thanksgiving 2014 - our week back in orange county

We packed ourselves up, headed to the airport and boarded the plane... Bryan, Trace, Cali and I. It's safe to say that we were getting side eyed by everyone, giving us that look of "they better not sit near me." Haha!! Lucky for them, but especially lucky for us, NO ONE sat next to us, so we had the entire row to ourselves! We thought it was a blessing, but as we got into our flight, we quickly realized this was going to be a flight from hell. And it was! Yikes... Trace giggled, jumped, cried, fussed, whined and screamed for over a couple of hours. He only slept for 1 of the 5 hours, and our internet was shoddy, so we couldn't even watch a movie, etc. Upon landing, Trace was balling his eyes out and didn't stop until we got inside the terminal. My anxiety was through the roof and I was just so thankful to have made it! Let our vacation commence...

Lots of backyard fun at Bryan's parents house!

Bryan's best friends from high school are still all super close friends! Two of them, Mike and Chad (the same guys who came out to visit us for the 4th of July), are expecting babies within 2 weeks of us. They're all so excited to have kids the exact same age and so am I -- these boys are family!

Morning snuggles and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

We had so much fun at Pretend City!

Dana Point Harbor with a silly, uncooperative toddler... Trace had a BLAST!

My favorite park and look out point in Laguna Beach - Crescent

This darling little girl skipped into Trace's life, and within the blink of an eye, she was gone. It's safe to say she's his first love...

We took Trace back to the beach that I spent all of my time at in high school/college/20s, that Bryan and I had our engagement pictures taken at and where Trace put his toes in the ocean for the 1st time (at 6 months old)... SO many more memories to be made at Woods Cove in Laguna!! My little beach boy loooooves Orange County!

Back at my parents house, swimming with Daddy. Cali ended up diving into the water (on her own) to play with Trace. It was so funny! My kids are such water babies!!

Thanksgiving Day

Cousins on Thanksgiving

The next morning we went to my nieces soccer tournament in Huntington Beach. I lived just down the road from these fields in college, so I was feeling very nostalgic being in this area as a mom... Trace is a natural in this environment and seeing him with my brother and my brothers kids makes me so happy!

Our time spent back home is always incredibly overwhelming, quite stressful and just plain busy. Trying to make our parents happy and accommodate all of our friends chaotic schedules is always a challenge. Unfortunitely we weren't able to see some friends of whom we really wanted to see (I'm talking about you, Leslie!... and my friend, Ed). We need to find a way to create balance in the future, prioritize and put ourselves first, but for now we are left with all of these yummy memories; memories of which I am so thankful for! Until next time Orange County....