Fun at the Beach

We had a fabulous weekend at the beach.  It was kind of a spur of the moment trip as it wasn't even planned until 5 days before.  I still can't believe we actually did it.  But we did and it turned out to be some amazing & much needed family time! 

Friday - After a lovely battle with traffic, we arrived at San Luis Resort about 7:00 PM.  The place was beautiful! 

View from our 16th floor balcony

Trace was excited to ride the elevator as usual.  He overlooked the balcony at the spash spash and was excited.  We opted to not take him swimming as it was already past his bedtime and didn't want to ruin anything for Saturday.  So room service for dinner, birthday flowers for me from my sweet hubby, and hanging on the balcony enjoying the view.

Nightime pool view

Rainforest Cafe Volcano Erupting

Saturday - We headed down to the pool about 9:00 AM.  They had a waterslide, which Thomas took Trace down at least 15 times.  The child could have done it about 15 more, but Daddy was worn out :-) 

So we all headed across the street to the beach for about 30 minutes.  Trace loved the waves!  He pretended to jump them and laughed so hard he could barely stand. 

Next we headed back up to the room to clean up and have lunch at Rainforest Cafe.  I wasn't sure how Trace would do for this.  He usually hates being in restaurants - maybe the loud crowded environment, maybe the fact he could care less about eating, maybe all the above.  Well he did great and loved everything except the monkeys.  Good thing we chose not to sit by the gorillas :-)  Thanks big Sis for that advice!  We all enjoyed our food and then rode the river ride.  It was a really neat ride and we all enjoyed it- with the exception of the monkeys who received a very loud NO! everytime we passed. 

Rainforest Cafe River Ride

After lunch we headed to tour the Bishop's Palace (yes we're pushing it a little with Trace).  It was beautiful and Thomas and Peyton really enjoyed it.  I had seen it as a child on family vacays.  Trace did good and we managed to get out of there with not one thing broken or one screaming fit! 

Peyton at Bishop's Palace

We drove down the strand since it was so close.  It was pretty hot, so we parked and made only one stop - LaKings Confectionary.  Good choice - Peyton loves Ice Cream which they had aplenty and Trace was in awe at all the chocolate.  We bought a few pieces of chocolate, ordered some chocolate malts and rootbeer floats, then the meltdown happened - no, not the ice cream.  I took Trace out, but that only made it worse.  So back in we went and he was able to show me what he wanted, thank goodness.  They had one of the machines where you smash the penny and all he wanted to do was turn the crank.  Wish he could have just told me that before all the screaming and crying.  So with goodies in hand, we headed back to the hotel where Trace & I napped and Daddy & Peyton hung by the pool.  Really pushing our luck, we went to Gaido's for an early dinner at 5:30.  Okay I'll admit I was scared we had hit Trace's threshold, but Thomas managed to get down his last bite of food without rushing before having to take Trace out of the restaurant.  Peyton and I enjoyed the rest of our amazing dinner and back to hotel we went for more spash spash.  Then some much needed nigh, nigh for the little guy and more balcony time for the rest of us.

Sunday - One more quick trip to the pool, which was surprisingly warm.  Then another across the street to the beach, not so warm.  A cool front pushed through late Saturday night.  Trace was cold and blue, but didn't seem to mind at all.  We didn't let him stay in for more than 5 minutes and we all headed up to shower and pack up to leave :-(  I all of a sudden started feeling sick.  Not such a pleasant ride home to say the least.  Finally made it home and to bed I went.  Thomas made me chicken noodle soup and I was feeling much better by evening.  I was so happy I didn't get sick on Saturday though.  Peyton had it on Tuesday and so far so good with Trace and Daddy. 

So that was it for our spur of the moment family trip.  It was amazing to get to spend so much quality time together!  We are already looking forward to going back!

Hope, Love, Courage &Faith,

Laurie