Marriage Retreat ~ San Diego

We spent last weekend in San Diego for the Army sponsored marriage retreat they do for us annually. I was a little anxious to see how Miss Zoey would do on a three hour car trip, especially since we had to go through a mountain pass topping out at 4181'. I wasn't sure how her ears would handle the altitude, but she slept the whole way! We got about 15 minutes out from the hotel and hit traffic. Zoey woke up a little pissed that she was still strapped to her carseat, wet, and hungry! She actually sucked on her pacifier (NEVER, ever does that!) for about 10 minutes, which helped soothe her for a little while. We were down the street from the hotel when I decided to just get out of the car with her and walk to try and calm her down. It worked! We got checked into the Marriott in downtown San Diego, and they had a bassinet all set up for us and a gift bag full of toys for Zoey! We ordered pizza in because it was so windy and chilly outside...we didn't want to get the monkey out in the weather. We took her to Extraordinary Desserts, where they have the BEST dessert ever! Of course, she just slept while we indulged in our heavenly treats (we took half of our portions home for later!). This is sort of a tradition for us.

The next day was our first session, and Miss Moon slept through the beginning, waited until the break to wake up and go potty, then she ate and went back to sleep. Such a good baby! Everyone loved her...some people didn't even know she was there...lol After the session we all had lunch and then went and got Zoey a bathing suit. The one she has just doesn't fit quite yet. I wanted to get a photo op in at the beach even though it was overcast and a little windy. When we got to the beach, I had her wrapped up tight in a heavy blanket...underneath wearing nothing but her suit and sunglasses!!! We walked to the shore and Bryan got some video and pictures. She was sooooo adorable that we were dying laughing the entire time!!! I set her feet down in the sand (the water was way too cold), and she immediately lifted them up and made a face. Too funny! After we got done, it actually felt nice to us, but the wind was blowing so we got the monkey wrapped back up, fed, changed, and strapped back in for another car ride to REI...where I bought her another set of sunglasses (with daisies on them!). Funnily enough, we ordered pizza again because we just wanted to chill out in the room; so different from pre-baby Zoey! LOL We watched this amazing show on the first people to travel the Nile...made us really excited to think about starting our adventures back up when Zoey gets old enough to take backpacking!

On Sunday, we headed to Oceanside after the session to spend the night with our good friend Dirty Jimmy. Poor Zoey must've been feeling under the weather because she had a little projectile vomitting that night and was fussy, but when she fell asleep (finally) she slept like a champ all night. She was a smiley baby again the next morning! We headed out of town after getting some breakfast...and Bryan had just enough time to throw on his uniform and head to work. Zoey and I spent the evening snuggling (we always miss daddy when he works nights) and catching up on our Zzz's and a little tv on hulu.com. It was an awesome weekend! We feel like the marriage retreat sessions didn't give us any new insight into our marriage...but it reinforced the things we are doing really well and made us re-appreciate our strong bond. Plus, they showed some funny videos, and that's always a good time! All in all, it was just so nice to get out of town, hang out without worrying about unpacking, cleaning, and work, and take Zoey to the beach...we can't wait to take her when she's old enough to run around, build sand castles, play in the water...so much to look forward to. But, for now...we'll just enjoy today!