Vacation Book Review . . .

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is read books . . . to me, nothing beats curling up on the couch and reading a good book . . . especially when there is no distraction of dirty dishes, laundry, phone calls or cooking . . . and although I enjoy doing all those things on a perpetual basis, the break from the norm is key to relaxation.

Last night I finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's the story of a woman in search of balance in her life by traveling to three countries, each for 4 months, ending with a full year of experiences.

The book started out with quite a bit of adult language - one of my least favorites tools some authors use to claim their spot as an "adult" book . . . so many other ways to express yourself but I digress. . . there are also a few points in the book of to much detailed information about her relationships and experiences . . .

All that to say, it wasn't a waste of a read. It was very interesting to experience her journey with her . . . there are some fun little stories about the people she met and things she saw . . . it made me want to travel the world and see things she saw. . .

The other large piece of the book was her search for God . . . it wasn't as satisfying as I'd hope in that she'd find the God of the universe . . . the one and only God . . . creator of you and me . . . but it is interesting to view from the outside the inner process of someone seeking . . .

I'd recommend this book if you can view it from the outside - don't take her ideas on for yourself . . . just experience her perspective, laugh at her jokes, feel for the people she met, and crave the delicious food she describes. . .

I'd write more . . . but I'm on vacation and I have more books to read . . .

Day Nine and Ten . . .

We took a two day journey to the Ocean . . . our first stop was Seaport village. They have an old wooden carousel that the girls rode on twice . . . and loved riding almost as much as Daddy . . .

We stayed in a surfer hotel for the night and awoke the next day ready to put our toes in the sand . . .

We completed the beach tour with a pizza lunch right on the main strip of Del Coronado  . . .

On our way back to our lovely villas at Lawrence Welk in Escondido, we found an avocado truck . . . ie a woman selling avocados out of a truck . . . 25 haas avocados for $5 and they are incredible! Only in California . . .

Day Eight . . .

Today Travis and I went on an adventure . . . we drove out to Temecula, California where there are over 40 wineries to see. The girls stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while we ventured out . . .

We stopped at two little wineries along the way and eventually landed at the Callaway winery and it's wonderful little cove of a restaurant called Meritage. We sat overlooking the vineyards and ate the most incredible food including a mushroom risotto, an unbelievably good cheese and fruit plate, and homemade bread with pesto sauce. It was amazing and felt as though we had just landed in rural Italy . . .

When we arrived back at our villa, we took the kids for a swim and renamed them "Fish" and "Minnow" as they have officially sprouted gills . . . they can't get enough of the pool and get braver each day . . .

Although I'm in love with our sweet home in Washington and adore the friends and family we have there, I don't want to leave this place!! I am so glad that we have more time here and I don't want to rush the rest of it by talking about the end . . . but I don't want to go home!! You can't make me!! Please let me stay!!!

Okay . . . I'll stop acting like a two year old, enjoy our vacation and return home at the appropriate time like a proper adult . . . but it's not going to be easy! We're living quite the life down here in the sunshine . . . not sure we could sustain this resort poshy livin' on a teachers salary . . . maybe some wealthy Californian could adopt us?! Any takers?! No? Okay - I'll just stay super thankful we have this experience now . . . as we sing to the kids, this is the day the Lord has made . . . we will rejoice and be glad in it!!!!

Day Seven . . . SEA WORLD

You would not even believe all we saw and did today . . . from a Shamu show, to new Elmo rides, to a Cirque de Mar show right on the ocean, to feeding sting rays and bat rays, to watching a seal show, to feeding flamingos, to watching a dolphin/acrobat show, to eating a yummy lunch and Shamu inspired dessert, to walking through the shark encounter, to feeding some noisy sea lions, to experiencing a 4D Sesame Street production, to walking through the penguin encounter and adding two new special stuffed animals to our collection, to creating family memories and having a fabulous full day at one of the worlds most amazing parks . . .

From door step to door step, we had an 11 hour day! I could not believe how well the kiddos did today and how long they lasted - we had no set time . . . just thought we'd see what we could see . . . and we learned, we could see a whole lot!!!  

I think everyone will sleep a bit longer tonight . . . and certainly dream of all the magical things we saw today!! Thanks Shamu and friends for a wonderful experience!!

Day five and six . . . SWIMMING!!!!

We end the last two days of swimming extravaganza a little tanner and sun burned and relaxed and water logged and silly and tired and ready for more California adventures to come!

What a blessing to be in the beautiful sun as a family . . . I feel so thankful to be here with my darling children, loving in laws, fabulous husband and health . . . what more could you ask for?!

Day 4 . . .

DAY FOUR

Today was a fabulous California day . . . full of sun and fun. We woke up, had a quick breakfast and headed right to the pool - what more do you want as a kid?! We swam and swam and swam until we were hungry for lunch at which point we headed back to the villas. Everyone was sleepy from the sun and swimming so we headed for a nap - what more do you want as a grown up?!

For dinner, Grandma and Grandpa took us to a ma and pop Mexican restaurant . . . we drove the awesome car . . .

Travis and I ordered a shrimp cerviche tostada . . . muy bueno!!

When we got home . . . you guessed it . . . more swimming!! The girls are becoming quite the little fishes!

And in case you couldn't tell, Hannah is floating on her back . . . sort of . . . glad we have more time to work on the form!!

Thus leaves us for the night - kids on the couch reading books with grandma, daddy and grandpa reading their own books and mom blogging away . . . so thankful to be away - loving every minute of doing nothing!! And when the kids crash in bed for the evening, Grandma and Grandpa are going to teach us a new card game called "Hand and Foot" . . . good times!

California cont . . .

DAY THREE
Yesterday, day three, was our last huge driving day . . . we had a mission to get from Sacramento to Escondido . . . a good 6-8 hour drive. We had a good night sleep at the hotel and woke up to free breakfast including a "make your own waffle" machine.

We loaded up and headed out. The girls looked out the window for a while, had a snack, stopped at a few rest stops, played with a magic marker game book, then were ready for a movie . . .

And then we drove and drove and drove and drove and drove . . . and stopped for a gas fill up and potty break and found the cutest little middle of no where fruit stand with fresh right-off-the-tree fruit . . .

We ate some delicious plums, nectarines, peaches and fresh almonds . . . YUM!!

And then, we drove and drove and drove and drove and drove and took some bad advice through LA to take an alternative route that added an extra hour or so to our chronic driving BUT finally, around 6:45pm, we arrived at the Lawrence Welk Villas where we saw Grandma and Grandpa waiting for us!! They had a pizza hot and ready to fill our traveling bellies, took us to the new pool (which has a beach like walk in) to stretch our traveling limbs and ended the day with PJ's and stories on the cozy couch . . . in total, we drove almost 1300 miles with at least 30 potty stops and we made it!! The kids did wonderful, our marriage is still in tact and we are ready for two weeks of family fun!!

Destination California . . .

DAY ONE . . .

The Marsh family is on the move . . . for some summer fun and memory building. We are en route for a fun-filled two weeks in California . . . and we're driving. We started off with a bang . . . everyone was in the car and packed and ready to go at 9:30am . . . and our first stop was the rental car agency to pick up the car . .

This seemed, on paper, like the easy part . . . silly us - there will be no easy part!! The car intended for us that was supposed to be available at 10 was not there . . . so we came back at 10:40 at which point we realized there was a snafu . . . instead of putting a credit card on file, they wanted to hold the entire amount of the rental on the card for the whole two weeks we were going to be gone - not possible as we're sharing the rental fee with my fabulously generous in-laws . . . this hiccup caused more phone calls and paper work and time . . . at which point the oh so patient Marsh girls were feeling less than patient as we hadn't even left the city yet . . . Dad had a brilliant idea to run around the waterfront while we awaited the final confirmation . . . they ran around, climbed back in car seats and, armed with a snack, were ready to go . . .

We finally got the car and it is beautiful (picture to follow later) . . . it's a brand new red suburban with built in DVD players - a ton of excitement for the girls!! We had a rather un-eventful drive down to Albany, Oregon where we stayed with some wonderful family. They had a BBQ all ready for us complete with cousins to play with and great-Granny to hug. It was great to run around in a backyard and be with family to start our adventure . . . we spent the night in their beautiful home . . .

DAY TWO

It's Saturday and we are ready to go! We're all so excited to be together on vacation and be on our way to California . . . the drive was crazy - not from traffic but from the mountains we drove over . . . we had to stop for gas . . . and canolies?!

We got gas at a 76 station in Oregon and I loved how they pumped the gas for us! Old fashioned chivalry is so refreshing . . . and while we were awaiting the gas to be finished, Dad wandered into the organic/granola/Oregon bakery and picked up a homemade canoli with pistachios . . . I wanted to like it but . . . alas - not my favorite.

We drove . . . and drove . . . and drove . . . and drove . . . and the only consistent factor was the girls constant need to use and/or check out rest area potties . . . and of course, Dad entertained them between potty breaks with some rest area running . . .

Our goal for today was Sacramento enabling us to piece out the trip . . . after 8 some odd hours in the car, numerous driver switches, snacks and lunch eaten in the car (smart packing momma!) we entered Sacramento. Now began the search for the hotel - with a pool of course. . . this led itself to another adventure . . .the first hotel we tried had only one room left and an outdoor pool which was not heated . . . the second hotel had an indoor pool but the one room left had only one bed and no roll aways available . . . not possible for four of us . . . this lead us down more highways, up more byways and hungry tired children . . .

FINALLY - we found a hotel . . . and it had two beds . . . and it had an indoor pool . . . and it even had wifii (hence the blogging update!!) . . . the girls immediately hopped into their swimming suits and jumped on the bed until we'd take them to the pool . . .

And that leads us to now . . . 9:20pm with two crazy excited yet ridiculously tired girls . . . and two equally exhausted parents . . . attempting to sleep all together in a hotel room . . . pray for rest!!