The Jacs are Back!

My favorite favorite favorite thing about Southern California:

The Jacaranda trees! By the end of April each year, these delightful purple trees are in bloom all over Los Angeles. We have a few outside our house and tons line the streets on my walk to work. They make the neighborhood so bright and colorful! Yesterday, I requested a family walk around the neighborhood just to look at the jacaranda trees. Marshall has now learned the word "jacaranda," which is as adorable as you might imagine. So anyway, it's my favorite time of year for LA!

Last weekend, Terry and I spent our very first night away from Marshall together. We headed down to San Diego around noon on Saturday to celebrate Terry's 30th birthday! I didn't take many photos, but here are a few of our adventures:

We arrived a bit later than we expected, so upon check-in we just changed and headed out to walk around before dinner. There was a Padres game that evening, and the stadium is in the middle of downtown, so we walked near the stadium and stopped for a beer and appetizer at Stone Brewery Tasting Room. They had a bunch of board games, so I let Terry win a round of TV trivia.

Then we headed to our reservation at Spike Africa's, a seafood place. for dinner. The entrees were good, but the desserts were killer. For Terry's birthday, they offered us a free dessert, and then a waiter came around with a huge yellowtail (whole) and said if we guessed the weight we'd get another free dessert. My husband, who is Good at All Things, guessed 13 pounds, so we won! The first dessert was butterscotch pudding with warm salted caramel on top, and the second was bourbon chocolate bread pudding. I think we each would have happily eaten ourselves into a coma if the food hadn't run out.

We slept in until 8:30 the next morning(!) and then headed out for breakfast at our favorite, Cafe 21. 

Terry's meal: lamb and goat cheese omelet with fruit

My meal: feta and spinach omelet with greens

Plus a bloody Mary and fancy juice

Then we wandered over to Le Parfait Paris, a French pastry shop, to grab a couple croissants for the road that we really didn't need. But they were delicious, and the shop was so cute!

And we spent the rest of our morning strolling along the waterfront. We also knocked out 200 lunges along the way! 

On our way home, we stopped at Pizza Port for our last San Diego meal for a while--pizza and beer, plus a kale salad.

It was a great first getaway as parents, and I'm particularly excited that we both felt so relaxed. We're looking forward to more!

Next, I thought I'd share a bunch of photos from recently:

Marshall vacuuming--he's super thorough, so he even lifts the table while he does it!

We've been reading TONS lately! We took a trip to the library yesterday to mix up our book selection. It's so fun to hear him "help" us read (if we pause, he can usually fill in the missing words), and he's getting close to knowing the alphabet, as well as counting to ten without help. It's amazing to watch him learn so much!

More vacuuming. When we vacuum, he runs to grab his so he can help. 

Some food lately:

I've eaten at least five of these sandwiches in the last week or two: turkey, cheddar, tomato, and guac. SO good.

Pasta with lots of vegetables. 

Fresh fruit--I can't wait for summer produce!

Work snacks: Larabars, fruit, Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread with cream cheese.

Last week Marshall and I had a little date night! Terry had to work late, so I took M out for burgers. We had so much fun!

One night recently we chose a random Tuesday and headed down to Santa Monica for a picnic dinner overlooking the ocean. Marshall loved it! 

Marshall loved it! And we loved it, too. It was nice to mix up our evening routine, get some fresh air, and enjoy the beach.

Plus, we stopped for dessert!

And lastly, a miscellaneous photo of one of our walks, when Marshall stopped to "rest" while we walked around the block. We've got some shaping up to do.

This weekend we've kept things mellow with some walks around the neighborhood, some great food at home, and time with friends today. And now I'm ready for some dessert and TV before the week begins. Have a wonderful week--I hope you have something beautiful like jacarandas to keep you smiling!