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I took about 600 photos of you on our last trip to Cambria. I know I’ll be glad I have them all someday. And really, that’s the biggest reason I take so many. To remember the past… some day. But it’s also important to me that I take the time and choose at least a few favorites from every trip, major event, milestone to record *right now* instead of waiting for “some day.” But it gets overwhelming. It’s hard not to share them all. And for some reason it’s hard for me to limit what I take when the camera is out. We’re actually in Oceanside just 2 weeks later as I write this. I almost left my camera at home. -I’m not kidding.- We are so busy that at some point I have to stop taking photos to make sure I have enough time away from my computer to spend with the real life you. So here’s the highlights… just a few photos to help us remember.
We road-tripped with Daddy up the coast. He had to work a homeshow in San Lius Obispo and Cambria is one of our favorite Cali spots we’ve been to since we moved here. I happened to have a rare weekend off, so we tagged along and spent a couple extra days at the beach. While Daddy visited some dealers on the way, we kept ourselves entertained Christmas shopping and stopping at local parks to play. You’re dancing with some leaves below. You were throwing them into the wind and they were blowing back at you. You love being outside.
Then we took you on your first visit to Solvang, a little Danish town Daddy and I like to visit. It kind of reminds us of Leavenworth. We will take you to Leavenworth someday of course. It’s a little Bavarian town in the middle of the Cascade mountains right in between were Momma and Daddy grew up. Both our families love it and we loved going there together. Anyway, this town is similar. You had fun window shopping and sitting in giant wooden shoes and sampling ableskievers.
We checked out Morro Bay with you while we were in the area too. You loved the all the squirrels running around the rocks and the birds flying in the sky. The little montage below is you being cute with your hands on one of the beaches near Morro rock – showing me your sandy hands, pointing out critters, saying you “don’t know”, and covering your mouth with glee at a passing doggie.
You aren’t always chipper, Munchkin. You throw a lot of fits these days. As I’ve said, they are always short-lived, but they can be extremely dramatic. Many times, like in this case, I have no idea what the problem actually is. We just wait for you to get it out and then we move on. It’s hard sometimes. I tell you this lest you think you are *perfect* angel. You are a very, very good girl. But you have your moments. It’s going to be a long, hard lesson that crying and whining are not effective ways of communicating. But we’re in it for the long-haul. I guess maybe even I haven’t learned that lesson fully, and today I turn 33. So, I’ll cut you some slack, hehe.
Daddy picked you up right after the above picture and you gave me that smile. It’s like New England weather, your moods. They can change in an second. Daddy distracted you with the banana he was carrying around in his back pocket for you. Love those little chipmunk cheeks as you watched another doggie go by. You love, love, love dogs. You stick your tongue out and pant and smile every time you see one.
And this is your first mechanical pony ride. I really thought you’d be scared, but you manned… er-womaned… up, held onto those reigns, and did it all by yourself. We had fun in that toy shop. The had about 200 wind-up toys. I showed you the moves of quite a few of them. We love toy stores, Daddy especially. He can walk by a toy shop just as soon as he can walk by a Christmas shop, i.e. it’s not possible. We always go in whenever we see one. You’re a lucky girl. Your Daddy is a lot of fun.
We spent an afternoon shopping in downtown San Luis Obispo. Actually, we mainly walked – not so much shopped. But we did find an awesome, awesome super-size craft store that carried about 5x as much stuff as Michael’s (it seemed) and I found some canvas bags to use as part of my new yarn/project storage system. We double-dutied it as a treasure satchel for you. You carried that thing on your arm all day and put all kind of little gems into it – leaves, sticks, rocks, pine needles. It was a regular nature hunt. So fun.
And in Cambria, we walked the boardwalks, enjoyed the sunsets, explored tide pools, ate some good food, visited some local gardens, and dug in the sand (next post!). It will probably be your last trip there for sometime we decided. Next time we’re going somewhere a little more kid-friendly. Among the signs we saw on this trip “Dogs Welcome. Kids must be Leashed,” and “No Touch-ee Feel-ee Children.” L-A-M-E. And people were just generally unfriendly when they saw we had you in tow. Such a strange experience since you are always the Bell of the Ball wherever we take you. And you are well-behaved (for the most part). It’s not like we were letting you run amok in delicate stores. You were quietly sitting in your stroller. But we definitely got the feeling that we were intruding on a “couple’s retreat.” There are better places we can take you.
Okay, back to enjoying Oceanside and Momma’s Birthday! Can’t wait for your big day little one. We’re trying to work out (shhhhh!) a trip to Disneyland this year instead of a big party. I want to have tea with the Disney Princesses as much as you do I think. I really hope we can make it happen! 🙂