Trip to California!

Our family took our first big trip with Dot to California!  We were able to do so much in our ten days there - and I was excited to spend time with her and James before I have to go back to work next week.  

We definitely over-prepared for the trip, as one should with a baby in tow, and had a lot of stuff packed.  I also ordered a bunch of things from Amazon to be delivered to us in LA, which was a life saver!  Amazon Prime is the best!  

We checked one big suit case with Dottie's car seat base and clothes, checked another small suit case, and an umbrella stroller.  Then we also carried on a small suit case, Dottie's little owl suit case, and her car seat.  She had her own seat, which was nice, because she was able to sleep in her car seat for a good 2-3 hours of each flight.  

She was a champ on the flight - she didn't cry at all and was not bothered by take off or landing.  When we landed she would look at me like we were going to die with her eyes wide, but she quickly recovered.  Also, I learned where plane changing tables are (behind the toilet, if anyone is ever looking), and only had to change one poopy diaper on the way home.  

We landed at LAX amid the craziness, and somehow made it to our car with all of our stuff.  We stayed in Los Angeles for 3 nights.  The house we rented in Silver Lake was awesome.  It was such a weird place, and very LA in decor.  It was up a massive driveway and stairs, and had the most amazing view of the Hollywood sign and the Griffith Observatory.  We were able to put Dottie to bed each night and sit out on our deck with a glass of wine and enjoy the view.  It was pretty spectacular.  We also soaked in the cool weather, after fleeing the 100 degree DC heat and 89% humidity.  My hair thanked me.

While in LA, we got to see mama's friend Colin, and mama's friend and former colleague, Debbie.  As far as sight seeing goes, we went down to Venice beach one day and walked around.  We also ventured up toward the observatory and saw a massive film crew, who were purportedly filming an Adam Sandler movie for Netflix.  We visited the Greystone Mansion, which was beautiful (and found out a ton of things were filmed there, including mama's guilty pleasure, the Gilmore Girls).  We drove around Beverley Hills and gawked at all of the interesting people and places.

Hanging out with Debbie and eating dumplings!

 From Griffith Observatory with the Hollywood sign!

 Venice Pier

Greystone Mansion

Next, we made our way down to San Diego for three nights.  There we had rented a high rise condo that also had beautiful views and more importantly - laundry!!!  There we got to visit mama's family - we saw Aunt Diana and Uncle At on two fun nights!  One night we went to have a delicious Mexican dinner and also visited cousin Laura and her kids.  The second night we went to have daddy's and mama's favorite - soup dumplings, with cousin Emily and her boyfriend Matt.  Good times were had all around.  We really enjoyed seeing everyone.

Mama and daddy also got to go out on a date night one night, to one of their favorite chef's restaurants - Juniper & Ivy by Richard Blais.  It was delicious and so much fun.  Dottie had a babysitter, but didn't get to know her because she was sleeping the whole time!

We visited the San Diego zoo on our last day there, and it was so much fun.  We rode the bus around the zoo and saw all of the animals.  We got to see the pandas, the koalas, the polar bears, giraffes, rhinos, the gorillas (with a small baby up close!), and the orangutans.  It was lots of fun and Dottie got a couple of souvenirs - a couple of cute onesies and a stuffed koala!

 

 

Last, but not least, we drove up to Orange County and got to visit more family.  James' Aunt Helen, Uncle Steve, and cousins Tiffany and Sydney were eager to meet Dottie.  They definitely loved their time with her and got to play with her quite a bit.  We had another delicious Mexican dinner with Helen and Steve, and an excellent brunch with everyone on our last day there.  Helen and Tiffany were also generous enough to babysit Dottie for us while we went to James' good friend's wedding at our resort.  The wedding was a blast and we had such a great time. 

 

 

Funny enough, we also had a lot of noise in our room the first night because of another wedding, so we requested to move to a quieter room the second night.  Because the hotel was completely full, the manager gave us the Presidential suite for the night.  It was ridiculous - and maybe bigger than our house...  We got to enjoy the huge balcony, living room, TV room, giant bathroom, 10 person dining room, wet bar etc.  It was a pretty great ending to our trip.  

Overall, Dottie was a traveling champ, and we had so much fun!  It might be a while before we attempt another long vacation with her, but maybe next year.  We know she will make an excellent world traveler though!