a drive-thru ATM to get cash, lol. You sure don't see this here in Tucson or in Dallas.

A pretty white church.

After a long drive, lunch, walk on the beach and chilly weather this little guy was beat.