we took a trip.

a damn fine one if i do say so myself.

after 9 years together, the hubs and i have finally found a balance in our vacationing styles: he likes to lounge and relax, while i prefer to go, go, go. when we take short, rushed, unplanned trips one of us always ends up frustrated, the compromise we've found is taking a few more days to take our time and go, go, go.

this trip was necessary for me, i've gotten SADevery year for as long as my memory serves, but this past year has been an especially rough one for my emotional well being; scratch that, the past 4 years have been rough.  by january/february my mind and spirit begin to crack and i yearn for sunshine, flip flops, and sand.  granted, i'm sure most everyone feels this way to one degree or another.  so this year i quite specifically planned this trip for when i typically break down, and it gave me something to look forward to.  i knew that in in just 6 weeks, 5 weeks... 9 days, 8 days... i would have warmth and sunshine and i'd be eating food i didn't have to prepare.

on top of my selfish need for sun was the fact that my kids have been planning this trip for 5 years now.  when E was just three years old she saw her first commercial for disneyland and begged to go.  looking at my then pregnant belly and knowing that more children were in the near future i thought i'd put it off for a few years by telling her that we'd try to go when she turned eight. since then they have squirreled away every spare coin for our imminent trip to disney.  she turns eight in just a few days, the time had finally come to fruition.

the first day we drove. and stopped to pee. and then drove some more. the kids happily watched several movies and colored in activity books while the hubs and i chatted, listened to music, and got some good soul searching in while tom announced our directions. and then we drove some more. at one of our stops the kids all reached for their coats when we got out, i laughed and reminded them that it was warm here, they wouldn't need their coats.  F then questioned, "so this is where the birds fly?"

we drove until we finally reached sweet dana point.  the kids jumped back and forth from bed to bed for more than an hour while the hubs and i unpacked and got everyone settled in. in the midst of the chaos E exclaimed, "it's even better than i imagined!"

 the first morning in a hotel is always an early one, but when the kids began jumping on the beds again at 5:45 am, i was less than enthused.  the kids quickly learned the joys of early morning cartoons before we would make our way down to breakfast. 

san diego zoo was the first item on our want to do list.  and while we only saw 1/3 of it, the kids loved every minute of it. it seems like every animal on the planet was in the park. we took a double decker tour bus ride around the park and got quick glimpses of everything and then set out on foot. 

when we saw a gigantic line to see the pandas we just about skipped it, but E reminded us that the pandas were the main reason we had come to the zoo, we'd probably never get another chance. (that 8 year's a thinker!) luckily the line moved quickly and we got to see them in all their quiet cuddliness. i was very impressed at how quietly our kids observed and how long they wanted to stop and watch for.  we lucked out, pandas are big time sleepers but we happened to catch both sisters awake for a bit. 

that evening we drove back towards our hotel stopping at a tiny italian place to get some dinner.  worn out from our travels F curled up on the bench and fell asleep, long before the food arrived.

for more pics, i'll be adding more to this set on flickr as the days roll on.