We left late evening on Monday after Aaron got off of work and drove all night long. Jade did really well. Better than we both expected. She would play for a while in her car seat and then fall asleep and sleep for 2 hours. We would stop and wake her up to eat, change her diaper and play a little bit and then back in the car seat she would go. She would play some more and then fall asleep. Luckily that is mostly her routine at home so we were able to keep to her schedule. We arrived at the hotel around 6am, just north of the San Fernado Valley. Luckily Aaron has stayed there many times before and because they know him they let us have an early check in. By that point we were both exhausted due to lack of sleep. Aaron didn't have to go in to American Copak until early afternoon so we all slept. We made Jade a little bed out of couch cushions, pulled the blinds and slept straight til noon. Aaron went to work and Jade and I lounged around while I made sure she stayed on her routine. When Aaron came back around 5pm we decided to go to dinner. Some co-workers of Aarons were there and they invited us to go to Malibu with them. So we took this spectacular scenic drive through the Santa Monica Mtns and arrived in Malibu around 6pm. We had dinner right on the beach at this fabulous restaurant called Dave's. They had some of the best fish I've ever eaten. Jade loved all the attention people gave her. She was so cute sitting in her car seat and so well behaved that people stopped right and left to compliment us on how good she was. After dinner we just went back to the hotel and crashed. Unfortunately, Jade didn't sleep very well so neither did I. I think all the sleeping that she did while driving to California kind of caught up with her. She did not want to go to sleep. So by the time Aaron got up to go to work I was just getting to bed. It's amazing how we can all be in the same room and Aaron doesn't even move a muslce when Jade cries. He says he doesn't even hear her sometimes. Lucky him!
On Tuesday, Aaron went to work and Jade and I slept in. We picked Aaron up from American Copak around noon, grabbed some great at this local Tex-Mex joint and drove to Hollywood. We stopped in Hollywood and walked along Sunset Blvd were we saw Mann's Chinese Theater and the Walk of Fame.
We were there for several hours until Jade started to get a little fussy because it was time to eat. So we found a little dog park off the Blvd and stopped to feed Jade. We took the cutest pictures of her there. She was so smiley and happy to watch the trees, dogs and birds. She was very alert the whole time we were there and more fascinated in what was around her in then eating.
We continued on Santa Monica Blvd and drove throught Beverly Hills to look at the huge homes. We drove past the LA Temple and on to Santa Monica Pier. We stopped there but Jade was super fussy. I don't know if it was because we were right there on the beach so it was a little windy and cold or what but she wouldn't stop fussing. We were about to leave when we decided to give her one more shot. We found this artisan who was doing clay face sculptures and decided to get one done of Jade. To our surprise, once we took her out of her carseat and Aaron held her, she calmed right down and let the guy sculpt her face. So many people walked by and oogled at her. The artisan was amazed that she could sit there for so long. We were too. In fact, Jade sat there for over thirty minutes while the guy sculpted her face.
By this time is was dark and getting late. So we headed out and decided to get something to eat. We then drove to Culver City were we stayed in a dive of a hotel, in the middle of ghettoville. But it was cheap and only for one night. Jade slept reasonably well that night.
On Wednesday, we woke to scorching temperatures and humidity. We headed downtown to the Fashion District. I had been looking forward to this day all week and couldn't wait to find some killer bags and shoes. We got there and immediately Jade started crying. I think instinctively she knew this was something that I really wanted to do so she was going to make my time miserable. We shopped for about 2 hours and by then the heat was just too intense for her and she had it. We ended up leaving after I bought a bag and Jade a little red sun dress. I was a little disappointed. I could have stayed there for hours. Oh well. We decided to just drive to Hunington Beach were we would be staying for the next couple of days. My uncle Gregg and Aunt Cindy were kind enough to let us stay at there condo in Hungington. They were in New York at the time and so we had the entire place to ourselves. We got there and got settled in and then took a walk down to the beach. They only live 2 blocks away from the beach so it's really nice and convenient. You don't have to try to find parking. We put Jade in one of those front harnesses and she ended up falling asleep while we walked the beach. It was close to sunset and Aaron and I enjoyed the time together playing in the sand and water.
We left a while later, got some food at this quaint italian restaurant off the PCH and then went to a movie at the largest stadium seating theatre in the West. We ended up seeing . Jade loves to see movies. The louder and more action packed the movie, the happier and more content she is.
Thursday we got up early for the 4th of July parade. Instead of taking the stroller we decided to just carry Jade in her carseat because we didn't think there would be enough room for her big stroller. We also didn't realize how far away the parade really was until we walked what seemed 50 blocks in scorching heat. Poor Aaron had to carry her the entire way. I ended up being the pack mule and carried all of our chairs and umbrellas and other misc gear. By the time we got there we were hot and exhausted. Not to mention late. So we didn't get a good seat. It was fine though because the parade really wasn't that spectacular. Just a lot of Boy Scout troops walking in uniform. Our parades in Utah are much better compared to Hungington Beach's. Needless to say we left a little early. When we got back we were so tired from the heat and having to carry all the stuff that we all took a nap. It was great. We then packed up all our beach stuff and hit the beach for about 4 hours. It was a nice and hot day, not too windy. Jade did really well for a couple of hours. She was so cute in her little blue, red and white swimsuit. She liked to watch all the people running and playing nearby. However, the wind picked up a bit and she doesn't breath very well with the wind blowing. She didn't like being confined to her stroller and so ended up crying the rest of the time. We finally had to leave early cause she was having a break down.
We got ready, got something to eat for dinner and then drove down to the pier to watch the fireworks. They shot them off from the ocean. It was fun to watch. We then walked around around for an hour watching the night life party and then headed back to our condo. It was a very fun day.
On Saturday we decided to try the beach one more time. However it was windier than last time and Jade didn't want to have any part of it. I think she was a little off sorts because she really seemed to cry the whole day. It was probably because we were at the end of our vacation and she was tired. We tried to keep her on her schedule and she did a pretty good job but I think she was ready to return home to her routine. Hey, what can you expect? She's only two months old! We had planned to go to the Anaheim Stadium and see a ball game that night but as luck would have it, the game was sold out. It was probably for the better because Jade had one of her "evening issues" (she seems to break down in the evenings because she is tired) and cried the entire evening. It would have been miserable at the stadium. We ended up driving to our hotel in Corona and getting ice cream at Coldstone. Jade was so tired from not napping well during the day that she slept really well that night. It was a good thing too because I was ready to strangle her if she hadn't.
On Sunday we woke up and went to early church and then drove home. Nothing eventful happened except for we saw a guys car go up in flames on the side of the freeway. Jade did really well all the way home. She is such a cruiser. We got home early enough that we were able to stop in at Grandma and Grandpa Gunn's house for dinner. Grandma was amazed to see how much Jade had changed in just one week. She said she was bigger and more aware of her surroundings. I don't know who had more fun, Jade or the grandparents. We finally rolled to our house around 11pm. We didn't put anything away. We just got Jade to sleep and then crashed ourselves. What a vacation. It sure was harder with Jade, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was great training for our next family trip.
1 comment:
Nice prolog of the trip. For the record, the name of the resturant we ate at in Malibu was "Duke's". Good work sweety.
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