Back Home Again...

...in Indiana. So Indiana is no California, but it does feel good to be home. We got back from our vacation on Thursday morning, after taking the red-eye flight. That was rough! Not for baby, but for everyone else. Since we left California at 11 pm Olivia was already exhausted before we even boarded the plane. She fell asleep as soon as we took off and didn't even wake up when the plane landed! She did so well and I did all of that worrying for nothing! The rest of us did not do as well. It is difficult to sleep on a airplane and even harder when you have a baby on your lap. So the three of us got little or no sleep at all. But it was worth it because we had such a great time.

The second half of our trip was just as fun as the first half. On Monday will drove to Gilroy, which just happens to be the garlic capitol of the world! Yes, the town does smell of garlic too! It is crazy. We first stopped for lunch at the famous In-N-Out Burger. Then we shopped at a very large outlet mall. We could have spent many more hours shopping but baby was tired so we headed back for a rest.

That night the grown-ups went out for a nice dinner and we left the baby with my cousin Justin and his girlfriend. I put Livie to bed before we even left so I figured it was going to be a pretty easy babysitting job. Well about halfway through dinner Justin called to tell us that Olivia had woken up crying and wouldn't stop! What are the odds? I gave him some suggestions and said to call back if they had any more trouble. We didn't hear from them again so we assumed that she finally went back to sleep. It is rare for her to wake up crying so soon after going to bed. We concluded that Olivia knew that Justin was home alone with his girlfriend and no parental supervision. So to make sure there was no hanky-panky going on she threw a huge fit! Way to go, Olivia! Needless to say it made my Aunt and Uncle feel much better knowing the kids were too busy looking after the baby to have time to make-out!

Olivia with Cousin Justin & Delana

Tuesday we went to a small seaside town called Capitola. It is this very cute little village on the water with great restaurants and shops. We had a nice lunch and then walked around for awhile. They had these cute little cottages right on the beach that you could rent. It was a cute little town, but a very chilly day!

After that we headed to downtown Santa Cruz and did even more shopping. I think Olivia was bored out of her mind, but the rest of us had fun. All of the shopping made Todd hungry again so he stopped for a slice at Pizza My Heart. I just love the name of the place...too cute!

On our last day we sort of took it easy. We took a long walk on the beach in the town of Aptos, where my Aunt and Uncle live. It was a warmer day so we decided to let Olivia put her little toes in the sand for the very first time. She seemed to love how the sand felt between her toes. We had a nice lunch and then went back to the house to pack up and relax before heading home on the late night flight.

We had so much fun on our first official vacation with Olivia! Thank you to Aunt Sue Sue and Uncle Ron for showing us all a good time. It was so great seeing where they live and spending time with them. We did a lot of things that Olivia will never remember, but thanks to this blog she can look back one day and see for herself. Next up, our trip to New York in July! At the age of 8 months Olivia will have been coast to coast!