A REAL vacation

I love it when I hear someone say they're taking a Disney vacation. As far as I'm concerned, that's a complete oxymoron. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Disneyworld, but it is NOT a vacation. Vacation is a beach and a book with no schedule and no responsibility. It's doing whatever you want whenever you want without having to take into consideration if the restaurant serves mac-n-cheese or if you remembered the emergency pacifier, wipes and sippy cups. In my book, vacation really doesn't include kids...at least, not my kids.

Andy had business in San Diego in September, and I was blessed to get to tag along while my mom came to keep the kids (thanks, Mom!). It was awesome. The hotel was beautiful, the beach was close by, and I actually had the luxury of using the bathroom ALONE more than once.:) Have I said that it was awesome? Each morning, I got up and either laid around by the pool with a good book, roamed the quaint little shopping area in La Jolla, or went to the spa for a treatment (or two). Sometimes, I'd meet Andy for lunch, and we always had dinner together.

One evening, we walked down to the beach from the hotel. It wasn't technically a hike, but it was a very steep, paved road. It was more of a workout than either of us anticipated.

We also took a drive up to Mt. Soledad...gorgeous view.

We also had dinner downtown La Jolla at a quaint little Italian place, overlooking the beach. Good times.

If you're ever in San Diego, I highly recommend the Estancia La Jolla. Beautiful decor, incredible service, and the food wasn't bad either. We were scheduled to leave late on a Saturday, so we checked out of the hotel and headed to the world famous San Diego zoo. It's a gorgeous zoo, and we thoroughly enjoyed the pandas and the gorillas. As our plane touched down in San Antonio, I was anxious to see the kids, but I think I could have stood another day or two of REAL vacation.

It was four days of shear luxury, and I want to go back tomorrow. Maybe next year...