Kelocity.com

A runner with an appetite for adventure!

Weekend at Avila Beach July 30, 2012

Filed under: Baby,Beach,California,Family — Kelocity @ 12:11 pm
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This weekend marked Adele’s second weekend getaway! This time, we headed up the coast to Avila Beach (about 2.5 hours North of Los Angeles). We left after her first feeding in the morning and she slept the whole way up! It’s a gorgeous drive along the ocean and then through Santa Barbara. We love it up there. When we arrived, we found the weather was a good 20* cooler than in LA! Hooray for long sleeves and pants!
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We call this the ‘sleeping touchdown’!

Although we always get excited to leave town for a weekend, our primary motivation was to introduce Adele to Irving’s Aunt and Uncle, Jake and Janie! I think it was love at first sight!
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She was such a good girl, showing off her good behavior and hamming it up for them. After we settled in for a bit, we headed into downtown Avila for lunch. We landed at the Custom House and it did not disappoint.
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Adele let us eat quietly and then decided she wanted to join in on the fun too. It’s amazing to me that even at seven weeks old, she still wants to be a part of the action and she doesn’t want to miss anything! She’s always looking around, trying to take in as much as she can.  
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After lunch, we walked the boardwalk back to the hotel. It was a gorgeous day.
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A little too hot to sit outside in the sun, but a walk was perfect.
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Baby’s first time seeing the Ocean!
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Hi Jake and Daddy! I think they had fun pushing Adele down the pier. She loved the bumps and it put her to sleep!
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After we walked for a bit, I indulged in a Snow Cone!!!! I had been craving one of these for weeks!! Mmmm!
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What a gorgeous weekend for the beach! So perfect. We are so lucky we live close enough to visit here!
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Someday, you can play in the sand with all the other kids, Adele. You will LOVE it!
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Back in the hotel, we rested up, and some of us took a nap. (Again, she preferred the giant bed!) This picture cracks me up. A big fluffy bed, curtains billowing in the wind, and the ocean and palm trees right out the window. She is seriously spoiled!
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We took cues from the baby and made it an early night. Adele usually sleeps in her crib in her own room at home, but that night, she stayed in the same room as us in the hotel. We heard every little coo and sigh and she kept waking us up, but she did sleep for 8 solid hours, so we really can’t complain.  Ok, I know, we REALLY can’t complain.
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In the morning, we all headed out on a sunrise walk along a bike trail nearby. It was so great! We covered about three miles total.
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After that, we stopped at a deli to grab some breakfast. Adele again charmed our audience. She makes the funniest faces!
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The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out, feeding the baby, and reading stories.
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—->Insert Nap here!

(haha costume change!)
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Once Adele had a full tummy and had almost fallen asleep, it was time to hit the road back to LA.
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We had an awesome time and were very sad to be leaving so soon. Thanks J&J for inviting us up!
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The drive back started out really great. Not too much traffic, XM radio blasting, and cool air breezing through the sun roof.
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But let me just give you the bullet point list of how the rest of it went:

  • Baby starts crying 1 hour into the drive. Pull over at rest stop to feed her.
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  • Baby goes back into the car seat
  • We hit CRAAAZZZY Traffic on the highway
  • Baby starts crying… but we’re not moving!
  • Baby starts screaming bloody murder in that “why-do-you-hate-me” kind of wail.
  • We get off at the next possible exit… which is FIVE MILES ahead! And we’re maybe moving 2 miles an hour. Maybe.
  • Finally get off the highway and pull into a gas station. Adele has pooped….EVERYWHERE. And I’d already used up my ‘emergency onsie’. Mom Fail.
  • Clean up baby best we can… feed her a little more.
  • Pacifier falls onto the ground at the gas station. Ahhh Mom Fail. AGAIN! No pacifier for you, baby girl! grrr.
  • Put white noise on in the car… baby finally falls asleep.
  • Arrive home 2.5 hours later than originally planned.
  • …..but once we all go to sleep at home… Adele slept for 9 HOURS straight. That’s my girl Alls well that ends well, right?

Totally worth it though. It was an awesome weekend!
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An Easter Getaway April 25, 2011

Filed under: California,Family,Travel — Kelocity @ 8:53 pm
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This weekend, Irving and I headed up to the California Central Coast for a little Easter Getaway. We stayed in Avila Beach, which is about three hours north of Los Angeles. Along the way, we stopped at Pea Soup Andersen’s! I’ve been wanting to stop there for ages!!
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It’s a California Road Trip destination and they’re known for…. Pea Soup!
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It was far too early in the morning to enjoy any soup, but we had fun looking around the gift shop and buying some canned soup for later. I’m sure it’s not quite as good, but we couldn’t resist. This is what we’ll look like when we cook the soup! BAHAHA!
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We “conveniently” saw the LuggageBase.com store along the route (turns out Irving mapped it ahead of time and was planning on stopping all along!) This is the website where we buy all of our luggage and travel gear from. Great prices, fast shipping and good people. It’s always nice to put a face to an online retailer. It’s just a family owned company who started a business that just happens to be on the web. We forget sometimes that online companies can be mom and pop shops sometimes. It was really nice to visit. We bought a few things while we were in there too.
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When we finally pulled in to Avila Beach, we went for a walk to explore.
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The beach was really pretty and not too crowded. I never put my toes in the water, but it looked really nice.
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The boardwalk area was really beautiful. It’s all relatively new, and commercially untouched. So refreshing coming from LA.
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There are three main piers and we walked to the end of each of them. We didn’t have much of an agenda on Saturday, so it was nice to just walk, chat and relax.

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From the end, we got a good glimpse of our hotel for the night too. So pretty up on the cliffs.
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Wait for it…. Ready….

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It just felt right….
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Under the pier is a second level, and you could see starfish clinging to the posts! So weird!
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My date for the weekend life!
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Our walk continued along the bay.

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We saw a sign for “BJ’s Restaurant” and I’m like “YAY! PAZOOKI!” But alas, that was not the case. at all.
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But we did find Sea Lions hanging out under that pier! You could get really close to them too!
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Later that night, we met up with Jake and Janie (Irving’s aunt and uncle, whom we haven’t seen in a year!!) It was so nice spending some time with them again! While we caught up and chatted, we baked some Easter Treats in the hotel.
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PS. How scary does the dough boy look?!
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Before…
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After!
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We enjoyed the cookies while looking at the ocean from our room.
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After our snack, we headed out for some more coastal exploring. First stop was Pismo Beach.
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There was a pretty wedding going on too! We stopped to listen to the vows. Creepers!
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Look! A mom, dad and baby goose! See the baby in the middle?
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We followed them for a while, it was adorable!
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After sight seeing a little more, we pulled into the Oak Pit BBQ for dinner. We read rave reviews on yelp and were very excited to try it! The owner took our picture for us too! Thanks Sammy!

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Lots of wildlife sightings this weekend!
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Stay tuned for Day 2 later! It’s a picture heavy weekend, so I’m splitting it up.

What’s the strangest wild animal you ever saw on vacation? We saw Bears on the side of the road in Russia!

 

 
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