Home, how I've missed you!!!

(I should preface this by saying we really love our family and miss them greatly already!! We're happy to be home because Maya is herself again - not because we don't like to be around them.)

I should also tell my parents Happy 35th Anniversary (June 29th)and Happy 5th Anniversary to my main man, Nick..(June 25th)***

Holy cow, does it feel great to be in our own home. We just got back from California last night after a LONG 4.5 hour flight. Maya did great flying to LA and to Detroit, she didn't even make a peep on the way back home, it was the time spent in California where she was just awful! I'm sure Nick's family would say she wasn't that bad but when you are with her 24/7 and she's the only child there her bad behavior seems magnified. I don't know what was up with her or how to explain it but she just threw a fit about EVERYTHING. Put her in her highchair, she throws a fit. Look at her the wrong way, she throws a fit. Give her what she asks for, she throws a fit. Don't get me wrong she had some good moments too, on our last day there she was really quite good. Those couple hours of sweetness seemed to make up for the rest of the trip so I was happy about that.

I'm relieved to say now that we're home she is completely back to herself. She slept from 10:00 pm to 10:00 am this morning!! (and I slept that long too, poor Nick had to get up for work.) It seems like you are always more tired when you come home from a trip (especially with a toddler) and need those extra hours of sleep.

Here are some positives from our trip:

First I'll explain why we went to CA. Most of Nick's family lives there so every summer his grandparents plan a big Family Reunion somewhere in Southern CA. Last year we went to Laguna Beach and stayed in a hotel. It was decided that we should just do it at Gammi & Papa's house because they live right by the beach anyway, and there is plenty of space for everyone. It was so great to see everyone and just spend time catching up. We only get to see most of his family once a year so it's nice to do that.

FOOD FOOD and MORE FOOD...I swear I just gained 10 pounds over a long weekend. My favorite dinner was on Thursday night when they ordered chicken, ribs, and all of the side dishes from a local BBQ place. It was so good! I wish I could have some more right now and it's 10:00 in the morning. Another place we always go when we visit G & P is their favorite Italian place, Guiddo's. We saw Suzanne Somer's there, I wanted to see more famous people so Aunt Gail and I walked around inconspicuously to see if we'd get lucky but nobody else was there...just Suzanne Somers, crazy piggy tails and all.

Watching everyone smile and laugh while they watched Maya be sweet. She took to Great Uncle Jeff immediatley and he seemed to like that. I think it meant a lot to Nick's grandparents that everyone was there and taking time out of their busy schedules to be together.

Going to the beach was a huge highlight, I think anytime we got Maya out of the house was a good thing. She loved playing in the water and with the sand. Nick braved the freezing water and spent some time body surfing.

Maya picked up some new words and phrases while we were there. She can now add: Beach, Ocean, Stairs, and Awesome to her vocabulary.

We miss everyone already and hope our next trip isn't as stressful and I hope I don't cry as much on the next trip. Oh yeah, and I hope that Nick still wants more babies now that Maya is back to her sweet self. It might take him a couple more days!