Last weekend we took a mini-vacay down to Southern California to see a variety of family, and have a little early birthday celebration for our Tess.
We arrived at the Suich home late Friday night and had a very low-key day on Saturday, starting with a long walk around the CSU Fullerton campus and its Arboretum. In the afternoon we attended a church picnic and stopped to play at a gorgeous park in the area, while capturing some really adorable pictures of Tess. Chad and I also got to sneak in a great dinner date (sushi) thanks to Grandma & Grandpa's willingness to babysit!
Sunday we took Tess for a stroll around our favorite mall (we spent lots of time hanging out there when we were young and kid-free!), and spent the afternoon getting ready for a big family dinner/early birthday party for Tess. Grandma Meg coordinated all the decorations and cake for a Bubble Guppies-themed evening, which Tess just loved!
On Monday we had a nice family outing to the Santa Ana Zoo. Since we are Fresno zoo members, our admission was just $5.00! We had a light lunch, played in their park area, and then looked at the small selection of animals (mostly monkeys) and visited the petting zoo.
We headed out from Fullerton on Tuesday morning...our destination was Oxnard, where our other parental unit (the Unruhs) were at Channel Islands Harbor with their 24-foot sailboat. The goal was to take Tess on her first sail, which didn't pan out like we thought it would. She was all smiles when we got to the boat, and enjoyed investigating the cabin and cockpit, but once we put the lifejacket on her, things got dicey....and then she went into meltdown. This resulted in some "time out" with Mommy down below, after which we FINALLY got under way, only to have Tess pass out from exhaustion in the cabin. We had a WONDERFUL sail (complete with a dolphin escort as we returned to the harbor), but she slept through the entire thing. She woke up as we were docked and tidying up from the outing, in time to have a light lunch before we hit the road for Fresno. Oh well! She had a good sleep, and I know from personal experience that boat naps are some of the best.
Below are some pictures of our fun weekend, complete with birthday, zoo, and sailing adventures. Enjoy!
