Our Trip to Carlsbad: Days 8 & 9 (Plus Some Stuff I Forgot About)

First, let's start with the things I had forgotten to write about. Kristin posted on her blog about a few things that I had totally forgotten about because I hadn't taken pictures of them like she did. So, I stole the pictures from her blog & decided I would just add them to this post.

A few of the nights that we were in Carlsbad, all the adults would play games while the kiddos watched movies. We had a blast playing Wits & Wagers (seriously one of the most fun games ever) and Catchphrase...


I have to share a story about one game of Catchphrase. Ashlee & I were on a team, and Mike & Kristin were on the other team. Mike's phrase that he had to describe to Kristin was "Prince Charming". He decided to split it up & describe each word separately. So, he said, "A king's son is called a what?" And Kristin shouted out proudly, "A Monk!!!!!" Mike just gave her this look, as if he was thinking, "Are you kidding me?" Maybe it was that it was 11:30 at night and all of us were exhausted, but it was so hilarious. We couldn't stop laughing! I love playing games with my family!

The other thing I forgot to mention was Cohen's "surprise party". After we ate dinner on the Oceanside Pier, we were driving back to the condo to open presents & have cake when my mom called me. She said, "Gavin thinks it would be fun for all of us to get back to the condo before Cohen and then yell 'surprise' when he walks in, kind of like it's a surprise party." So, our family (and Poppy would was with us) drove around for a little while, pretending we were lost. When we finally "found" the condo, we walked in to hear everyone scream "Surprise! Happy birthday!!!" Cohen loved it...


It was so stinkin' cute! So, those were the things I forgot to write about in my previous posts. Now on to Days 8 & 9...

I lumped these two days together because there's really not a whole lot to write about...just driving, driving & more driving. On Day 8, we got up & started packing up the cars for our drive home. You would not believe all the traffic we ran into! Apparently, the entire city of Los Angeles was going to Las Vegas for a long weekend. We were seriously doing slow-and-go through Death Valley. Who would have thought you'd ever run into traffic in the middle of nowhere Death Valley?!? Got to love SoCal! We finally made it to St. George (our stopping point for the day) at about 7:00 at night. We checked into our hotel & headed to Brick Oven for some pizza. Love me some Brick Oven. Then it was back to the hotel for some late-night swimming. The pool was so warm! It almost felt like bath water. Everyone swam until about 10:00 at night...

Then, the next morning (Day 9), we got up early & headed for home. Boooooooooooo!!! I'm ready for another vacation already! It was such a fun week. We all had a blast & loved every second of it. I can actually say that this vacation was a very relaxing one. Sometimes I get home from vacation & feel like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation. But, not this one. It was a week full of relaxation & laid-back fun. We loved it & hope to get back to Carlsbad again someday! --Lindsay