Wednesday was the warmest day of our trip, and we started the day off with a walk. The kids were waking up around 5:30-6:00 each morning, so around 9:00-10:00, Phoebe was generally ready for a little nap. Enzo got to play on a playground and tip toe in the sand while I found shade and let our lady nap on my back.

Wednesday was also the day that Josh and I went whale watching courtesy of my mom and step-dad. We went on a catamaran, which promised to have a really smooth ride that would cause less seasickness, and only held about 6 people. I loved it. There were a few moments where I felt a little fear creep in (hello, out in the ocean on a tiny boat), but overall really enjoyed it. It was a gorgeous day.

Josh also enjoyed it, but more so after he puked and was done being seasick. While the great thing about a catamaran is that you don’t have as many people on the boat, we also didn’t quite as close to the whales as I would have liked and it was really hard to get pictures with the constant movement. It was still an amazing experience, though, and a beautiful day. We were also lucky to have a great captain and friendly passengers with some really good conversations that got me thinking… a lot.

 

Thursday morning brought more exploring, and yummy coffee and treats, but also made it apparent that Enzo was definitely missing his routines and was not getting enough sleep. Phoebe was able to still get her naps in just fine, but Enzo has always been harder to get to sleep anywhere but his bed.

Since the kids had gone to the beach the previous day while we were whale watching, we thought Thursday would be another good day to stay close by and venture out to the pool.  Phoebe was not a fan of the water (it was a tad chilly) and while Enzo did dip his feet, stood on the steps, and let us hold him briefly in the water, he decided that his dream to swim like a turtle could be put off for a while.

With Enzo’s mood being a little off, we found it best to just enjoy the nearby beaches and fantastic weather and just walk around.  Both kids preferred being able to walk everywhere instead of driving around, so the California weather made both of them very happy. Phoebe could often be found running to the door demanding to go somewhere and now knows exactly what “outside” means.

Granted, while there was plenty of time outside, they also made themselves perfectly at home in the rental condo.  We actually rented some things from Toddler’s Travels to make things just a tad easier (booster seats for eating at home, some toys, bed safety rails, etc.).  While we could have probably managed without, it really did make things easier and was totally worth it.

On Friday we went to visit with Randy’s parents – one broken duck and lots of yummy snacks later we headed to a park for Enzo and kind of played the rest of the day by ear.  Our little traveler Phoebe probably would have been up for anything, but poor Enzo was just still not himself after lack of sleep and a disturbed routine.  Saturday brought a busy morning of packing and tidying up, but thankfully we were able to sleep in for quite a while.

We made it through security in great time – hardly any lines anywhere only to find that our flight was delayed half an hour, which thankfully gave us even more time to have lunch and get some wiggles out.  The gates next to ours were completely empty so the kids were free to run and run and run.

The flight home definitely felt longer than the flight to California, but only because Phoebe couldn’t quite get comfortable. Enzo fell asleep on my lap, so of course as soon as that happened, Phoebe decided she needed to be on my lap and we had to keep her from throwing a tiny tantrum and kicking her brother.  Josh ended up walking her around a bit and we did what we could to keep her happy.  No one was happy when we felt that first bit of cold weather, but we all managed to make it home and get to bed at mostly reasonable hours.  The week since has been interesting, but we’re doing what we can to get things back to normal.  Vacation is always so hard to come back from.