Farewell Coronado, see you in September! Picture Overload!

Where do I begin?

Day One:

We had such a fun week in San Diego. We stayed on Coronado Island which is ten minutes out of San Diego.

Avery had MANY firsts while we where there. We flew from Salt Lake City to San Diego in Grandpa Dale's private jet. Not many kids can say their first plane ride was on a jet. This was Avery's first time on an airplane and she did AWESOME!!! Well that is until we landed. She kept crying and was pulling at her ears. I remembered reading my friend Sarah's blog about her baby Easton doing something similar after flying. So I called her for some advice. She said to give Ave a bottle and plug her nose for 5 seconds while she was eating. We did it, which Ave was definitely not a fan, and then I got into a warm bath with her. She was a bit fussy the rest of the day, but nothing like before. Thank you Sarah! You are such a great friend. It is so nice having so many friends with babies. You know you can always ask someone for advice!

The first day we just hung around the island. We walked up Orange Ave (which is the main street) and looked at all the local shops. That night, we headed out to dinner with Nick's parent's to a fancy Italian restaurant, named Asti's, in San Diego in the Gas Lamp District. It is our family favorite!

Avery with her daddy and the pilot Mark.

Getting ready to fly.

Grandpa Dale and Ave.

The view from our condo.

Walking around on the beach.

Cheese!

Day Two:

The next day I was SOOO anxious to get Avery in the pool for the first time. After having breakfast at The Del Coronado, we headed out to the pool. Coronado is on average around 70-75 degrees. There was a slight breeze, so it made the air feel pretty chilly.

After slathering her in sun block, we hit the kiddie pool first. We started out with just her legs and she seemed to really like it. SO...we took out her floaty toy and put her in the BIG pool. She had no idea how to react. She liked it for about 4 minutes, and by the 5th minute she was done. She cried until she was all warm and dry in a nice big towel. She took a long nap after that, so Nick and I decided to lay out.

Since Dale and Sheri were in Coronado with us, they offered to watch Avery at night so we could have "adult time." Much needed adult time might I add!! Dale and Sheri are on a 9 day detox diet to treat her Lyme disease. The first 4 days are just OJ, the next 3 are just water and the last 2 are Ozone treatments. So we weren't able to go to dinner with them except for the first night. Thank you for watching Avery at night though. It was so nice going on a date for 6 nights in a row!! That night we hit up Old Town Mexican Cafe in Old Town San Diego. It was yummy!!! We realized once we got home how burnt we got from laying out!

Getting ready for the pool! Family Time. Such a good daddy! Not really sure what to do.... Minute...Number...FIVE!

Ooooooooooooouuuuuuuuucccccccccccchhhhhhhhhh!

Day Three:

By this day I did not want to be in the sun. I was so smart to get such a bad burn on the 2nd day being on vacay! My skin changed a lot after having Aver's! I have never burned that bad! My skin hurt to touch, bend and shave. We headed out to Inn and Out Burger, Nick's favorite! We always stop here at least once when we are in a state that has one. It was Oh So Good! While out, we decided to try and find me a wedding dress. We went to one of the local malls in The Gas Lamp District again. I did not find anything. Bummer. Nick and Ave were trooper's while I looked around. Thank you guys! We went out to dinner that night to Tomaso's. We were trying all the restaurants we liked to see where we wanted to hold our wedding dinner/reception. Tomaso's was one of the one's on top of our list. It is such a delicious place to eat.

Yummy! This is for Matt!

Avery and Nick got bored while I was finding a place to warm up Ave's bottle. I found them playing on a bed in Nordstrom's. :-)

Avery all tuckered out.

Day Four:

After breakfast at our usual joint, we ventured out to USS Midway in San Diego Bay. This ship retired in 1991 and is now a museum. It reminded me of my childhood in Texas. I remember my mom and dad taking me to a ship just like this. I don't remember which ship, but I remember I loved it.

This ship is huge! It is 1,001 feet long, 258 feet wide and has 18 decks! It used 100,000 gallons of gas daily and weighs 69,000 tons. I could go on and on. This ship was amazing. We spent two hours taking tours and wandering around. I had head phones to listen to, but I was enjoying my company...Avery and Nick. We put Avery in her Baby Bjorn and she was out like a light for almost the entire time. We played around San Diego for a bit before heading back to the island. We could definitely tell it was a holiday weekend. The traffic back was a nightmare. We said then and there that we were spending the rest of the trip on the coast. We wanted to try to go to Sea World, but thought it would be too much for our baby. We are going to try in September or even November when we go back.

That night we went to a really nice dinner at Il Forneau. This is where we are going to have our wedding dinner/reception!!! I knew it once we walked in. It is right on the bay and you can see the entire skyline of San Diego. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! (And really really yummy too!!) More on the wedding in a later post.

USS Midway. I couldn't even fit it into a picture.

I HAD to include this picture. The kid was literally rubbing the statues leg. It was hilarious!

All Aboard! Notice that the Asian on the left looks like the Asian guy on Mad TV! :)

Inside of the ship.

On the Top Deck with all of the retired planes. So Cool!!

After dinner, Family Picture.

Day Five:

Happy Fourth of July!!!

We love the fourth! Last year on this day, we were in New York and got engaged on top of the Empire State Building. It was such a wonderful trip with such wonderful memories. My how things changed in just one year! We never would have imagined a year later that we would have a baby. We wouldn't change a thing!! Despite what some people think, we are truly blessed and couldn't be happier!

The Island of Coronado holds an annual parade down Orange Avenue. The news said there were 150 floats. It was pure mayhem. We lucked out and got a table at our favorite breakfast joint and watched most of the parade from the side of the street, under the shade while eating yummy food. (Yes, we ate ALOT! And enjoyed every minute of it!) After breakfast, we walked along Orange and watched the floats. We went to the nearby park and looked at all the local art booths. It was such a wonderful day! Avery did SO good. She enjoyed being in her stroller, being toted around with daddy and hanging in her Bjorn. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful baby. After the festivities we went and took a nap. Grandpa Dale and Sheri watched Ave again. This time we took a stroll along the beach to the military base. At the end there is a dog park on the beach. It is so much fun to watch the dogs play in the ocean. We can't wait to take ours there one day.

After the beach, we went to a burger joint, then grabbed Avery, Dale and Sheri and watch the fire works from the lawn of the condo. The city shoots the fireworks from Glorietta Bay which is just across the street from the condos. We had front row seats without the hassle of being stuck in traffic. I unfortunately let the battery run out and didn't take any pictures. :(

Nick's dad just bought a bright red Ferrari, so we were lucky enough to get a ride. Man that thing is beautiful, fast and fun!!! Nick got it up to 120. We kept the speed under 80 while I was in it. Again, I wish I would have taken a picture!

The parade route.

The beach was PACKED. We avoided it. Too many people for us!

Mom and her Love Bug.

Daddy and his princess.

Our stroll on the beach. The camera died right after this. :(

Day Six:

We didn't take any pictures this day. Dang it! In the morning we walked around the local neighborhoods fantasizing about how we would one day live in one of the beach houses.

Nick went to a San Diego Padre's game with his dad. They wanted to watch Manny Ramirez play. By the 7th inning he hadn't, so they left. Low and behold in the 10th inning I believe, he batted. Sorry boys! I was going to join them, but thought Avery would have a hard time at a day game being so young. So instead, Sheri, Avery and I went on a scavenger hunt to find a Californian wedding dress. again, we came home empty handed. This economy has made stores like Neiman Marcus and Saks phase out their wedding sections. Bummer! I went to a local store, tried on a few and was irritated at my post baby body. Oh well.

That night we went to a Mexican restaurant. It was our last date night that we would have in a while, so we thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you again Dale and Sheri!!!

Day Seven:

Our flight departed at 1:20, so we didn't have time to do much. Basically we cleaned the condo, packed and headed to breakfast. We realized that we didn't let Avery play in the sand, so after eating.....we put her feet into it. She loved it. In September, we will let her play in it more! We had such a fun trip. We flew on Jet Blue home. I love Jet Blue, but hated our Flight Attendants. They were arrogant and rude. I'll still fly with them. I love the exctra leg room and Direct Tv. Avery was pretty fussy on take off but once I was able to nurse her she was out for the landing.

In front of the Del. We'll be getting married on the beach right in front of this hotel!

Loving the sand. :)

I of course had to take a pic of her blues.

Sad to be going home!

Sorry for all of the pictures. I love documenting our fun trips and everyday nonsense. It's fun to go back and read and see how our little girl is changing and to reminice about our wonderful memories. We hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!!