Change of Plans

We had a tough week and the heat didn't help and we just wanted to get away for a few days. The first thing that popped into our heads was Oxnard to see Eric & Liz!!! I jumped on the phone and found out that they had plans to come down here for the weekend! Disappointed, Eddie and I decided to have a date night on Friday night to go to the movies to see, "The Time Travelers Wife." I have been dying to see this movie since it came out! Then we were going to spend the rest of the weekend doing chores and hanging out at home. On Friday afternoon I got a call from Eric letting me know that they weren't going to be coming down here after all because the weather is miserable and that we were more then welcome to come out and spend the weekend at their house. I was soooooooooo excited!!!! I love going to their house!!! We just kick back and relax but always find something fun and new to do. Some other perks are the temperature is normally twenty degrees cooler and their couch is so comfortable to sleep on. I called Eddie, packed up our stuff and we got on the freeway that night after traffic. We stayed up for a little while but then went to bed somewhat early since everyone had worked that day and gotten up early. Saturday we went and got lunch and had a picnic near the beach at a park . The weather was beautiful and it was so relaxing eating on a blanket and just visiting. Before we headed out we had to feed the ducks....well seagulls ha ha! When we would hand Grace a french fry to throw to them, she would always keep it for herself, but she did get a kick out of watching all the birds.

There were actually these ugly geese that literally would put their heads down and charge at us!!! It was so funny, and scary at the same time!!!! We decided to head towards a few of the harbors close by to see if there were any duffy boats that we could rent to take out for a little bit. Sadly, all the smaller ones were booked up!! We did however walk around some of the shops and rode the carousal.

There was a crazy hat shop and we loved the lobster!

She didn't like this carousal as much as the one at Disneyland

By the time we got home, the boys soon left to go to the speedway races that they like to go to when we visit. Which is fun for them and leaves us girls to do our own thing! We headed out to do some birthday party shopping and picked up some dinner. When Grace went to bed Liz and I sat down so that she could finally teach me how to play, "Hand & Foot Canasta." It's a card game that I have been wanting to learn for a long time! They always talk about how fun it is and Jake & Sarah like to play too so it was a game I thought would be a good one to learn. As time passed and the boys got home, we still sat there and kept playing and had a blast! We didn't even realize that it was three in the morning!!! We called it a night because we still had a whole day ahead of us. Eddie got up with Grace the next day so that I could sleep in a little bit since I was up so late. We had a late breakfast and spent the afternoon in their backyard playing cards and soaking up the sun. They are in the process of remodeling their backyard so there was an area near the tree that I was swinging on that had some mud around it because the grass hadn't grown yet. Well everyone thought that it would be so cute to let Grace play in the mud. As most people know I hate to get dirty like that and wasn't too thrilled about the idea of Grace getting dirty, but I thought what the heck I might as well let her try it out, especially if I am going to get some good pictures. We stripped her down and let her wander around in her diaper. She did get a little dirty mostly because she is still such an unsteady walker.

What is this stuff???

Experiencing dirt!

She just thought it was so funny!!

I made some kind of joke about how the mud wasn't wet enough so she wasn't getting a real mud bath so Eric jumped up and brought out a large cup of water to soak the ground in. That did it!!! The mud got so slick and thick and Grace just sat in the middle of it and played. She sat there for a good twenty minutes and just got dirty. She would clap and it got all over her face and in her hair, but she looked so cute and was having the time of her life. When she had finally had enough she decided that she wanted to run over and jump on mommy's lap and ride in the swing.

Slippery!

Now this is mud!

Clapping makes a mess!!

Covered from head to toe!

Running to Mommy!

Time to clean up!

Unfortunately it was getting close to the time for us to start packing up to head home. But not before we stopped and had dinner & dessert at Claim Jumper. One of my favorite desserts of all time is the Chocolate Chip Calzone! It is so yummy and so gooey and just makes me so happy! To top off our fun filled weekend, Eric helped Grace learn how to drink from a straw. She is messy with it, but she understands that she is supposed to suck on it just like her sippy cup! We were all so proud!!

Open up!

So big!!

While I was sad to miss out on date night, and have to put seeing my movie off even longer, we couldn't have replaced it with something better! We can't thank Eric and Liz enough for entertaining us this weekend. We had the best time! It was exactly what we needed to recharge our batteries. We can't wait for our next mini vacation! Hopefully it will be to the cabin soon!!