Weekly Babble Blog: California

Love California in the Evenings

We just returned from our first big trip with the baby. California was beautiful as usual and we saw everyone we could in the week we were there. Lane was a fantastic baby during all of the travel - not one airplane meltdown or even crying - even when we flew during her witching hour. She smiled and laughed and coo'd through the airport and happily clung to her moose through the airport in her stroller. Car rides however are still brutal for us as she is convinced that the straps are trying to strangle her, but hopefully she'll outgrow that one day.

We went to our usual places (Del Mar, La Jolla Shores, the Beach and Tennis Club, El Charro Mexican Hole in the Wall, Rubio's for fish tacos) and saw our usual things (the beach, the beautiful weather, the big freeway, the palm trees, the airy beautiful San Diego Airport). Dave and I are always awestruck by California when we visit and we try to remind ourselves that if we were to live there again it wouldn't be days full of sunshine and lunches outside - we would be one of the other millions of people enduring morning traffic jams, high cost of living and fear of an imminent 7+ magnitude earthquake that is going to level the place. That being said, since California is where my childhood was and where a big portion of family is, I have a definate sadness that I will not be able to share with Lane the traditions that I grew up with like Sunshine and Beach Christmas, Julian mountain apple pies and pumpkin picking, boating in Mission Bay, family beach picnics, Seaport village magicians, Balboa park carousels, the San Diego Zoo and Sea World, etc. I will wrap those things into future visits and she will never know the deprivation, but the pressure to create our own traditions is on. Poor kid will have to settle for the things that Dave and I already do, like Christmas lights on Thanksgiving after football, beach picnics with friends, backyard pool parties and trips to the mountains in North Carolina. Maybe it's the nostalgia of being with family - but there is so much I want to do with her and show her - I supposed California at three months is a good start!

I have been told that my posts lately revolve too much around the baby, so I will work on adding in more witty stories and experiences, I think that since I post about life - and she has sort of taken that over the past few months - you get the picture - but I will work on it.