Staycation

Sometimes, all you need is 24 hours and a few miles.

Jason and I left Kenton with my parents overnight for the first time this weekend. And… we escaped down the road a bit to a local resort – The Camelback Inn. It was only for one night – and the drive took less than 20 minutes, but that was all we needed. We came back refreshed and relaxed. Ahhh….

We also finally got to visit a restaurant I’ve wanted to try for about five years…

La Grande Orange pizzeria. I’ve heard so many great things about this place – but, for one reason or another, we never made it there. Well, our hotel wasn’t too far – so we stopped by for dinner on Saturday night. Isn’t is awesome when a place lives up to the hype? That pizza in the top, right of the picture, is possibly the best pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life. Roasted corn (with goat cheese, tomatoes and fresh basil) for me. Gladiator (with lots of different manly meats) for Jason, who also found a new favorite beer (bottom left – where you’ll also see a glimpse of their famous pimento dip that was TO.DIE.FOR). YUM. We loved it so much, we actually went back the next day for lunch – and ordered the same pizza. It’s a good thing we don’t live closer, we’d probably eat pizza everyday. We also perused their gift shop and picked up a little present for the new baby. 🙂

We spent some more time window shopping and gelato-savoring…

Don’t tell my doctor.

We even did something we rarely do now that we have a kid…

And I was inspired to try life as a spy.

Good times. Good much-needed times. And the kid survived! He actually cried tears of joy when he saw us (or maybe he was just sad to leave Grandma?!)… nope, tears of joy.

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Telluride Trip 2012

Our big summer trip this year was in Telluride, Colorado. We had a fantastic time. In fact, I think we may go back next year, which is why I had to label this post with the year. We had such a great 4th of July there – we would love to make it an annual tradition.

We loved it so much, we bought t-shirts.

True love, I tell ya. Enough to purchase matching touristy shirts and take a family photo.

Here’s what we fell in love with…

Hiking in the rain…

Seriously, it rained a lot – but we loved it. Getting a break from 115 degrees was awesome, even if it was a bit wet.

The view…

I mean, come on! What a setting!

Telluride goes all out for the 4th of July. We attended our first parade together as a family… Kenton’s first and he LOVED it. Allow me to show you…

Of course, it didn’t hurt that a picture of him won second overall in a local photo contest. All the more reason to go back next year and GO FOR FIRST!

This was a family vacation, which meant Grandpa and Grandma (my parents) were also with us.

We had a lot of fun together… my mom and I had a spa day and my dad and Jason golfed a couple of times. Plus, we had built-in (and eager) babysitters. SCORE!

Kenton made all sorts of new discoveries… like fire trucks…

… pine trees…

… and gondolas.

He also added a few new words to his vocabulary including his version of “gondola” but… “Elk!” is my personal favorite… thanks to the elk head in our lodge…

Now, all animals are put into two categories – dog or elk – and they all “ROAR!”

We had a great time. If you’re planning a trip to Telluride… here are a few of our favorite spots…

• To stay… Franz Klammer Lodge
• To eat… Rustico Ristorante – we had a fantastic date night here
• To golf… The Telluride Golf Course
• To spa… The Spa at The Peaks
• Coffee… Coffee Cowboy in Telluride and Telluride Coffee Co in Mountain Village

During the summer, the gondola is free and Kenton LOVED it. Walking up and down the adorable main street is, of course, free if you control yourself. Hiking is free. Lounging in your condo is free (when mom and dad pick up the tab… thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). Stocking up on groceries outside of town and eating in the condo also helped us keep our costs down.

We had such a great and relaxing time. As I mentioned, we’d love to go back again next summer – when we’ll have a 25 month old and a 9 month old. WHAT?!

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San Diego Week

I intended to share this post with you last Friday, but I didn’t have access to the nets of Inter. (That’s something my dad would say… like, “tay of lots” for a latte). Anywho, here she is today… a recap of our FABULOUS break from the Arizona heat in gorgeous Del Mar, California:

What a week we had! San Diego was a BLAST. Here’s a recap of what we were up to, via Instagram:

So. Much. Fun.

Most of my mom’s family lives throughout San Diego County. So, we spent a lot of time with family – and doing as much R&R as possible – including Kenton’s first day at the beach and first trip to a fair!

My mom, Kenton and I stayed with my Grandpa in Del Mar.

My mom’s dad. Can you tell? Ha! There’s a definite family resemblance.

My Grandpa’s house has not changed in decades, which means it holds a million memories for me, (but isn’t even remotely close to being baby-proofed!). I actually wrote an essay about it in elementary school. The assignment? Write about paradise. Yep, I nailed it. I still feel that way about this little corner of the world. From Grandpa’s balcony, you can see the water and sand.

Everyday, we walked from his house to charming Del Mar…

Grabbed a cup of coffee at Starbucks… and some milk for the kiddo…

In my defense, the pic on the left was taken after Kenton decided

to party All. Night. Long. (good times)

We’d stop by the playground…

And carry on down to the beach…

Yep. Paradise.

We spent a day at the San Diego County Fair… a place we’ve been going for many years.

We’ve been practicing Kenton’s “MOO” with the painting in his playroom, but this was the first time he saw cows (and sheep, and pigs, and ducks, and hens, and roosters, and goats, and bunnies, and even a baby turkey) up close. His first encounter with a cow drew tears and screams, but he warmed up after that and loved all of the animals.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. We were sad to leave our extended family and the gorgeously overcast weather – but were very glad to get home to DADA and grandpa in time for Father’s Day:

And… one more thing… we OFFICIALLY have a TODDLER on our hands, folks. All of the distraction and stimulation on the trip made my BABY start toddling like a little drunken sailor… every.where.

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