What a year this has been. My last blog post was right at the beginning of the first lock down last spring. Since then, we have barely left our little plot of land. And where would we go anyway? Everything is closed. All our plans for travel during normal school breaks were canceled. Germany did really well with wearing masks but the vaccine rollout has been a disaster. None of our family could come here because of border closure, but America has to let us in because we're citizens, so we went! We had a two week spring break coming up so we went for it and got tickets for myself and the boys to visit my family in California. Marc had a work workshop in Belgium so he couldn't come.
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| Jonah was packed and ready a week before departure. |
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| Quality time with Miss Maisie May before leaving. A dog-sitter came for five days before Marc came home. She survived. |
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| The hardest part of travel is the waiting. |
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| The layover in Denver kept getting longer and longer. We finally took off when we should have been landing in San Diego. |
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| Poor, tired kids. |
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| We arrived Saturday evening and Sunday morning I was off to see my two crushes, Trader Joe and Jorge of Jorge's Mexican Food. Both never fail to make me very, very happy. |
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| My mom put the boys to work right away for a family party. |
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| Smoking a rolled taco and drinking kombucha, as you do. |
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| We can't get over the sun being out. Its been the grayest spring in Germany. |
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| One of the highlights of the trip was being able to finally get the COVID vaccine! |
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| We met my uncle and the oldest baby cousin for a lovely breakfast. |
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| We missed my aunt and the other two baby cuzzies. |
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| He's one funny guy. |
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| The boys were so excited to climb on such a big truck. |
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| The San Diego Zoo! |
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| My in-laws drove out from AZ to spend the day at the zoo and then dinner at Fidel's! |
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| They had such a nice time. |
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| Hot cocoa at Nonny's is always a big deal. |
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| My friend got this Irish Cream Golden Retriever puppy named Luna and I CANNOT not get enough of her. I came very close to puppy-napping her as my emotional support animal for the flight home. She told me I'm her favourite auntie!! |
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| We had some sunny days but mostly it was the typical marine layer for May/June. |
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| And 100% the most fun night of my life for at least the past two years was a rockin' evening out with my gals at Herb & Sea in Encinitas!! |
I have literally done nothing with anyone for one and a half years in my very small, sleepy village and to come here and see so many people out having fun felt amazing. Everyone wore a mask indoors or while walking through an area and the vaccine has been available here for a long time. I wish we could have stayed all night.
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| They claimed it was my birthday (false) but it is only a few weeks away (June 11) and said it was because we're never together for my actual birthday. So sweet. |
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| The chef was strolling around and somehow we got a picture with him. I had no idea at the time but apparently he's famous from Top Chef and kind of a big deal. And, yes, the food was BLAMAZING. |
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| More beach time. Tobin really loved the boogie board. |
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| This beach is so iconic. |
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| Much In-n-Out was consumed. |
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| My sister's yard has a bunch of fruit trees including a mulberry... bush? Tree? I've never had these before but I for sure ate my weight. They are so good! |
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| We went to the Hotel del Coronado for dinner and it was chilly but lots of fun. |
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| The baboons love climbing rocks! |
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| We ordered this fun cocktail in a pitcher. |
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| Everyone's-favorite-cousin, Paulette, came to town and treated us all to a fabulous dinner! She told the boys "get whatever you want" and they did. |
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| Jonah hoarding the floaties in the community pool. |
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| We walked around my old high school and it was so weird like the ghosts of high school past. Some parts have changed and other parts look exactly like they did in the 90s. |
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| I will always say yes to treatments, procedures, surgeries, and creamings. |
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| Sister Lisa and an afternoon of lawn games, lemonade, and more mulberries for me. |
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| Muther |
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| Father lurking |
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| At Baby Luna's house with our friends. |
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| Naughty Baby Luna who has my permission to do whatever she wants. |
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| She's so FLUFFY!! |
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| Last stop at an old original. |
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| Another curb-side goodbye. |
This trip was so needed. It felt like normal life again. The food, the sand, the water, the friends, the family, and even the air made me feel like a new person. I can't wait to go back again. 💘San Diego💋
