We took Gianna swimming at the neighbor’s the other day and I found out just how much she enjoys water–thankfully, quite the opposite of her mother! Take a look at her not wanting to get out!

Finally! We made it to and from our destination (the farthest from home we’ve ever been with Gianna) with NO tears. Nada. Zip from the car seat. Can I even explain how sweet it is to have memories from a trip as a family where no one was crying? Not her and not me either! YIPEE!!

Ok, enough rejoicing and on to the details. We spontaneously planned a trip over the holiday weekend to visit family in Lucia (quite a few miles south of Big Sur). That’s a 5.5 hour trip from our house on a good day, without holiday traffic and crying baby in tow. So, we decided the only way to make such a long journey enjoyable over only 3 days would be to pack everything up the night before and then leave the house at 2:30 in the morning. I know, we sounded like crazy people even to ourselves.

But it worked! Gianna woke up when I took her out of her crib but she was calm and quiet for the car ride down the hill and into the Sacramento valley. An hour and a half after putting her in the car she fell back asleep and didn’t wake up until 6:30 when we arrived in Monterey. It was mostly thanks to our prior engineering of a blanket wire strung between the two back windows so I could drape it over her car seat and keep the morning sun from waking her too early. And when we stopped in Monterey we were all ready for breakfast and her first words were, “voiture Mama”. And I was like, “Yes, sweetheart you are in the car. Funny huh?” We zipped down the coast after breakfast in record time, making Lucia in just over an hour flat (usually takes 90 min.).

Then we spent the whole day visiting with my aunt who has tremendous views of the coast and introducing Gianna to the Pacific Ocean for the first time. She was hilarious to watch! And, I’m uploading video of it to youtube today so check back tomorrow for that. She just had a blast frolicking in the waves, sifting sand through her fingers, picking up stones and shells and putting them in her bucket and giggling as the waves rushed over her feet and up to her thighs.

After a simply gorgeous day and night in Lucia we headed back to Monterey to visit the aquarium and let Gianna ogle the harbor and all the boats. “Bateau” was officially her favorite word of the trip. And when we thought we would have to contend with a grueling trip home during the daylight hours on Monday, she surprised both of us by sleeping for almost two hours and then happily shopped with us at the outlet mall conveniently half-way through our trip home. We stayed for lunch and then headed back on the road for another 2 hours home. She didn’t cry or get antsy until we were on our street and I think she would have happily rode on if she hadn’t realized we were home.

I’m just amazed at how perfect this trip was! It could have been a total disaster as most of our other, shorter trips have been. Could this be a sign that my little girl is growing up?–She did just turn 17 months this weekend! In any case, I think this is just what I needed to give me a confidence boost for our international travel plans this September.

Now a little photo show of our trip!

The Monterey Aquarium:

Allow me to set the scene:

Benoit was holding Gianna while he poured us both a glass of wine. I had my back turned, attention tuned to cooking some rice on the stove. Benoit had just told me the wine was poured and began to drink his own.

Then Gianna said, “Mama?” “Mama?” and when I failed to promptly respond to her, out came a very stern, “Mama! Bois du vin!” Roughly translated that’s, “Mama! Drink wine!”

I almost peed myself that she had actually spoken a complete sentence and then I almost peed myself again laughing so hard that she managed to use her first sentence to talk to me about my drinking habits. I think I’m going to have to chalk this one up to her French side. I mean, that family has wine (or at least champagne) running in their veins! It couldn’t possibly be that I’ve been relishing my post-birth, post-breastfeeding ability to have a glass of wine most nights. Nah. She must have learned it from her father. He’s the one teaching her how to say it in French after all.