Friday, April 13, 2007

A Wonderful Getaway

We had a great little vacation! It was filled with hiking, biking, drives up the coast, good food, stars, fires, reading and special time together. Instead of giving a rambling recap, I'll do my own personal "Top Ten" of our Costanoa vacation. But first some pictures...






10. The relief of getting back to the car. What we thought would be a leisurely stroll to see a natural elephant seal habitat turned into a 4 mile hike up and down sand dunes with very high winds. Ella was extremely grumpy and it kicked my pregnant butt.

9. Open air fire places. No campfires were allowed at our resort, but you'd find lit fireplaces every few steps you took (including the bathroom!). Ella had her first roasted marshmallow.

8. Breakfast included. Every morning we enjoyed a buffet breakfast of quiches, scones and fresh fruit at the restaurant (for free!).

7. Falling asleep with fire, stars and Ella. Our cabin had a fireplace so every night we went to sleep with a fire crackling. Right above our bed was a skylight which we could see stars though. Ella had a hard time in her pack-n-play, so we slept "family style." It was fun to snuggle together in our big king bed.

6. Reading on the swing on our porch.

5. Sunsets over the Pacific Ocean.

4. Ella's cute sayings: "Nigh-night sun.", "I coming notion." (I'm hiking toward you, ocean), "Stars, all done." (in the morning).

3. Bike riding around the camp, with the ocean in view!

2. The perfect balance of camping and luxury. We still grilled our own brats and beans and ate at a picnic table, but we also went out to a fun restaurant in Santa Cruz. We had to walk to use the bathroom, but we were given plush robes to do it in. It was cold outside! We lived in warm fleeces and wool socks, but we had heat, down bedding and a hot tub to use.

1. Time together as a family!

2 comments:

Jonathan said...

Welcome back, little buddy! I missed you so much! How did your marshmallow taste?

Love,
Jonathan

KyleVM said...

Welcome back! It looks like you chose quite the perfect place to go--what beautiful pictures. I'm so excited to see Ella with the marshmellows--taking after her Uncle Kyle, eh?