Vacation All I Ever Wanted

I apologize for my severe lack of blogging but aside from all the fun I was having, my son slept in the room with the computer. Generally the only time I write is when my little man is napping so this posed a logistical problem for keeping my six readers up to date on the happenings of our lives.

Let me just start off by saying, "Gadzuccs!" Before Troy flew out to San Diego on Monday to meet us, I had him pick all the zucchinis. He was instructed to leave only minuscule ones. When he arrived he assured me that he'd only left the ones that were smaller than his fingers. Imagine my gardening surprise when we arrived home last night and found four baseball bats masquerading as zucchinis. A picture, just for perspective.

Yes that is my full grown male golden retriever.

We had an amazing time in San Diego. Garrett and I were there for eleven days (Troy for seven) and in that amount of time we went to the Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Disneyland, the beach, the pool, a wedding, and the park where we celebrated my 6 pound, ten ounce newborn baby's second birthday party. I haven't sifted through all the pictures yet but the sheer volume is a testimony to the fun we had.

Garrett learned several new words while we were there including, but certainly not limited to, turtle, moon and Ruh-Ruh (my parents dog's nickname. He now refers to our dog as the same even though his name is Beck. I also asked him if he wanted a corn dog for lunch and, when the microwave dinged announcing its readiness, he emphatically shrieked, "Ruh-Ruh!").

On Friday we went to the beach and I was able to see my friend, Marissa. On Saturday evening we went to the Wild Animal Park. I have pictures but they are on discs and I haven't looked at them yet. Sunday night my brother and my grandparents came up for dinner. On Tuesday we went to Sea World.

We had a great time and Aunt Heather was able to take us back to see a newborn dolphin and a tiny baby sea lion. I'm a nut for dolphins but it was actually the sea lion that I wanted to take home with me. What? I have a big bathtub and a kiddie pool. Garrett rode two of the new rides in Captain Kid's World, I mean Shamu's Happy Harbor, I mean Bay of Play. Whatever, it will always be Captain Kid's to me. He saw Pets Rule along with the sea stars, manatees, penguins, flamingos, and bat rays which he referred to as turtles.

On Wednesday I had an appointment and we had a down day with a long nap for Garrett and a visit from my brother. Thursday morning we headed to Disneyland!

Here's Garrett and my parents on what might have been his most favorite of rides, Autopia. Troy and I were behind the three of them but we could hear our boy cackling for most of the ride. We were there for two days and had a park hopper. We took him on all sorts of rides including Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, the Ferris Wheel, the carousel, the rides in Bug's Land, Finding Nemo and The Matterhorn. You have to be 35 inches to ride the Matterhorn (which is ridiculous because all the other thrill rides are at least 40 inches) and I was just dying to take him on it. He's about 34.9 inches long but he never stands up perfectly straight. We took him on it at night and they never questioned whether he was tall enough. He sat on my lap and I pulled his seat belt tight and put my legs in between his. Then I pretty much vice gripped him with my right arm and held his head with my left hand. This meant that I slid and banged around for the duration of the ride, but Garrett was safe. I would have guessed that he would either sob the entire way or laugh hysterically. He did neither. He simply looked around as though he was thoroughly unimpressed. It was quite humorous. We waited for about an hour for Nemo and about an hour for the Toy Story ride in California Adventure. Other than that we waited an average of ten minutes for the other rides. It was crowded but the lines weren't bad. Of course it's better to go in the winter but all I have to say to everyone who "warned" me not to go in the summer is, "HA!" We all had a blast.

On Saturday Troy took Garrett to his sister's house (well, it's actually our house but she lives in it. Again, anyone want a house in Ramona?) to play with his cousins and aunts and grandparents while my mom and I went to get all the food for Garrett's party. That night Garrett went to the park with all four of his grandparents and had a picnic and played while Troy and I went to my friend's wedding.

I met Jayni when I was seven years old. I don't remember the circumstances of our meeting but I am ever so glad we did. She is one of just a few friends that I have had for so long. She was there when Troy and I tied the knot almost five years ago and I am so thankful that her wedding happened to be the same week that we were in San Diego--although I would have been there regardless. Jayni is so beautiful inside and out and I wish her and her new husband all the happiness in the world.

Garrett's party was in the evening on Sunday the 20th and we celebrated at Ramona Oaks Park with hot dogs, watermelon, potato salad, chips, plums (because my parents tree is producing hoards of them) and cake. We had about fifty friends and family members there including some of Garrett's little friends from our church in Ramona.

(I kind of think this picture yells, "Hey, prospective birth mother, pick us! We're happy and smiley and we promise to throw your kid birthday parties!")

Garrett got a lot of good stuff which is still begging to be put away. Thankfully we were able to fit it all into the bags we brought and fly home with it. My son is wearing a complete cheeseball grin in this picture. I have no idea where he gets his goofy personality. I mean, neither of his parents are goofy. Right? This is taken at 7:30 pm exactly two years after Garrett was born. Of course, I think I look a touch better than I did two years ago. I still believe that I was every bit as much of a mother two months before he was born as I am now because I would have done anything for that fetus. But what I didn't know was the capacity of my own heart. I never knew I could love a child this much. My husband says, "I love him so much it sometimes hurts." I am acutely aware of that feeling. For some reason, at 7:30, I wanted the whole world to disappear for one minute. I wanted to hug him tighter, love him longer, thank him for being born and praise God once again for giving him to me.

Then we went home and he promptly ran into a coffee table leg with his head. There was an instant purple egg the size of a walnut sticking out of his forehead. We iced it and my dad checked his pupils and we decided it would all be okay. It was as if he said, "I'm a boy and I'm two. Let's see what fun I can have with this combination."

Monday morning was spent with Troy's family before putting Garrett down for a nap and then heading to the airport. Our little man had his very own seat because he's a big boy now and he's no longer free. Sigh. And I am left to wonder what happened to my baby...