September 8, 2009

• First Family Vacation

  This weekend, we took our first family vacation as a family of four. It wasn't anything elaborate ("getaway" would probably be a more appropriate term given how brief the trip was) -- just an overnight stay in San Diego, followed by a morning at the San Diego Zoo -- but we had a great time. After lunch on Saturday (which was also Derek's second month birthday!), we loaded the RAV4 and drove down to San Diego. About three-quarters of the way there, we stopped to visit our friend Millie (a well-timed stop, because I needed to nurse Derek, and it gave Jack a chance to play a bit after being cooped up in the car in bad traffic).

  Millie and her daughter Jenna; me and Derek

  

  After leaving Millie's house, we drove about another half hour and checked into our room at the Embassy Suites in the early evening. I've stayed at an Embassy Suites before, but it was pre-kids, and this time, I noticed that it's the perfect place to stay if you're traveling with young children. Each room is a suite, with a living room (with pullout bed) and a bedroom. Aside from the pullout bed, the living room had a TV, a dining table, a mini-fridge, a microwave and a sink. The bedroom had the bathroom, another sink outside the bathroom, a big bed, a balcony and another TV. I was impressed! The mini-fridge really comes in handy when traveling with kids, and all the sinks are nice for washing sippy cups without having to go into the bathroom. Of course, our favorite part was that Jack could sleep on the pullout bed in the living room, so Johnny and I could still watch TV and eat ice cream (Johnny bought a pint of Chunky Monkey from the corner store) in the bedroom part of the suite after the kids went to bed. Not much of a vacation if you have to go to bed at 8 p.m.! Everything went really well with the kids' sleep. Jack was excited to sleep on the pullout bed (he flopped on it right away when we made it up, exclaiming, "Night night! Chair gone! Night night!"), and Derek slept well in the crib we borrowed from the hotel, from 7 p.m. to almost 4 a.m. When he did wake up to eat, Jack slept through me feeding and changing Derek.

  Jack and Johnny enjoying the suite
  

  The view from our room
  

  

  Sunday morning, after the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the San Diego Zoo. We were there for about three hours. Jack loved seeing all the animals, and Derek pretty much slept through the entire outing -- I fed him once and changed his diaper, but otherwise we didn't hear a peep out of him! I was relieved ... it could have been a disastrous outing. The double jogging stroller came in really handy. We have the attachment that allowed us to snap the infant car seat on one side. I was afraid that bringing the huge stroller to the zoo would be obnoxious, but we saw no fewer than 20 identical jogging strollers, so whew. We didn't have another choice, anyway ... I hesitate to get a more compact double stroller, because I have a feeling that soon, Jack won't want to sit in a stroller at all, and I don't want to spend extra money when we have such a nice double jogger.

  Anyway, back to the zoo! Sorry for the stroller-related tangent.

  This was at the koala exhibit. In this picture, Jack is saying, "Koala!" at the top of his lungs.

  

  Jack and I at the entrance of the Elephant Odyssey

  

  Jack loves elephants, and he really loved seeing them up close. He laughed when they tossed dirt onto their backs with their trunks, and delighted in shouting, "Eh-phant!" and pointing out their eyes, ears, "noses" and toes to us.

  

  

  Of course, he also loved this elephant.

  "This is what we came to see, right?"

  

  However, Jack did not want Johnny to lift him up close to this elephant statue's mouth. It was really funny ... he was so scared!

  "No! No phant! No phant!"

  

  After the elephants, we saw lions and pandas. The lions were sleeping.

  Here Jack is saying, "Yi-on seepy." I'll translate: "The lion is sleeping."

  

  After the zoo, we loaded the sleeping kids into the car and began the drive back to LA. We stopped by my colleague Susie's house on the way, where I nursed Derek, and Jack played with Susie's two kids. The traffic was light on the way home, and once we arrived, we got to hang out a bit with June and Charles, who were at our house after having lunch with my mom. Derek loved seeing his Aunt June. He couldn't stop smiling! He's been smiling for a couple of weeks now, but this was the first time we captured it on camera (well, June actually took the picture).

  Our first picture of his smile!

  

  Today, we mostly hung out around the house, just relaxing.

  

  I love these pictures of Jack and Derek.

  

  

  And here, Jack takes up the competitive sport of Daddy surfing.

  

  The next picture makes me very nostalgic ... I remember taking almost the exact same picture with Jack! He was even wearing the same onesie!

  Derek and Mommy
  

  I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!

  • 12:18 am
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