My Beach Babe!

Eliza and I finally made it back from our San Diego vacation. We felt really lucky to be able to go. Even if most of the events ended up looking like the picture below for the two of us. We never really figured out a schedule, and it didn't help that Eliza got feverish and sick one of the nights and woke up screaming every two hours. OUCH.

The other biggest ouch that I'm still not recovered from and am not sure if I ever will be was the red eye flight we came back on Sunday night. Eliza got a poopy diaper right after we got on the plane, and so I couldn't get up to change her until we were in the air... which meant that my exhausted Eliza SCREAMED and SCREAMED and writhed in my arms for a good 20 minutes until she finally fell asleep in my lap. I cried with her. It was terrible. as I'm sure anyone on that altitude could tell you.

I tried reading to her, singing to her, feeding her, rocking her (while still in the seated position), everything I could think of... It reminded me of when she was colicky... not a reminder I was grateful for. Eliza doesn't realize that she just booted back any potential of a sibling by another good 3+ years. and I'm not kidding. It was that bad. I don't plan on trying to fly with her anywhere else anytime soon. On one of our flights on the way out, Eliza and I had a whole row to ourselves which was heaven! It was just like chillin' on the couch only better! Eliza spent probably a good hour of our flight just cuddling with the airplane pillows and her blankie. It was really cute. We were unfortunately scrunched in next to two perverted men who had fun talking about So Cal beach girls and nude beaches, etc on our red eye flight of horrors... awesome.

But back to the sunny San Diego Report. I loved getting lots of fun time with four of my favorite people during our trip:
Eliza really knows her aunts and grandparents these days. She thinks they're a not stop party! It was sooo much fun to be with Mom, Dad, Katy, and Abby-- it felt like Robby should be right there with us getting stung by jelly fishes.

But the big news was that Eliza is a TOTAL Beach BABE!!! She was giddy in the waves. Seriously squealy and kicking her feet with each wave and ocean water exposure! She was more brave about them then I was. Lots of times I would be running away from the breaking waves, and she would be running towards them! She only got swallowed by one once... but she recovered quickly.

Eliza's Meldau Roots were bursting through! She even got to see a tide pool with Aunt Katy! Something that Steve had never seen until the Thanksgiving we were engaged and visited my Grandpa Bob in CA almost 3 years ago.
One of the best parts of the trip was that Eliza got to meet her two great grandparents. My Oma (my mom's mom):

and her Great Grandpa Bob (my dad's dad) and her Great Aunt Barbara:Eliza loved them MUCHO! And the birthday presents they gave her! Oma gave her a giant white poodle stuffed animal that Eliza loves hugging and rolling around on the ground with. Grandpa gave Eliza her first doll which she also loves hugging and rolling around on the ground with! and a little Leap Frog that sings the ABC's to her. She kept walking it over to us and signing while saying, "Mo? Mo?" (translation- More) so that we would press it's tummy and make it sing for her.

Eliza also quickly learned that Aunt Barbara was THE source for fun with all of the toys she had for her to play with! I was amazed and Oh-so-grateful for her supply!

I LOVED being able to visit with these three amazing people along with other Capener's. Being able to visit and enjoy their company reminded me of just how hard it is to live across the country from a lot of our family!

My favorite part of the vacation besides the beach was getting to go to the glorious San Diego Temple with Mom. We even got to go to a Spanish Session! Que Bueno! It was AMAZING. and a very peaceful experience amidst the stress of sleep deprivation and traveling.


And if you hadn't noticed already, I love doing these 'Look How Far We've Come in a Year' pictures. So here's Eliza and me ready to swim last August compared to this week!

(gotta love my farmer's tan and the seaweed that Katy snuck into Eliza's arms RIGHT before the shot was taken. Thanks, Kate)

I was sad I didn't get more pictures, but hopefully Mom, Dad, and Abby will continue to share more with me. They have a better camera anywayz. Thanks again for the trip, guys!