First Day of Family Vacation

Our adventure started at 9am this morning! We left Fallbrook after a tasty breakfast of cereal and one last vacuuming of the house (I like to leave the house clean).

Our drive was perfect! I am so in love with the minivan we rented! Ryan and I were discussing our dream cars a couple of weeks ago and I have now decided that a minivan is my dream car! My how things change when you become a parent!

My favorite Parker quote for the day,

"Daddy, WHEN you crash your Volvo can we get one of these?"

HA!! WHEN!!!

For those of you who don't know - poor Ryan has a tendency to crash our cars.

We never realized how little Parker could see out of the Camry windows until as we approached Santa Barbara he cried out, "Look! The ocean!" We have been up to my sister's so many times and this is the first time that he never asked for the DVD player!

I think it will be a wonderful trip!

We stopped in for a couple of hours to visit with my sister's family!

Jennel and Kera

Parker and Lana

After about an hour and a half more in the car, we arrived at our destination! Sycamore Springs Resort and Spa. We were going to go into SLO for dinner but it was so beautiful here that we decided to stay! The kids were pretty tired from not having good naps all day, but they were troopers and we even were able to squeeze a short hike in before bed.

Our building - perfect for the adventure we are on!

The name of our room!

Parker LOVES hotels and kept running around checking out all the little features. He even went part way into the hot tub with Ryan. It is a mineral hot tub so it smells like sulfur - he wasn't so sure of it. Ryan and I had a relaxing time in it once the kids were in bed. :o)

Kera - super sleepy but so excited to be out of the car!

After dinner we went for a short hike to a meditation garden and a labyrinth.

This was a very cool rock sculpture!

As we walked the labyrinth, Parker kept asking why it was made and why people walk them. After we were finished, he did a little dance in the middle and wanted to do it again.

It is a strange ritual, but strangely calming.

After our little hike, we headed back to the room and put the kiddos to bed.

Our comfy bed!

Parker is sleeping on his blow-up bed (his "boat" as he calls it) and Kera is snoozing away in her pack and play. It took them a little while to fall asleep but eventually they both slipped away to dream land.

A wonderful first day to our vacation.

My fingers are crossed that it stays this nice the whole trip!