Discovered by the Germans...

Yes, I’m talking about San Diego. If you’re not a fan of Anchorman, you should be. I hadn’t seen the movie until Jeremy and I were dating for about a year and a half, and I all of a sudden realized that Jeremy wasn’t nearly as funny as I thought he was, on account of all of his one liners tracing back to Ron Burgundy. But I digress.

With the long Fourth of July weekend upon us, we headed down the 405 to the Estancia Hotel for a weekend of relaxation and celebration. Since Parker ensures we are always awake at 6AM, we got on the road early. And sadly, we encountered Misadventure #1 about 20 minutes away from home: we had forgotten baby carrier. (The Ergo.) We were planning to do some hiking, and we really didn’t want Parker to miss out on a hike through Torrey Pines just because he can’t walk yet – we’re very caring parents – so we went back home to pick up the Ergo.  Our first misadventure! When a misadventure happens that early in a Boltano vacation, you know it is going to be good trip.

Back on the road, we had a pretty easy drive to the Southland.  We dropped in (literally) on one of Jeremy’s grad school buddies to say hello in Encinitas, then headed to Torrey Pines for a beautiful sea side hike. 

Parker's First "Hike"

The Making of Very Bad Tanlines

Worth It for the Scenery

We made it to our hotel in La Jolla (Mom, it’s pronounced, la-hoi-yah) in time for happy hour at the pool! Our favorite! And this wasn’t just any happy hour. It was also Parker’s first time swimming. He loved the water, and I have to say, it was pretty fun to swim with him.

Parker's First Swim

After a dip in the pool, we ordered drinks and some snacks. Estancia’s high end chardonnay was delicious. It had a beautiful, buttery nose, that even Parker couldn’t get enough of.

The Making of a Future Winemaker (A mother can dream, right?)

We had a relaxing night at the hotel – a light dinner, another glass of wine, and headed back to the room to put Parker to sleep around 8PM, his usual bed time. The problem with hotels and babies though, is that as soon as the baby goes to sleep, there is no where else to go. We had visions of spending the evening on our balcony, talking and sipping wine. But we are the parents of a very active 8-month-old. We’re just as tired as Parker is when he goes to bed. So that’s what we did. And we slept 10 glorious hours of sleep.

The next day we explored La Jolla. Did some running along the coast…

Very Pretty, but Smells Like Seals

…and had another great day of relaxation, as I took advantage of the Estancia’s spa and got a massage. Another amazing dinner, another night of going to sleep at 8PM, and then we headed to the San Diego Zoo. We met up with our friends Amanda, James, and their daughter Hallie for the day. Neither Parker nor Hallie gave a rat’s ass about any of the animals; but the zoo is a place you can take your kids and not get dirty looks when your kids have a meltdown. (Parker’s was because his sunscreen literally melted into his eyes. I am never buying Coppertone Waterbabies sunblock ever again.)

Parker's Meltdown

At least Parker really did like this statue of a gorilla. Check out how he “finger bumped” it for this picture! In fact, I think Parker finger-bumped all of San Diego. We had a great weekend getaway, and we’ll be back soon. So you stay classy, San Diego.

Finger-Bump!