Cali : SB 2022

Spring Break Trip 2022

(this was jointly written by me and Philip. you will be able to distinguish which parts he elaborated on;))

We decided months ago to make the most of Aunt Melody's hospitality, cooking and location and take a trip to California.  Philip then planned out a Southern California vacation that included lots of fun places all along the southern and central coast of California.  

We started our trip of by getting up at 0400 to head to Louisville for our 0730 flight out.  After several hours in the air and two flights we landed in San Diego.  We then took the shuttle to pick up our rental car for the week and then headed to The Hotel Del Coronado.  We thought that it would be nice to check out the San Diego area and Philip has always wanted to stay at the Hotel Del Coronado because it is frequently mentioned in many of the books he has read about and by the Navy SEALs.  Their training compound is actually visible from the beach at The Del as it is only 1 mile down the beach.  You can see their obstacle course from the beach.  This is the training facility where they are put through some of the rigorous training that the military has to offer and the location of their famous 'hell week'.  We also visited La Jolla where we saw seals and sea lions laying on the shoreline and rocks basking in the sunlight. I and the kids loved the beach the most. The kids even went into the water fully clothed after dinner the first night.

 We stayed two nights in San Diego then headed off through Los Angeles to the Santa Barbara area where Aunt Melody lives. 

We arrived to Aunt Melody's and were treated that night to a delightful dinner and dessert.  We stayed that night at Aunt Melody's then piled in the car the next day and drove to the Monterey/Pebble Beach area.  

We checked into our VRBO house in Pebble Beach where we would stay the next two nights.  While in the area we visited the Monterey Aquarium and ate dinner at the Sardine Factory which was yet another bucket list site for Philip.  The Sardine Factory was mentioned in another one of his books.  In the book the Director of the CIA, Leon Panetta was jokingly told by the restaurant owner that if he caught Bin Laden then he would open a 141 year old $10,000 bottle of wine.  Unbeknownst to the restaurant owner Panetta had already located Bin Laden and they were in the process of developing plans for the raid that would kill or capture Bin Laden.  Panetta took the bet and after the May 2011 raid that killed Bin Laden he returned to the restaurant where the owner opened the bottle on the house and it was shared between Panetta and his guests.  

I (Amanda) got a side salad and took the “kids” for dessert afterward so i could eat some real food:) 

After two nights in Pebble Beach we headed back down the coast back to Santa Barbara for another two nights at Aunt Melody's house. We spent the day driving down Highway1 and stopping at State Parks, sights to see, and had a picnic! We had another fantastic dinner and explored Santa Barbara by foot while the kids went to the zoo with Aunt Melody. We loved walking State Street, to the wharf, tasting CA wines and not yelling at children:) 

Our last night we looked at pictures of every single animal they saw at the zoo, swapped stories from our hours apart, and wished vacation wasn't coming to an end. We loved getting to explore CA and to be able to do it with Aunt Melody. We definitely want to go back! 

Ainsley is NINE

It’s hard to believe our tiny little beanie is now a 9 year old girl. She is turning into such a thoughtful, empathetic, creative, quiet yet silly girl. She loves all things arts and crafts, loves gymnastics, is becoming adventurous in what she eats, entertains herself for hours, loves playing “classroom” and being our teacher, loves her sweet and loves her salt. 

She says she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. 

She has matured a lot over the past year and while it’s beautiful to watch we also savor her moments of carefree silliness. 

She had her birthday party at a local gym with some gymnastics equipment. She invited just girls and loved flipping and running amidst all her friends and family. 

On her actual birthday we celebrated with her traditional doughnut cake. She wanted to take cupcakes into school to share with her friends. She had gymnastics that night and i offered her the option to switch to a different night, but she was excited to be sung to and then getting to jump off the vault table into the foam pit (gymnastics birthday tradition). 

Her 9 year stats: 

Height: 50.5 inches (20)%

Weight : 54.8 lbs (16%)

Clothes : child medium /8 

Shoes: 1 

Christmas

Im going to blog about my favorite holiday because Christmas is officially over and this will help me battle my PCD. We kicked off the festivities with the parade in downtown Georgetown. 
After we got back from the lake house, I made the mistake of sending Philip on his own to buy our Christmas tree. Lets just say there was a lot of sap, a chainsaw and pieces of wood flying across my living room. 


He also put up the outdoor lights (with a lift) again, and they looked gorgeous! 


We had our annual Overall Christmas Party early this year, and I believe this was the first year every family member was here (even one week old Baby Claire!). 

We were able to hit up a few festive parties. 

We even got in some Christmas baking. 


Aunt Annies Christmas Eve brunch was, as always, delicious! 

Parker lost his first tooth at Brian and Lindsays on Christmas Eve! He was so excited that the tooth fairy and Santa might have gotten to meet right outside his bedroom door :) 



We sprinkled reindeer food (which I had purposely forgotten about but Parker remembered at the last minute). Philip whipped up some awesome oat/sprinkle medley. 

Christmas morning was as magical as we hoped it would be. Parker asked for a new switch game and Ainsley asked for a label maker. 







That afternoon we went to Nanny Pops and had Christmas with them and Aunt Ellen. It was so warm out we spent time playing out in the sun. 

We all got matching bracelets with the word "Loved" inscribed on them. A small reminder of how much each of us are loved. 


The next day we had Christmas at Joy's. It was full of presents, laughs, yummy food, more presents and lots of love! 

My cousin Tiffany came up from GA and we went shooting on the farm. 

Then we had mud bowl, and it was actually in the 60s and a perfect day for some football. 


It was one of the best Christmases. After last year it was so wonderful to have a (mostly) normal Christmas. We missed several family members due to Covid, but we are hopeful next year will be totally back to normal :) 
Merry Christmas to anyone reading this. I hope you had a joy filled holiday and had time to reflect on the birth of our Savior.  Joy to the world, the Lord has come! 

Thanksgiving

We did Thanksgiving a little different this year. Philip worked the night before that Thursday so when he got up Thanksgiving Day, we headed to the lake house. My fam came with us early and stayed Thursday night. Friday the rest of the family came down and we ate our celebratory lunch then. We had great weather and loved relaxing and being somewhere different. 
Before we left, Megan and I ran a 5K at Keeneland. I was impressed with myself for not walking once! 














It was a very relaxing (well for me, mom did most the cooking) holiday. We loved having our family there!