Back to the Daily Grind....

I'm being hurried by the hubby. Gotta get on the road. It's about a quarter to ten and I said we'd leave at 10...and by God, we're going to! Oh, yesterday was fun. I'm not ready to leave and I'll have to wait to post my last day thoughts when I get home today. Gotta keep that time commitment and Kenna's still under the covers. Good bye California...........I hope I see you again soon.

I've got the vacation's almost over blues......;(

n



I tried to add more to yesterday's post but I have to tell you that while I LOVE this hotel, blatantly advertise for La Quinta Carlsbad, CA here, their internet leaves a bit to be desired. Actually a LOT to be desired. Sometimes you can surf crazy fast and other times it's like dial up! So the area that the hotel is in has a Porsche dealership two doors down (and the cars are kept OUTSIDE!) and the homes around it are so beautiful...the hotel must have been here forever to afford such an address!

So yesterday found us back on the first beach, with the dog friendly park across the street from it. We decided this is a really terrific place for kids and pups alike! Luckily, Den and Kenna made it back across the area where the beach crew decided to bull doze the beach to get the water near the park back out into the ocean a bit....because they dozed about three times and suddenly the water rushed and about a 20 foot drop occurred within minutes. The lifeguards were very busy telling kids (and adults) to move it away from the area.

It's hard to explain but apparently they didn't want so much water in the park area. It was quite interesting to watch. It would have made it difficult for my guys to get off the beach the easy way, the other way being extremely rocky. Yikes.

So after the beach we chilled for a while and then went for a very non-Irish Olive Garden dinner! I don't care for Cabbage and Corned Beef. Who needs it? Ick. Now, onto our last day....I think we're going to go exploring around Carlsbad town. It's a fun little area. Nice little shops and tons of cafes. Or back to Sammy's. Who knows where the day will take us. Mom and Dad are lunching with one of Mom's former students (whom I used to babysit!) so it's just Me, Den and Kenna to explore.

Another day in Paradise!

Last night we went to another of our favorite restaurants. Ruby's diner. You may be able to have a little slice of heaven if your Costco carries their sliders in the frozen section. If not, then you better come here! It's an old-fashioned theme with real shakes and malts and the best burgers you could try. I had a Kobe burger with Portobellos and Provolone. YUM!

Oh, and to make it neater, we went to the local Costco before dinner to see what they might have that ours don't carry. They had gift certificates to Ruby's Diner: $50 worth of certificates for $40! That's a NO BRAINER! We also had a coupon from a package of the sliders for a free shake. I'm thrifty ya know? Good deals, good deals!

Now we're trying to figure out what to do with the day. Late day sleeping in. Gee, must be on vacation, huh? More later.

I don't want to leave here.............

It's Tuesday which gives us the rest of today, tomorrow and Thursday. We leave Friday. It has NOT been long enough. Reality hits Friday the minute we pull into our driveway. Back to drop off and pick up from school, homework, dinner: AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Don't EVEN think about reality. Back to vacation:

Lunch was in Encinitas today and it was okay but nothing spectacular. We hit another Thrift store and Mom found a couple of things. I found a book. Yea.

Serenity at the beach! Well, okay, not QUITE serenity. We (the girls) went to the beach where dogs can be. Quite a feat to find in this area. Paid $3 to park for an hour and took Syd down to "embrace her beach diva~!" Um, sure. She told us it wasn't her "cuppa".

Let's just say that even though the signs say all kinds of things like: dogs must be on leases, etc. Not a dog was being either watched or leashed by their owners. Except Syd! When together, dogs tend to gather and display "pack like mentality". Which means about five to six dogs all running together, getting wet and then shaking off wherever they might be (and that was usually right NEXT to ME!!!!), humping the dog nearest to them, a couple trying to hump those impossible to reach, but humping was happening. EVERYWHERE!!!

Dogs were peeing, pooping, running, jumping and cavorting around in very dog-like ways. The Chihuahuas who thought they were large labs, the two beautiful white standard poodles, the well mannered were around too....but the packs scared the shit right outta little Syd. Twice! She found a place between two rocks and that's where she stayed...until Kenna pulled her out and made her venture near the water. Then she was okay for a while. She sort of enjoyed the beach for a bit and then before our car got ticketed, we took our very sandy and wet selves back up the hill to the car and back to the hotel.

Den and Dad went to the USS Midway today to tour it. They made it back to the hotel a few minutes before us. They went to a Barbecue restaurant which was used in filming scenes for "Top Gun." How cool is that? I don't do tight enclosed spaces like ships, so I'm glad they went together. Now, Miss K and Nana are back from the pool (Kenna's idea of a shower because who cares about chlorine, Mom? Green hair is quite fashionable!) Hey, ya gotta get the sand off somehow!

Monday, Monday....

So, what did we actually do today? We ended up going to this scrumptious little Mom and Pop restaurant for lunch and then Mom, McKenna and I went to the movies! We found a theater in San Marcos which was playing Kenna's" Percy Jackson and the Olympians" movie...and I have wanted to see "The Blindside" for some time...so we decided to go the 12 miles there. I found a few restaurant choices ahead of time ;) and we piled into two cars.

We found the first restaurant and decided it looked fine for our needs.
http://www.mamakatsrestaurant.com
It promised good food and pie. Who can go wrong with that? So in we go and sit down. Now, it kind of reminds me of our good friend's Jack and Judy's place and that is a good sign. The waiters all know the "regulars" and it's pretty busy. We all ordered and waited. We were really impressed with the quality of food. I got breakfast, which is quite interesting, considering I usually HATE breakfast foods.

Remember, I am officially "burgered" out so I passed on those but Mom, Den and Dad had them. They were hand pattied and not the frozen hockey puck type! I ordered a skillet with hash browns, eggs, sausage and cheddar...with sausage gravy. Oh, was I the smart one! It was delish! Rye toast which was really good too! We were all very impressed and quite excited when we saw the deal of the day: all slices of pie for $2! We ordered blueberry crumble (K), Coconut Cream(DD), Lemon Meringue(DM), Custard(L) and Chocolate Peanut Butter(S). They bake them all on premises and they each were phenomenal!

Then, perhaps due to the pie, Den decided he was a little under the weather, so he and Dad went back to the hotel to veg and the women went on to the movies. We did a spot of thrifting before hand, but two of the three places I mapped were out of business. Boo hoo....Nana found some stuff though!

I had wanted to see The Blindside for quite a while and it did NOT disappoint. Now, I really understood many of the situations with the "friends" that Leanne Tuohy dealt with...and I'm sure some stuff was worse for them being in the South....but I did relate to it all. I remember when family members wouldn't talk to my brother and I even remember a cousin telling him that they couldn't play Frisbee with him because he was a N word. I'm pretty sure that there were much better, more graphic bad things that happened to that family which weren't in the movie version.

I'm okay with Sandra Bullock winning Best Actress. I also think that Gabby Sidibe should have won but the Academy wasn't ready to give the Oscar to a fat, black actress! Sadly...............but still I'm okay with Sandra getting it. I cried during The Blindside.

Well, my dinner has arrived and I'm going to go eat! We're eating Calzones from one of our fav pizza places, http://www.primopizzapasta.com/ . In tonight. Being on vaca is very tiring! Well, I got a Ham & Salami Calzone and it was to DIE FOR! Garlic Cheese Bread!!! Kenna got Quatro Formaggio Pizza (4 cheese) and Mom and Pop shared a Spinach Calzone. Den had Sausage and Peppers Calzone and obviously he's feeling better to eat that!

All this eating makes me sleepy and all this sleeping makes me hungry! (family fun quote)

I have NOT eaten so much in months. Surely, I must walk forever tomorrow to compensate. Too bad the hips are NOT going to agree...they are hurting puppies. Ugh.

I

What to do, what to do...........

Anyone who knows me, knows that I tend to OVER think things. Yes, anxiety is my middle name! Part of my anxious issues includes always having a plan for vacation. I mean planning down to where we eat each meal and what we're doing each day. Well, I'm trying to "live in the moment" and I purposefully haven't planned every tiny detail out this trip! I do have a few dining choices up my sleeve, but otherwise, I'm winging it.

So, therein lies the issue! What should we do today? Well, the only things we bandied about were that Den really wants to tour the USS Midway. My dad thought that sounded good too, as his brother Russ was stationed on the Midway during VN. So the guys are going to do that sometime and my Mom and I wanted to hit all the really cool resale shops around here.....one of my fav's is just off the beach. I am wondering if it's still there.

I don't know when we'll go but I think it will be fun! I am trying hard to "let go...." and I am pretty sure it's not supposed to be a thing you "try" to do!!!! Eh, we shall see.

We're Finally at the Beach!

We woke up after a somewhat noisy night at the La Quinta Irvine, CA. We were quite ready to see some water. After a pretty quick drive we made our way into Oceanside. We decided to find a little beach along this stretch due to the much easier walk to actual beach than the rocky, steep descent that most of Carlsbad has. We were lucky to find parking places right near a public beach entrance. Excitement! Oh, what? No puppies on the beach? Okay.

So Kenna, Daddy and Poppy (other name of Bumpa, Grandpa, Dick) made their way to the shore for a shell-seeking afternoon. Nana and I went to the public dog park across the street. We found a very nice bench and set about making friends with several canines who came to make Syd's (Nana and Poppy's dog) acquaintance. This made Syd's day and Mom and I really enjoyed hanging out watching the birds. There was this really cool bird which looked like some sort of Heron and several really neat looking ducks. All black head and white bill but different than the duck bills I'm familiar with...and all much smaller in size.

We bonded with quite a few ladies on the trail we were near and also bought some Girl Scout cookies from a girl quite close to her 500 box goal. What a terrific idea to bring a wagon full of cookies to a park full of picnics near a bunch of surfers! They were doing a wicked business!

Then off to Sammy's Woodfire Pizza for a "Linner" (lunch/dinner) of yummies. This is one of Den's favorite eating spots here. I think my tastes must have improved from our last visit. It was quite delish this time! We'll probably hit it up again before we leave. Everyone was happy with their meal and we ran the gamut from Salads to Pizza to Wraps.

I'll post more picks on facebook but I've included a few. Kenna and Nana are swimming in the pool and Den is snoring on the couch. Love this family-friendly hotel right down the street from a Porsche dealership with mega million homes surrounding. So wonderful. I really would move here if I hit a Mega Millions lotto myself! This is the shit.