First Family 'Vacation'

I had mentioned in a previous post that we were looking to take a little family vacation this summer. Well an opportunity came through one of those 'daily deal' emails for a two-night getaway to Oxnard. I didn't even know where that was, but the reference to 'Channel Islands' caught my attention. It ended up being about an hour outside of L.A. and close to the water so it fit the bill perfectly for what I was looking for: beachy, not too far away, and someplace we hadn't been before.

Overall the trip was really nice. We went up on a Sunday and met up with our friends in LA, which gave Elliott a chance to stretch his legs.

Motorcycle Riding

Our kids haven't been able to spend much time together (even less so since they've been old enough to interact with each other), so it was nice for them to have a chance to play. Lucy even let Elliott borrow her car...which I'm pretty sure has never been honked so much in its entire existance.

Playing with Lucy

We also took the opportunity while we were in LA to visit one of Brad's favorite places to eat: Phillipe's. Shan had never been either so she joined us for dinner, too!  It's one of those places, where I never want to go, but I'm always glad Brad makes me. It is so delicious! I just have to get my head around driving into downtown LA first :P

Waiting for dinner at Phillipe's in L.A.

The next day we took our time getting our bearings since we really had no idea what was in Oxnard other than the beach and a harbor that takes you to the Channel Islands. We would have gone out there if we had stayed one more day, but we didn't want to be super rushy or planny, so we skipped it this time around.

The harbor was beautiful - so many boats! And the beaches were really great. Tons of sand, sand dunes and no body around!! My kind of beach! We walked around the beach in the late morning, then headed to the wharf for lunch.

Sand Tractors - these things were huge!

Walking the dunes

Elliott kept reaching under my sunglasses to use my eyes to hold on!

  

Looking at the boats

Resting

"Sail Boat!"

We saw a seal swimming in the inlet, so we had to take a picture to commemorate.

The wharf was actually really sad. There was pretty much just a couple places left besides the maritime museum. We ate fish and chips and looked at the crabs...so many crabs!

At lunch, deep in conversation :)

crabs - need I say more?

This sign is for you, Auntie Meagan!

On our way out we walked through the maritime museum where they had the most amazing boat models I have ever seen. The detail was extraordinary. The man who built them all for the museum made them from the original plans and hand fabricated EVERYTHING. There was also a few things Elliott could touch and the host even let Elliott ring the bell :) (He was a funny, piratey old man, who surprisingly enough had heard of Elliott's namesake, and seemed to think Elliott was about 5 years old - he was always surprised when Elliott didn't laugh at his jokes.)

One of the many extraordinary models at the maritime museum and E's 'only with your eyes' hands :)

The sad state of affairs at the wharf. One of the many long-closed businesses.

We then spent a little time at a really nice pirate-themed playground, then headed back to the beach for a little time in the sand.

Playground fun!

It was pretty windy by this point, so we didn't get too close to the water. Elliott wanted to make 'castles' which he remembered from going to the beach with Aunt Karen, grandma and grandpa. I felt bad, because I knew nothing would hold its shape when we dumped over the bucket, but Elliott didn't seem to mind. He still exclaimed 'castle!!!" when we ended up with a lovely sand pile ;)

Building castles

Fortunately mounds of sand satisfied his 'castle craving' - heh

As for the practical aspects of out first family vacation, well, it was challenging to say the least. The hotel room was beyond anything Elliott could comprehend. It was full of new things to mess with and he pretty much ran around the room getting into anything and everything he could find. The first night was tough, too. He cried on and off pretty much all night and asked to go home :( (Needless to say, mama made have teared up a bit herself at this.)  He ended up sleeping with us, so I was really glad we had that king size bed! Then being overtired, made for even more hyperness the next day. Unfortunately, we also had a neighbor downstairs the second night who didn't take kindly to toddler footsteps and actually started banging on the walls after Elliott made a couple passes around the room. He tried really hard to not run. He would make these exaggerated tip toe steps (ha!), but then something would catch his eye and he was off! Ugh. Note to self - request a downstairs room like the family checking-in in front of us did (and now I know why!).

Despite the above, I'm really glad we went. I loved that we were able to see so much in such a short amount of time. And I also love that I took another day off work after we got back (to celebrate out 14th anniversary!!), which meant we had plenty of time for normal errandy stuff before going back to work.