Happy Monday! I hope you all had a nice, relaxing Mothers' Day weekend. My Grandpa, on my Dad's side, turned 90 on May 4th, so the whole family got together in Monterey, CA this weekend to celebrate him and Mother's Day. Road tripping with an almost 22 month old was quite an adventure, but I was so happy that we did it!
The drive for us is around 6 hours depending on how many stops you make and traffic. Luckily, my sister Nicole came with up for the trip up so it was very nice to have some extra help. We were hoping Baylee would nap most of the way, but she had other plans. She napped for about 20 mins and then woke up crabby. We scrambled to try and keep her busy, and laughed at the craziness! Five and a half hours and three stops later, we made it to Paso Robles where my Dad and Grandpa were staying at my Aunt's house. We let Baylee work out her wiggles for a while (I think she made my Dad follow her up and down the stairs about 8 times!) so, thankfully, she ended up sleeping the last hour of the trip.
We stopped at my other Aunt's house in Salinas for a few hours to have dinner and visit with my Aunt and cousins. We only get to see each other a couple times a year if we are lucky, so it was so nice to spend time with them, and, of course, Baylee had a blast with all the extra attention!
We finally got to our hotel later that night and Baylee went in to full hyper mode running around the room. We desperately tried to get her to settle down and watch a movie but she wasn't having it...not with a huge fluffy white bed to bounce on! The pack'n'play was her enemy, so Brian and I finally managed to get her to pass out between us around 11:00pm. She slept until 7:00am, which wasn't too terrible, but definitely not the 10 to 11 hours that she usually needs. Who needs sleep on vacation though, right? :)
Later that morning, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Baylee had the time of her life. It is such a kid friendly aquarium (especially for the toddler to preschool age range) and she could have stayed and played on the playground there all day if we would have let her. Of course, all the fish were either "Neeemo!" or "Dowwwy!" (Nemo and Dory)
When we left, Baylee's short night's sleep caught up with her, and she was passed out in the umbrella stroller before we were a block away from the aquarium. Poor thing. (P.S. I'm in the market for a nicer umbrella stroller that reclines and has an undercarriage. Any suggestions?)
Once we got back to the hotel, we had a huge lunch with the whole family and watched the Kentucky Derby on a big screen. My Grandpa is very in to horse races, so this was a perfect party for him! Our horses that we bet on didn't win, but I got to have a pomegranate cosmo, so that was a win in my book! My Grandpa was hooked up with the presidential suite at our hotel, so we brought the party to his room where we snacked some more and gave him his gift of a new blue rocking chair for his porch. He was so happy, and you could tell that he just felt so loved! I asked him if he had fun and he said "All of this is great, but seeing all of you together is the best part." :)
The next morning was Mothers' Day, so we had a slow morning. Baylee slept much better, thank goodness, and we spent the morning drinking coffee and milk and snuggling in bed. Brian even had flowers delivered to our hotel room for me. So sweet! We met up with the family again later that morning for a delicious buffet brunch in the hotel. Baylee and I, of course, rocked our matching shirts from Tink & Key and they were a hit!
After brunch, we drove to Carmel for some shopping and to let Baylee play on the beach for a while. It was too cold to do any real beaching, but we brought some sand toys and let her dig and sift. She had so much fun...I can't wait to take her to the beach this summer! We went to all the shops, and stopped in at Tiffany & Co. to try on rings that we could never afford, but made some bath bomb purchases at Lush. ;) It was super nice and relaxing, and a great way to end our weekend.
Before we left, we made sure to take a cousin picture on one of the hotel beds. We "replicated" a picture that was taken of all of us around 15 years ago, and it turned out epic! All of the Aunties and Uncles loved it so much.
Family really is everything. :)
We got home last night in about 6 hours, and thankfully Baylee slept half the time. We didn't have my sister this time, so I spent the last half of the drive mostly facing backward, but we made it! My girl was so happy to see her crib! Maybe one day she will be a world traveler, but right now she's my little homebody baby. :)
Until next time! XoXoXo
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