Placerville photos

Fifty hours off the grid. No cell phone, no email, no internet, no television, no radio. You might wonder how we survived.

We prepared and ate lots of delicious food. Grilled chicken three ways: on a kabob, in a pita and on a salad. Grilled veggies, noodle salad, watermelon, shrimp tacos with crispy fried taco shells. Ice cream. Yummy yum yum.

We played Pictionary and gossiped and shared parenting tips. We swam, then dried off, then swam some more. Several naps were had by all. And then I took some pictures.

I had a lot of fun playing with my Canon Rebel that Mitch gave me a couple of years ago. I’m taking a photography class now and I’m re-learning how to shoot with manual setting. I didn’t take any shots of the landscape. Being that it is high summer, everything is kind of dead looking. I’ll focus on landscapes next time we’re up there. It will be so beautiful in the fall when all the leaves on the oak trees turn colors.

I wanted to do some night photography, using a technique I learned in my photo class, but we happened to have a full moon that weekend, and the sky was too bright. Hopefully, next time I’ll have a little less light so I can play around.

I did portraits, both posed and candid. I’m really happy with how everything turned out. I’m really getting the depth of field thing down, but still need some practice.

On Sunday, we woke to an overcast sky and a break in the heat. After breakfast, we decided to take advantage of the cooler weather and go for a walk on the property. As we were walking back to the house, there was a loud crack and then the sky lit up with lightening. It was awesome. Izzy didn’t think so though. She ran back to me and hugged my leg because she was scared. She wanted me to pick her up, but just then, the rain started. The drops were huge and I had my camera with me. I had to protect the camera from the rain, so I shoved it down the front of my dress. Mas was so sweet, he came running out with a plastic bag for the camera, but didn’t find us on the lower trail. Sarah comforted Izzy, and helped her walk back home.

Izzy definitely didn’t like the thunder and lightening, and I was getting a little nervous about being in the forest, so we high-tailed it back to the house. On our way home, a couple of young bucks crossed our path. It was so great to see them that close up.

We saw lots of wild life while we were there: a flock of turkeys, a doe and her fawn, quail, vultures, lizards, spiders. And we heard lots and lots of braying hound dogs.

I think one of the best parts about being in Placerville was the freedom the kids had to come and go from the house. Izzy went to the front yard, came back in the house and then headed out to the back yard, playing her little made up games or sitting in the dirt having her daily dust bath. It was the first time I’ve ever allowed her to be out of my sight. It felt really weird at first, then I got comfortable with it. It also helped knowing that there were three other adults and Bella helping to keep an eye on the kids.

All in all, it was a magical weekend and I’m looking forward to our next trip up there.

First up, these adorable outfits made from patterns found on the Internet. The kimono top pattern is from Habitual, and the yoga pants pattern came from Mani Mina. (I also just bought her kimono jacket and spring dresss patterns too).

This one is for Izzy:

This on is for Anneke:

The Black Apple is one of my favorite artists on Etsy. I’ve been following her career since Etsy was still in beta. I love her work. Mitch gave me one of her prints for Christmas this year and I love it. The Black Apple appeared on the Martha Stewart show showing the audience how to sew her signature dolls. She also gave the pattern away on Martha’s site.

Here are my renditions–the blond for Anneke and the brunette fir Izzy. I also made matching purses using a pattern that I designed.

Finally, I made no see tutus for the girls. These were super easy to make. Just measure out some elastic to fit the waist. Secure the ends an then tie strips of tulle all the way around.

I made everything with the supplies I already had on hand except for the tutus. I had to buy tulle and elastic, but that only cost about $5 each.

Here’s Izzy wearing everything at once.

Mitch bought me a super fancy flash for my camera. I’m able to bounce light around at will and I’m so surprised at how awesome my photos are coming out. No more harsh shadows screwing up my perfect shots.

Izzy is practicing dressing herself a lot these days. I leave a bunch of clothes for her in her bottom dresser drawer that she pulls out and attempts to put on. One day, we had our laundry bag packed and waiting in the foyer. Izzy was able to reaj through the gate and rifle through the bag. She pulled out a few things and got busy trying to put them on. She has one each of my and Mitch’s socks on her legs. She’s got a pair of my underwear hanging around her knees, and she grabbed another one of my really long socks and wrapped it around her neck like a scarf. She’s quite the fashion plate, dontcha think?

And finally, since there is still a kitties component to this blog, albeit not as robust as the kid part, here is a fabulous photo of Izzy’s feline boyfriend, Kirby. Isn’t he just the best?

The day started off great! I made a double batch of Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal–one without nuts for the girls and one with nuts for us. It was delicious! I cleaned up the kitchen, and packed Izzy up for a trip to the neighborhood park and we headed out for an hour or so.

Izzy had a great time playing on the slides and swing. We had a snack of cheese sticks and I noticed she was getting a little sleepy. I popped her into the stroller and we headed home. We’d only gotten as far as one block before she fell asleep. I texted Mitch and asked him to prep her from for transition. It went seamlessly. (Thank you for a two hour nap!)

Off to the kitchen to make side dish and dessert.

I decided to make Creamy Pumpkin Pasta for my side dish to take to the Thanksgiving potluck at Cafe Royale. I was feeling ambitious, so I also decided to make an Apple Gingerbread Upside Down Cake since I happened to have all the ingredients on hand. In fact, I made a double batch so I could take another one over to Chuck and Mo’s when I stopped by their place for a second round of dessert. Herein, lies where everything goes slightly awry.

I started with the Apple Gingerbread Upside Down Cake. Everything was going well, but I was a little worried about the timing for baking. Despite living in this apartment for over a year, I’m still discovering the nuances of cooking with my beautiful vintage Wedgewood stove. The heat is really inconsistent, so baking is always a crap shoot. The recipe calls for 45-50 minutes at 325 degrees. Yeah, that didn’t work out so well. I had to put it in 30 minutes longer. In the meantime, I’ve started the Creamy Pumpkin Pasta recipe.

All at once, Izzy wakes up from her nap and is screaming bloody murder, the phone is ringing, Mitch is hollering about something, the timer went off for the cakes and I’m about to burn the turkey sausage. I’m on the verge of losing my cool at this point. Oh, wait, I think I did lose my cool. I’m pretty sure I started hollering back at Mitch over the cacophony of our screaming child. Oh yeah, and we’re already 25 minutes late to dinner.

Suddenly, there was peace. Mitch hung up the phone, Izzy stopped screaming, I stopped cursing the interruptions. I didn’t burn the turkey sausage, but momentarily forgot that the timer went off for the cakes. And then I smelled them. GAH! I pulled them out right away and noticed that one of the cakes (on the bottom shelf) came out perfect and the other cake (on the top shelf) came out burnt. Bummer.

We got packed up and headed out to the Cafe, and then I realized I forgot to make the whipped cream. Double bummer. Now what am I going to do with all that heavy cream? Make ice cream of course!

We got to the party in one piece (luckily we only had to travel as far as across the street) and in good spirits. The pasta and cake were the hit of the party, if I don’t say so myself. Those recipes will definitely make repeat appearances.

Oh, and the burnt cake? We started nibbling on it last night. It’s that good.

The party was a lot of fun. It was a great evening surrounded by wonderful friends. I’m truly blessed to have this life.

The congestion lightened up just a tad on Sunday and she seemed restless, so I took her to the park so she could run around a bit, but she didn’t have any interest in doing anything. She just wanted to be held and cuddled, so we went back home.

Mitch took her to the park today with the same results, so he came back home. I gave her a hug and noticed she was warm. She had a low grade fever–the first I know of. Poor little thing was so unhappy. I gave her dose of infant motrin, and she was doing much better within the half hour.

When I put her down tonight, her congestion seemed to be clearing up. She fell asleep easily and wasn’t snoring too much. I think the worst of it is over. I hope so, anyway. It just pains me to see her uncomfortable like that and I can’t seem to do anything to make it better. I think we’re on the downhill now, and hope she’ll have kicked this thing by tomorrow.

Mitch caught her bug too. He’s been fighting a fever off and on as well as congestion and aches. I’m escaping unscathed so far, and hope I can maintain my luck. I have a huge project due on 12/1 at work, and our aggressive launch schedule doesn’t have allowances for illness.

There was a lot to do at Arata Farm in a surprisingly small space. You could rent out picnic areas, there was a small train ride, a hay ride, haunted house, hay bale maze, sword fighting show, bounce house, barbecue. You name it, they had it. Except for clean bathrooms. They didn’t have those.

We walked around the property a bit after the petting zoo and took some amazing photos of our beautiful kid.

Izzy spent several minutes trying to move and pick up this pumpkin.

When she got really frustrated, I helped her find a pumpkin just her size.

Here’s Izzy and her Children of the Corn moment.

Awesome family day out and about.

Man, we need to get a modeling contract for this kid. She looks really commercial in this photo, but I think she has the potential for high fashion. Look at her eyes! She’s smizing. Tyra would be proud.

We were walking around the pumpkin farm, and I was thinking to myself…You know what this place really needs? A giant metal, rust covered gorilla. And like I said earlier, this place has EVERYTHING (except clean bathrooms)!

We stopped by the bounce house when we first arrived and tossed Izzy in there. She wasn’t interested, so we pulled her back out. There was a climbing structure with slides and bridges that she was more interested in, so we took her to that instead. Later into our visit, we went back to the bounce house and threw her back in.

She was having a really good time. There were two adorable little girls, sisters, showing Izzy how to have fun in the bounce house. The three of them were great. Then a bunch of rowdy boys showed up and it was absolute mayhem. The older girl was protecting Izzy from the roughhousing until I could get in there and pull her out. There was another little girl about Izzy’s age that I rescued while I was in the house. I have a feeling if Izzy sees one of these again, she’s going to scream to get in.

It was time to pick out pumpkins. I didn’t want any of the big ones from the patch. Not going to deal with carving this year, so I sat Izzy down while I looked through their smaller pumpkins and gourds. They had some really neat looking pumpkins. I wanted to take more photos, but my camera battery died.

Izzy has been incredibly affectionate lately. She picked up this ear of corn, cradled it and gave it a hug.

Here’s my selection of pumpkins and gourds.

I should have gone to bed hours ago. I can’t believe it’s 1:00 in the morning. I’m going to pay for it tomorrow when Izzy wakes up bright and early. I won’t be able to sleep in tomorrow because my friend Kevin is coming over to show me how to make homemade fresh mozzarella. A few years ago, we attempted to make cheese several times with one mildly successful batch. He took a class recently at Urban Kitchen and now understands where we went wrong on all of our other attempts. I’m so excited about the prospect of finally getting this thing done right!

We went to the Academy of Sciences today with Grandma Judy. We found the secret little kids room, and popped inside. It was totally awesome! There was so much fun stuff for kids! I know where we’re going to spend every rainy Sunday morning this winter. (Allyson: Let me know if you and Anneke would like to join us. We’re members and we can all get in for free!)

There was a play house, a tree, a pond and best of all a sailboat complete with a galley. Izzy went straight to the galley and started whipping up tasty treats for all to enjoy.

We absolutely have to get her this play kitchen from Ikea for Christmas.

There was a tray full of plastic bugs to play with.

Izzy and Grandma Judy played with puzzles.

Izzy wore her fabulous new dress from Elena today. It was adorable and she’s such a little girl–loves to wear dresses. She looks kind of pissed off in this photo, but she wasn’t. She was just trying to figure out how to step down off the curb and in to the grass.

We ate dinner on the back patio and then gave Izzy a bath. Finally exhausted and feeling some relief from a combo of homeopathic and pharmacuetical remedies, she fell asleep. We missed the fireworks. Thankfully, she slept through all of the noise.

I woke around 8:30 this morning, and read in bed while Mitch and Izzy continued to sleep. I heard Mitch mumble something so I turned to look at him. He was talking in his sleep. Izzy, lying next to him, must have heard his voice because the corners if her lips curled up into a smile. I wonder if they were in the same dream.

I got up with her and let Mitch sleep in being as it is Father’s Day and all. We hung out in her room for most of the morning, playing with her toys and reading books.

When Mitch woke up, we were going to go out for breakfast, but he asked that I make fritatta at home instead. I used grated zucchini and pepper jack cheese. It was delish.

We were going to go for a walk and take Izzy to the park, but I wasn’t feel all that great, so I lounged in bed for a little while. We were all hungry again so I got up and made a late lunch.

I feel rather fortunate that Isadora didn’t inherit my tendency to be a picky eater. I can slap a bunch of morsels on her high chair tray and she’ll plow through it all. Her lunch today included cream cheese on half a slice of wheat bread, a slice of chicken breast, a stick of cheddar cheese, 1/4 of an avocado, 1/3 of a steamed carrot, 1/2 of a plum, and 1/2 of an apricot. She ate most of it and washed it down with a cup of water.

She still refuses all milk (cow, soy, rice) except for breast milk. I don’t know how I’m going to wean her if I can’t get her to drink something else. I warm it up, keep it ice cold, serve it in a bottle, in a sippy cup, with a straw. I’ve tried every combination imaginable. I’ve even tried fruit smoothies without luck. I’m going to try goat milk next weekend. I haven’t tried formula in a while either. I just might give that a shot too.

There wasn’t much I needed to do to make today special for Mitch. He is easy to please–a nap and some alone time to play video games is all it takes to make him happy. So that’s what he got today.

At 5:00 we were finally ready for our walk. It was a beautiful day, and we still had plenty of time to enjoy the sunshine since it was the longest day if the year.

We ran a couple of mundane errands and then stopped in Union Square to play on the grass with Izzy. She just loves to be outside when there are a lot of people and animals around. She had fun crawling around and pointing at all of the dogs and birds. I also helped her toddle around a bit. She’s so close to walking. It’s going to happen any day now.

We stopped at the bookstore on our way home and picked up a couple of new titles then headed home.

I was going to cook dinner, but we stopped in at Cafe Royale first. It was Sunday night jazz and a lot of our friends were there. The band was great and playing at a volume that was mostly okay for baby ears. There was another kid close to Izzy’s age and they made friends immediately.

We got a drink and Izzy was passed around to charm and amaze all who gazed upon her.

The daylight fooled me–it was Izzy’s bedtime and we still hadn’t eaten yet. Cooking was out of the question so I picked up dinner at Thai Stick. It was Isadora’s first (direct) introduction to yellow curry. She loved it, but was too tired to stay awake and eat it. She kept nodding off in mid chew. I just let her go to sleep in her chair. I cleaned off her face and hands, fished any remaining food out of her mouth and put her to bed after I changed her into PJs.

After dinner, Mitch and I powered through the house to get it ready for the week ahead the dishes are done, the clothes are folded, the trash and recycling are taken downstairs. Bring on the new week!

I’m lying in bed watching Mitch play video games on his (NEW!) iPhone. He doesn’t even know that I’m staring at him thinking that is the most awesome husband in the world. He is my rock and keeps me grounded when external forces are working against me. He makes me laugh every day, several times a day. Mitch is smart as a whip and has a sensitive side that makes my heart melt. Mitch is the only person with whom I could have ever imagined having a baby and raising a family.

He is such an amazing dad to our daughter. He engages her and also let’s her have plenty of free time to explore on her own. He lets her take risks that I never would–and she needs that. He loves her with all his heart, and you can see it when he looks at her and hear it when he talks to her. I appreciate everything he does for her, for me and for us.

Happy Father’s Day Mitch. Izzy and I love you!

We went on our first family vacation together last week to San Diego. We flew down on Monday afternoon on Virgin America–best airline ever. I hope they expand their route service because I don’t want to fly anyone else. Why, you ask? Well, customer service is bar none. I called a few days before our flight to book our seats. Virgin America couldn’t find our reservation. I made them through Expedia, so I got of the phone with VA and called Expedia to find out what the problem was. While I was on hold with Expedia, a Virgin America rep called me back to tell me she found my reservation. Expedia combined our first, middle and last names so it was hard to find in the VA system. Talk about service! She kept looking for me and she didn’t have too. She could have just given me the brush off and let me deal with the hassle with Expedia. The other reason–WiFi! It kept Mitch busy and happy.

The rep booked us in an aisle and a window seat with the hopes that the flight wouldn’t fill up and we could use the middle seat for Isadora for free. Good intentions, but the plan didn’t work out. Both legs of the flight were pretty full, so we had to have Izzy sit on our laps. It wasn’t too bad actually. I bought some new little toys for her that she hadn’t seen before the flight, so they kept her busy for the most part. I also came prepared for the pressure changes and brought a bag full of wet wash clothes. As soon as Isadora started to tug on her ear, I gave her a soggy cloth for her to suck on. She was swallowing the water from the cloth and relieving the pressure in her ears. When she grew tired of the cloths, I stuck a boob in her mouth and that kept her distracted long enough to get through the pressure change.

I didn’t realize that we were traveling to San Diego on the off-season, which now explains why we got such a great rate on the room. I had originally booked a room in the tower of the Hilton Resort on Mission Bay because it was pretty cheap. When we finally made it to the hotel (Rental process at Avis took forever! So banal I won’t even describe it here), we were fried and just wanted to check in to our room and unwind. The clerk told us we couldn’t check in until 4:00. It was 3:30. Bummer. I asked if we could have early check in and he said he could not accommodate. I’m getting a little feisty, but simmer down quickly. I tell him we’ll go have drink at the bar and will be back at 4:00.

We got a glass of wine and some nibbles–a chicken quesadilla and some tuna tartar (delish, BTW). I went back to the front desk around 4:45. Still, the room wasn’t ready. The clerk said to wait 15 more minutes. I had a full belly and a rosy glow from the wine, so I acquiesced. Mitch and I were waiting with Izzy outside in the patio. A young woman stopped by and started to fawn all over the baby. She was giving Isadora keys and her blackberry and won her heart quickly. I didn’t pay attention to the time and 30 minutes passed.

Another trip to the counter only to find out that the room still wasn’t ready. I explained to the clerk that I had been rather patient while waiting for my room over two hours and I wasn’t going to wait any longer. He needed to provide a room right now and I expected it to be an upgrade from what I ordered at no additional cost. I got it. And a handful of coupons to use at the hotel restaurant.

The room was awesome. Bigger than our living room, with a king sized bed, a comfy reading chair and ottoman, a huge TV (we never watched it though). It also had a sunken sitting area with small love seat and wet bar. Just beyond that, a private lanai. Cushy! We checked the room for hazards and put outlet covers in the exposed sockets and let Isadora have free roam. She taught herself how to crawl up and down the stairs. It was pretty cute!

The first travel day was tiring and we all went to bed by 10:00.

All praise to black out curtains!

Isadora slept in each day on vacation between 8:00 and 9:30–and that’s having at least one good nap during the day, and bedtime by 9:00. We all slept so good due to those blackout curtains. I’m going to get some for home.

When we woke up on Tuesday and drove out to Belmont Park for breakfast. We went to Wave House for breakfast. They advertised “Best Breakfast on the Beach.” I would hate to have had the second best breakfast on the beach because the food/service here was craptastic. No wonder they only got a 2 1/2 star rating on Yelp. I will be adding (subtracting?) to that soon with a one star rating. No need to go in to detail here.

After breakfast we walked from Belmont Park north to the pier just off Garnet Avenue. Isadora was awake for some of our stroll, napped for most, then woke up again towards the end.

It was a great walk, about four miles round trip. We enjoyed some of the beach house architecture along the way and enjoy making fun of the ugly cottages even more. It was fun sharing the path with other people strolling leisurely by foot. There were plenty of bicyclists, skateboards and rollerbladers dodging in and around the throng of casual walkers.

We made our way back to the hotel after the walk and changed into our suits. We took Isadora to the pool and splashed about even though it was a bit on the chilly side–maybe 72 and overcast. The water was cool, but not intolerable. After a bit, we hopped in to the hot tub to warm up.

Mitch was going a little stir crazy with the lack of internets in our room, so Izzy and I went back to dry off and rest while Mitch pointed and clicked to his heart’s content on the free WiFi down by the pool. We packed Izzy up and went to dinner at Margo’s Mexican Grill. It got decent ratings on Yelp, so we figured we couldn’t go wrong. We didn’t the food was great and the margarita was better. Izzy slept through the entire meal. We transferred her back to the car and got to the hotel. She woke up briefly for a quick bath, but was settle back into her crib and asleep right away.

Another slow morning for waking up. I’m pretty sure this was the day we slept in until 9:30. Awesome. We strolled to the hotel restaurant and stuffed ourselves at the all you can eat buffet. Izzy ate blueberries until she was blue in the face. I also let her have a taste of pancake. It was your standard, nothing to write home about, fare. After we stuffed ourselves, we packed up and headed to the San Diego Zoo.

I’ve heard great things about this zoo, and they were all true. We went to the children’s zoo first. The exhibits were laid out nicely, allowing Isadora to peek at the animals while still in her stroller. Being able to leave her in the stroller was definitely a back saver for us parents. At the end there was a petting zoo with goats and sheep. The petting zoo set up is pretty awesome. There is a covered, chained off area in the back. The animals are free to come and go, but people are not allowed to cross the chain and bother the animals. If the critters don’t want their ears pulled and eyes poked by uncoordinated babies they can go hide out as long as they want to.

The sheep never ventured out while we were there, but there were three or four goats who would come out and get some loves and then head back into the chained off area for a snack (we also were not allowed to feed the animals). Izzy squealed with delight when a goat approached her. She grabbed him around the neck and gave him a hug. Then she kissed him. Or at least I hope it was a kiss. She’s been a little bitey lately.

We thought about grabbing a bite to eat at the zoo, but the prices are so inflated and we already spent $32 each to get in (I had a $3 coupon), we decided to go back to the hotel to eat. Since we had a refrigerator in the room, we went to Whole Foods the night before and stocked up on some fruit, yogurt and other snacks. We had some nibbles and got changed. We were going to go swimming, but a friend I haven’t seen in years met me at the hotel. Bekka and I went to the bar for a glass of wine while Mitch and Izzy made their rounds in the pool and hot tub.

I had a great visit with Bekka. She’s a lot of fun and a total crack up. I realized how much I missed working with her, but was glad that we were able to reconnect. I hope to see her again soon.

Mitch took Izzy back to the room and got her bathed and changed and came to the bar to enjoy a glass of Zin. Bekka and I said our farewells, and then the family headed out to dinner at the Bay Park Fish Company as recommended by Elena. We had awesome fish tacos and Mitch had a mediocre glass of Malbec. Isadora, the saint baby, slept through the entire meal. Was easily transferred back to car, and then crib at hotel. Another early night for us too.

Our last full day in San Diego was unplanned. Mitch really wanted to go to LegoLand, but I was trying to convince him that it wouldn’t be fun for Isadora–just a bunch of stroller rides back and forth with nothing age appropriate for her. It wouldn’t be fun for me either as I had just thrown out my back the day before while tossing Isadora in the air. I didn’t want to spend another day on my feet. I wasn’t winning the argument though. And then, I threw down my trump card: the entrance fee was $65 per person. That got him. In all honesty, I really want Mitch to go to LegoLand. I know he will enjoy it. I promise we’ll go next summer when Izzy is a little older, and I’m less hobbled.

We started out like the day before, stuffing ourselves on hotel buffet. We were walking back to the hotel trying to figure out what we would do for the day when I spotted a little shack on the beach with bicycles lined up next to it. I approached and realized it was a rental shop. Yay! We were outfitted with two beach cruisers; Mitch’s had a trailer attached for Isadora to ride along. We rode north as far as we could, and then got lost in the bleakest trailer park I’ve ever seen. We finally found freedom and I was so relieved. I was beginning to go stir crazy looking at one sad, run down mobile home after another. I didn’t see any people which was quite odd. I was starting to wonder if the place was inhabited by zombies and we had the good fortune of getting lost during the daylight hours when they were too afraid of the sun to come out and eat our brains. But I digress.

Mitch, being the sound navigator that he is, got us out of there before panic truly set in. We were back on the path south towards the hotel. There are acres and acres of parkland north and south of the hotel. We pulled over to one of the play areas to push Izzy in a swing. I don’t think she’s too impressed with swings.

We were done with our bike adventure and dropped them off at the rental shack. We discussed earlier about hiring a babysitter so we could go sailing or ride jet skis. I picked the Hilton specifically because they claimed to offer babysitting services. They don’t really provide babysitting services; they provide a telephone number of a woman who will come to your room and babysit. There is a three hour minimum at $17. We passed.

Wondering what to do next, we spotted a little shack out on a pier. We approached and lo and behold, it is the watersports rental shop. Mitch inquired about an 18′ sailboat, and the next thing I know, the three of us are on a little tour of the cove. I was really scared. The only thing I know about sailing is that the boats often tip over. I don’t know how to swim very well, so that had me terrified. Good thing I was so terrified, because it kept the seasickness at bay.

Mitch is a great sailor, and I was slowly becoming comfortable with the ride. In fact, there were several points during the trip where I downright enjoyed myself. I promised Mitch we can go sailing again. We returned the boat, and hopped into the pool.

It was time for dinner and we went to Hash House A Go Go. The server advised us that we ordered too much food, but we were starving and couldn’t make choices. The Caesar salad was great! The sweet onion rings with chipotle sauce were divine. We could have shared a single entree, but we wanted different things. Mitch got the meatloaf with horseradish mashed potatoes. He was in love. I got the chicken and waffles with maple reduction sauce. Mitch was in love again. So was I. It was amazing. I wish I was able to bring it home with me. We were slightly disappointed that we ordered too much food when we heard what was on the dessert menu–snickers bread pudding! We almost ordered it, but decided against it. We cut our evening of gluttony short. Hash House has been around for a while. It’ll be there when we go back. Oh yeah, Izzy slept all through this meal too!

Time to go home, so we packed up our suitcases and checked out of the hotel. We had some time before our flight took off, so we stopped by Mission Beach to play in the sand for a while. Izzy had fun putting disgusting things into her mouth. I had an adventure jamming my finger between her lips to dig out what ever she just crammed in there. Fun times.

We made it to the airport, dropped off the rental and checked our luggage. Izzy was mellow the whole time. Our flight was delayed, and I started to get antsy. I was ready to be back home. I was really missing the kitties. We finally boarded the flight and had an easy, albeit crowded, flight home. We picked up our suitcases and hopped on the parking shuttle back to our lovely little Prius. What a delightful car to drive after four days in that janky POS from Avis. A quick jaunt on the freeway and we were home in a matter of minutes (thank you I280).

As much as we loved our vacation, we love coming back home even more.