Saturday, May 9, 2009

midweek staycation

this week b and i took two days off in the middle of the week as a little pre-summer vacation.

it was only a couple of days but it is AMAZING how happy we were with our little break -- i love having a weekend right in the middle of the week! however, i will admit that when it's as hot as it has been around here, sometimes i am glad i have to be stuck in an air-conditioned office for 10 hours a day -- i felt like i was sweating the entire two days. but that's okay! i'll take what i can get.

we know how to party, too. wednesday we spent the day at disneyland, thanks to my awesome friend karla -- we followed her down there and went on a few kiddie rides with her and owen and paige. d-land is a whole different place when you're there with kids; it was cute. then we spent the rest of the day on grown up rides with niki & matt, two of our favorite people:



we had a total blast -- lines were short, sun was hot, rides were fun. i got drenched on splash mountain, and for the record i still ADORE soaring over california. we ate all our favorite treats like dole whips and giant pickles.



for some reason, i have stopped trying to take pictures at d-land -- maybe because we've been so much the past few years that i don't try to document the park anymore. here's the best shot i got of me & b -- you can see the pirate ship in the background and that's about all i can offer you as scenery.



the park closed early at 8 p.m. but we were tired and ready for dinner around 7 p.m. i wore my trusty converse tennis shoes and had some comfort problems starting around lunchtime, but powered through because i mean HELLO we were at disneyland! unfortunately, i could barely walk by the time we hit downtown disney on the way back to the car -- and on the way to dinner i took off my shoes to find one full of blood. awesome. i am also in possession of a 2nd degree sunburn on my neck...so i guess our day at d-land was successful.

day two we ventured to the huntington library, a famous museum and conservatory right here in p-town that i had never been to (though both my siblings went there numerous times on school field trips; apparently i got shafted in that area).



it was free day (thanks again jean for the swap-a-roo on tickets!) and we had fun exploring all the different gardens. i'll admit i was a bit skeptical of this place because it's big draw is it's botanical gardens, but it did NOT disappoint. we saw some beautiful and unique plants and flowers:



craaaazy plants that resembled alien life forms (this one reminded me of jack and the beanstalk -- please note b's miniature stature in comparison):



mostly i just felt like i was walkinng around in jurassic park all day, which is totally fine with me because that movie is toward the top of our 10-favorite-films-of-all-time list. the place was just so relaxing and peaceful and beautiful and i loved it!

jp waterfalls:


japanese garden:


uber foliage:


the funniest part was that we ran into people we knew just about everywhere we went -- we saw four friends from our ward in pasadena and five friends from our old ward in l.a.! what can i say, we mormons love free stuff.

oh, and of course -- reinforcing the hypothesis that i have the mental capacity of a five-year-old, being unable to choose appropriate footwear at ANY time -- i chose to wear flip flops that i'm still breaking in. by the end of our two hour visit i was required to walk barefoot back to the parking lot because my feet were hurting so bad -- i now have huge gaping, oozing blisters on both feet. yes, double awesome. i suck.

anyway, we spent the rest of thursday swimming in our pool, eating ice cream, going to target, ordering pizza, watching 30 rock, wearing shorts -- and it was a thursday! i could seriously get used to this lifestyle. isn't that what all you sahm's do every day anyway? :)

by the time we headed into work yesterday [on a friday! woot] we were totally relaxed and ready to hit it again -- for eight hours, of course, before we hit the real weekend. yessss.

we love living in such a fun place with so much to see and do. what the world needs now is less perez hilton and more staycations.

7 comments:

Angela and Mike said...

sahm? haha. I haven't heard that one, and yes, I totally just lounge around all day sun bathing and reading books :) NOT!

What a fun trip, and GIRL...don't you know that you don't need to make a fashion statement while walking around dland? You are just supposed to wear comfy tennis shoes. Silly silly.

The Facks of Life said...

I could get used to that lifestyle too. Thanks for the fun vacation. My post is coming soon...as soon as I get this sick baby off my lap for 2 GD seconds. :)

Roxanne said...

I think I need a hubby (or at least boyfriend) so I can hang out with guys and be referred to as one of your favorite people. life goal!

Jean said...

That sounds like pretty much the awesomest staycation EVER. I miss Disneyland so much -- especially those Dole whips!! And I'm glad you enjoyed the Huntington (thanks for the shout-out!). Tim and I totally took a picture of that weirdo tall plant too!! Crazy! I hope your tootsies feel better now!!

virginia said...

The Huntington rocks!! I worked there for a summer and it was so cool. Did you see the rock garden after the Japanese garden? So zen. Yay for staycations, love the pics!

schnazdoodle said...

The Huntington is one of my favorite places in SoCal. I go there just to photograph... I LOVE the gardens and I love their huge collection of manuscripts...

dana said...

Looks like so much fun! Score on the Dland with Karla! Cute pics of you and B.