We're Back!

...and "What We Did, Part 1"

We haven't taken such a long vacation since we've had kids...it was only 9 days, but it seemed longer. We started with a trip to Santa Barbara where we met up with Tom's sister, Patrice, at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Patrice wanted to have a date with Lukas, so the two of them explored the zoo together, and Tom, Doris, Natalie, Konrad and I were in another group (hence, no pictures of Lukas at the zoo).

First of all, thanks to everyone for your kind comments on our "Somewhere in Time" series while we were gone. I did get to enjoy your comments a few times during the trip, but either because of slow dial-up speed or not wanting to log in at a hotel, I didn't reply to your comments. I loved putting that series together, because I don't go back and remember the way they were enough!

Secondly, the Santa Barbara Zoo rocks...it has the quality of the San Diego Zoo, on a smaller scale. But lions, giraffes, gorillas...those are some good animals! Natalie's favorite was the gorilla (her favorite animal to sign, and she says it a little). Unfortunately, the gorilla was hiding (probably too many people making direct eye contact), so she posed with the gorilla in the mural. Konrad loved the birds and the elephants.

That night, we stayed in San Luis Obispo, then drove to Morro Rock the next morning for playtime. Here's a video that gives the atmosphere: you can hear the sea gulls and Lukas, and that's Natalie saying, "cheese" because she thinks Tom is taking a picture of her. What you don't see are the seals and pelicans.



Next we drove a little south to Montano de Oro. It's a beautiful hike along the coast to some great tide pools. We saw a starfish in the wild for the first time, and lots of different kinds of crabs. It had been a while since we'd carried the kids in the backpacks, and Natalie is now a little large for the pack and works her way out of the straps. I didn't realize she was out of her straps when she had her head up next to mine, but thankfully someone else noticed it...we eventually crossed the straps and attached them to her clothes to keep her from working her way out.

The other challenge the whole trip was all of us recovering from colds. We actually left a day later than we'd planned because of colds. Natalie is showing off her snotty nose, accessorized with sand from Montano de Oro (the sand was very coarse, like crushed sea shells).

After a picnic lunch at Montano de Oro, we took off for another great California vacation spot: the Sierra Nevadas. We took too many pictures to share in one post, so we'll be sharing them over the next few days...stay tuned!