San Diego Vacation

On Wednesday, we got up bright and early to head to the airport for our first family vacation!  Our flight was at 8 am, which I planned because Ben is usually in a great mood first thing in the morning.  As I mentioned before, we were able to travel pretty light since the only additional items we would need to bring with us for Ben were his stroller, car seat and diaper bag - so checking in and going through security was pretty easy for us!

We arrived early enough to grab some coffee and watch a few planes take off.

The flight itself was pretty good.  Ben didn't seem to struggle with any ear issues.  I nursed him on take off and landing (and once more to shut him up mid-flight).  He didn't sleep at all I don't think, and generally seemed annoyed to have to be on our laps - but he didn't have any meltdowns and kept fairly quiet for the most part!

We were SO excited to arrive in San Diego.  It was a beautiful morning, and when I saw Hilary and Violet pull up I could hardly contain myself.  I plopped myself right into the backseat so I could sit with her on the ride back to their house.  She is SO SO cute and tiny (compared to Ben).  I actually could not even remember what it was like when Ben was that small.  Time flies!

That day we spent hanging out at home, running a few errands, and then in the evening we walked through Little Italy (their neighborhood) and had a delicious Italian dinner at a restaurant called Filippi's.

Thursday was our trip to Disney.

Since Thursday was a busy day out and about, we aimed to keep Friday a little more low key.  After a long and awesome morning nap for Ben, we started out with brunch at one of our favorite San Diego restaurants - Hash House a Go Go.  The babies were quiet and cooperative throughout the entire meal on the patio.  It was lovely!  Ben even enjoyed some watermelon!

That afternoon the (big) boys went shopping, while Hilary and I took the babies on a long walk to get coffee and then down by the water.  This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip - one on one time with Hilary and quiet, cooperative babies :)  It is times like this that I miss her living close by the most!  Hil - let's start planning phone chats while we take our babies for walks!

Hilary turned us on to the magic of the Bugaboo stroller

- the kiddos rolled in matching gear all week :)

On Saturday, the babies went to lunch and the Farmer's Market with their dads while Hilary and I went to get our nails done.  It was our official Mother's Day celebration day, and it was nice to have some alone time together while getting pampered!  It was also one of the first (literally the second) time Hilary was able to get away for a couple hours, so she deserved a relaxing pedicure for sure!

We stopped by the restaurant the boys/babies were at to scoop them up and take them home (and feed them) and the guys made a few more stops before returning home.

Late that afternoon, we drove up to Balboa Park for a photo shoot.  John has all of the fancy equipment and took some AMAZING photos, which I hope to post here soon.  The lighting was absolutely perfect, and Ben was WORKING the camera.

That evening some friends of theirs came over, and we all had a delicious surf and turf meal prepared by Greg and John.  Greg also gave me a beautiful necklace that has Ben's birth stone in it, which I absolutely love.  :)  It was a great end to a really fun trip.

Also, Ben got some fun new nicknames given to him by Hil and John on this trip:

Benzo

Benjamima

Benzodiozipine - they are in the medical field after all :)