Summer Vacation on the Central Coast

I just did one of the most difficult things I've probably ever done; I put my child and husband on a plane, sans mama and headed for Texas, and I stayed behind in LA to catch a flight out to Philadelphia this afternoon.  I'm attending a conference on the east coast this week and there was no way to bring by boys along... so... here I am, sitting in LAX with huge tears in my eyes and trying to focus on something other than the fact that we're apart. 

We are coming off of a terrific vacation to the Central Coast and spent a wonderful week with Nana and Papa Bruce.  We've been planning this trip for quite some time now, but just as our luck goes, it happened that the weekend we chose to fly into LAX and venture up the coast, Los Angeles decided to close their freeway system.  We, however, didn't let the panic of Carmegeddon ruin too much of our fun.  We took advantage of the train, rode a couple of buses and eventually arrived in Santa Barbara, traffic-free and with big smiles on our faces.  The train ride was a first for Samuel and he had so much fun.  I'm not sure we'd take the train with a one year old much longer than 3 hours again, but for this trip I really can't complain.  Samuel experienced many other "firsts" on our vacation, including the ocean, Avila Barn, and a visit to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  He enthusiastically loved all of it. 

Here are a few pictures from the last ten days.

First of all, for those of you who have not seen the picture...

We travel light.  And if we ever decide to vacation Europe with the kids... Lord help us! Surprisingly, we maneuver these items quite well through busy airports, train stations, and what-not, but we're always grateful for a little help:)

We met our dear friends Joe and Kristel at LAX because we both happened to be traveling through on the same day.  We decided to break up costs and split a hotel room, but really, we probably could have bypassed the hotel room all together.  We stayed up all night talking.... til 3 and 4 in the morning.  It was wonderful:)  We were together a total of  9 hours, I think, and it was worth every second!  And of course, we really appreciated their assistance with the luggage.

Here we are, bypassing the chaotic freeways at the Amtrak station.  Funny thing is, our hotel lobby was more chaotic than the freeways, but never-the-less, the train ride was a lot of fun...Mr. Samuel probably won't remember, but at least we can add it to his baby book:)

The Central Coast treated us well!  Sam made all his dad's dreams come true by taking to the surf board and the ocean like a natural. We spent a lot of time in Nana's backyard... Sam loved it.  We also had a great visit from Aunty Keturah and enjoyed a few days with Aunt Cindy, too....all so much fun!  And, of course, we soaked up every moment we could with Great-Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Sonya, Aunt Laura, Uncle Isaiah and Uncle Jared:)  We toured Cal Poly one day and got the insider info from Great-grandpa Mach.  He was a math professor at Cal Poly for 37 years.  The picture below is of Sam and Grandpa outside the mathematics building that grandpa taught in for so many years.

 

 Thank you Nana and Papa Bruce for a great week!  We love you so much and already miss you!