Ok,
I know I’m about a week behind in posting about our Labor Day excursions, but we
were so busy having fun that I didn’t have time to write anything until
now. We had an amazing Labor Day
weekend. It honestly felt like a
mini-vacation because we did so much. We
went to San Diego, came back up to LA to meet a friend’s baby, and then did
Disneyland.
The
Saturday of Labor Day weekend, we went down to La Jolla Shores in San Diego for
a day at the beach to celebrate Aaron’s cousin’s wedding. Aaron’s brother, Dominick, flew in for the
occasion, so we had 3 adults plus Guinevere in the car – which worked out
really well when G decided she was over being in the car. I was already sitting next to her and could
try to soothe her.
When
we got to the beach, Aaron dropped the rest of us off and then went
to find parking. He had to park about a
half mile away . . . oh La Jolla Shores!
Meanwhile, Dominick and I met up with my parents and Aaron’s mom and the
rest of the family. They had a nice tent
set up on the grassy area at the beach and we ate some food and just hung
out.
Once
Aaron finally joined us, I changed G into her bathing suit and took her down to
the water. She seemed to enjoy splashing
around in the waves and walking in the wet sand . . . until a wave came in that
scared her! It didn’t even go that high
– it maybe came up to her calf, but she wasn’t expecting it and got
scared. After that, she insisted on
clinging to me every time we went near the water. Other than getting slightly scared in the
water, she had a grand old time walking on the sand and all over the grass!
In
the afternoon, Aaron’s cousin and her husband rented kayaks for a bunch of
us. Fortunately, both my parents and
Aaron’s mom were perfectly happy to step in and watch G while Aaron and I went
out with the kayaks. I can’t believe I
grew up in San Diego and never went kayaking in La Jolla! We kayaked all the way out into the kelp
forest and then over to the caves and back.
I will admit, it was a little nerve racking initially rowing out over
the waves in order to get to the calmer seas.
But once we were out in the kelp forest, it was so calm and
beautiful. We saw more seals than I can
count – both swimming in the ocean, and relaxing on the rocks in the caves. After the beach, we went back to my parents’
house for dinner to rest and fuel up before the drive back up to LA.
The
next day we went to a party at a family friend’s house. Their son is like a cousin to me and he and
his wife were in town with their 8 month old.
The party was basically an excuse to meet the baby. I love watching Guinevere meet other babies! She is always fascinated. Of course, she’s about the same size as the 8
month old! Our family friends have a
pool and since it was in the 100s, we decided to take advantage of the
“optional swimming” portion of the party.
G absolutely loved swimming! I
was a little worried that maybe her fear of the ocean would have carried over
to pools, but she did just fine. In
fact, the floaty thing we borrowed had two tubes connected by small strips of
plastic, and Guinevere could reach between them and “swim” by kicking her legs
and moving her arms. It was adorable!
On
Labor Day itself, I took Guinevere to Disneyland. Aaron had to work, so it was just Guinevere
and me. As we entered the park, Minnie
Mouse was there. She came over and said
“Hi” to Guinevere, but since I was alone with Guinevere, and Minnie was just
out and about for a walk, “not stopping, just saying hi,” according to her
handler, I didn’t manage to get a picture.
After that, we headed over to Fantasyland and walked through Sleeping Beauty’s
castle. We also went on the carousel and
Dumbo. It’s so much fun watching
Guinevere grow and seeing how each trip to Disney, she’s more interested in
everything around her!
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