San Diego Part #1 - Visiting the Beach

I am going to have to split this blog up into 4 different parts, or else I could get an award for the LONGEST post ever! So there will be San Diego Part #1-#4.

My brother got married this past weekend to the love of his life, Erin. They live in San Diego and the wedding took place in Oceanside. We rented a house with my parents in Carlsbad, which turned out to be the best idea every, seeing as that meant that Caitlyn would get her own room. She is quite a loud sleeper.

SO THE TRIP BEGINS.....

Caty and I drove down on Thursday (the 12th). Scott's last day of school (he's a 3rd grade teacher for those of you that don't know) was Friday and he couldn't exactly take the day off, so he caught a flight after school. Anyways, Caty and I met up with my parents about 2 hours into the drive. At that point my mom hopped into the car to help entertain Caty. According to Google maps the drive would be about 8 hours, and with a potty trained 3 year old I knew that we would be making a couple of other stops along the day. We drove and we drove and we drove some more and finally crossed over the Grapevine just before lunchtime; we left Sacramento around 6:45 AM. After lunch, Caty was somewhat ready for a nap and my mom needed to get into the car with my dad so both our cars could use the carpool lane for the remainder of the drive. If you aren't familiar with Southern CA carpool lanes, they are AWESOME! They are for 2 or more people and are enforced all day long. You are not supposed to go in and out unless you some upon the entrances and exits (however I saw several cars pass over the double double yellow lines. Some of the areas even have barriers so there is no coming or going. With having such an early start and the use of the carpool lane we didn't have to deal with much LA traffic. We arrived in Carlsbad around 3:45, meaning we made it in 9 hours, with our several stops. Not bad at all. We settled into the house for the night.

The next morning (Friday) my mom had some shopping to do for various get togethers during our stay, so my dad and I took Caitlyn to the beach, which was a little over a mile drive from the house. Okay, so I know that my daughter is smart, but sometimes she just throws me for a loop. A little background info here - my parents have a condo in Maui and Caty has made two trips there; the first when she was just a year old the second 6 months after the first trip. She's 3 now. Back to present day - picture us playing in the water, it's not exactly warm water either, and she says to me "the water in Maui is warmer that this water." Now tell me how many 3 years olds have a memory that can go back almost 2 years. She amazes me! She had a blast making sand castles and chasing the waves. The video that I got is cute, however the waves crashing are fairly loud so it's hard to hear what she says some of the time.

(Checking the waves out with Papa)

(Building sand castles)

(Doing The Beach Dance)

(My Beach Baby)

(Me and My Caty)

(Caty playing in the waves)

Please stay tuned for Part #2 - The Rehearsal (I'm just waiting on some pictures from the second half of the rehearsal evening - a night out at the bars)