Adventures of a Traveling Baby

Last weekend we headed down to San Diego for my friend Mikaela's wedding. I had to go to LA for work on Thursday so Dada and Clarita met me in L.A. Thursday night. This meant that Dada had to drive Clara three and a half hours by himself. He was a little worried, but it turns out he is the baby whisperer! Clara did not take a good nap that afternoon so that was not a good omen. We figured she would sleep on the trip, but turns out we were wrong! They left at 5:00 and Clara was silent the first half hour. Anyone who knows the little Wiggle knows this is a rarity! They proceeded to drive all the way to L.A. without stopping once, without Dada giving Clarita a single toy, and without her sleeping or crying! Nothing short of a miracle! They got into LA around 8:30 and met Tia Biffy, her boyfriend, Kevin, and I at a bakery where we ate and she ran around crazy! She was really excited about the hotel, especially the pack n play for her to sleep in! She slept all night and I woke her up after 7:00 the next morning when I needed to get ready.

Hotel beds are more fun!

Clara and Dada played while I saw more patients at the state hospital Friday morning. We met Tia Biffy and Kevin for lunch where Clarita had a fun time pretending to sleep with Tia Biffy and flirting with Kevin. She also ate a lot of salsa so she must take after Dada!

Kevin squared

Sleep Tia Biffy!

We headed to San Diego after lunch and Clara fell asleep right away. She woke up when we stopped to get gas and refused to sleep more even though she was tired. About a half hour from San Diego she had a melt down and was inconsolable. We stopped at a rest stop and let her run around for a little while. She had a lot of fun chasing sea gulls and was not excited about getting back into the car. After a little tantrum she settled down and played for the rest of the drive.

Birds!

Nature diaper changes are the best

Clarita was definitely excited to get to San Diego and get out of the car. We stayed with my friend Nicolette and her husband Jeremy. They have a two-year-old daughter, Bennett who Clara loved! The girls warmed up to each other right away (maybe they remembered meeting a year ago) and Clara had fun coloring on Bennett's dry erase board. She also loved their two dogs and told them to sit and "no no no!" when they tried to lick her. The girls went to bed early and we got to hang out with Jeremy and Nicolette and catch up.

Saturday Dada ran 18 miles (he's crazy) while Clarita and I went to Bennett's soccer practice. Clara made a couple of new friends on the playground who she chased around and played with. They were five and seven and thought Clara was a new toy. They carried her around and chased her! Clara played "kitchen" with them and assisted in making sand pies! After soccer we headed to lunch where the girls enjoyed french fries (Clara discovered Ketchup and insisted on dipping her fry into it and licking it off over and over). The girls had fun playing in the fountain and were so sad when it was time to leave. They were exhausted and both went down for naps as soon as we got back.

Nicolette and Jeremy were nice enough to watch Clarita while we went to the wedding. It was a lovely wedding and we had a lot of fun dancing the night away. Since Mikaela loves to dance this was the perfect wedding for her! Nicolette and Jeremy said that Clara and Bennett had lots of fun playing outside. Clara went down the slide about a million times and they played with the water table. Clara went right down for them and did not wake up until the next morning.

Hanging from the moon!

Sunday we headed out early to meet Tio Josue and his girlfriend, Rachel, for breakfast. Before we left Clarita and Bennett got some last minute playing in and Clara even pretended to feed Bennett with her doll bottle! It was super cute. Clara also stole one of Bennett's library books and colored all over the back page with dry erase markers! I guess she doesn't quite understand the concept that all books are not coloring books yet!

We had breakfast with Tio Josue and Rachel, who just moved back to San Diego from San Francisco) and Clara had her first piece of bacon which she devoured. She also devoured fruit and pancakes so I guess she was hungry! After breakfast, we headed to the beach for a wedding brunch put on by Mikaela. We had some yummy donuts and fruit. Clarita was really upset we wouldn't let her have a donut, but decided that the fruit was good too as she inhaled an entire bowl of it! She played in the sand and collected seaweed. She was not such a big fan of the water washing over her feet and ran away from it.

After brunch we headed to Irvine for Hadley's first birthday party! Clara fell asleep on the way there and was rested and ready to go once we arrived. She was very excited to see Baby Hadley again as well as play on the playground at the park! Hadley was ever so cute in her pink dress and flower headband that she liked to pull off and throw. She wasn't so sure about her first cupcake, but Clara knew what to do with hers. I was a little surprised that she knew what a cupcake was since she has only had one and that was six months ago. She insisted on eating one and loved every bite. She was very sad when I told her she could only have one.

We left the party around 3:00 and headed home thinking Clara would fall asleep again...wrong! She refused to sleep. We stopped to get gas on the grapevine and let her run around. She was not excited about getting back in the car. We stopped in Bakersfield for dinner and Clara actually ate some of Dada's hamburger. She preferred Mama's grilled cheese though! Clara got really fussy when she got back in the car, but wouldn't sleep. After crying and fussing for what seemed like forever, she finally fell asleep around 7:00. Traffic was horrible the entire drive home and it took five and a half hours! Clara was out when we finally got home and did not wake up when I took her out of the car. I laid her on the living room floor and she slept there for an hour while we unloaded the car and put everything away. She didn't even wake up when I changed her diaper and put her pajamas on! It was a very long weekend, but filled with fun and friends! Good thing Clara is accustomed to the life of a traveling baby and generally pretty flexible and easy going, it makes our trips much more enjoyable!