Birds!

Jakey loves birds. I mean, he LOVES birds. We would just be happily walking along in Catalina, when suddenly Jake would start kicking his legs and doing his open-mouth-so-excited-I'm-almost-hyperventilating thing (is there a name for that?). So we'd look to see what was so interesting, and 99.9% of the time, it was birds. Because of this new-found obsession, we spent a decent amount of our vacation time chasing after pigeons. Entirely normal, I assure you. And oh-so-cute.

PS- He likes dogs, too.

Parasailing

This is the story of why Matt and I had to go parasailing in Catalina.

In May of 2007, my roommate Alicia and I went on a cruise. Our first stop was in San Diego, and that night, I made a one-hour phone call to my then-boyfriend Matt. After hanging up the cell phone (which showed regular ol' service, might I add), I turned to my roomie and said, "I think I love him." That, along with the $500 bill that those 60-minutes of cell service pinging off a cruise ship incurred (oops), have forever cemented the $500 phone call in mine and Matt's relationship. Figuring out/finally admitting I was actually in love was worth every single penny!


The next day, our cruise ship stopped in Catalina. Alicia and I wandered the quaint little streets and stopped into the cute touristy shops of Avalon. Then, Alicia decided she wanted to go parasailing. I did, too, but my poor, starving, airplane-ticket-buying college student self decided I'd save that money and that experience for Matt. One day, we'd go to Catalina together and would go parasailing together, and we'd love it together. And sure enough, almost exactly five years later, we did just that!


Parasailing is so fun and relaxing, and the views are incredible. I loved having everything come full circle in a way as I floated hundreds of feet above the ocean with my handsome husband. I'm in love with him, you know.

THE $500 phone call of love.

Getting our feet wet! (Luckily, no great white sharks decided to jump up and eat us. They jump, you know. And I'm terrified of sharks, remember? K, good.)

Baby at the Beach

We have a little beach lover!

Words cannot describe how happy this makes us, his beach-loving parents. Jake has been to the beach before, but our trip to Avalon Bay was the first time he walked in the sand or felt the ocean water on his little toes. He took a little nap when we first arrived at the beach and then woke up thrilled to be there. Jake did his so-excited-I'm-almost-hyperventilating thing mixed with squeals and giggles the entire time. It was so much fun! We are now even more excited for our summer at the beach. Who knew that was possible?

What is this wet stuff on my toes? I think I like it!

Snorkel and swim

This was a huge accomplishment for me. Sure, I've snorkeled my fair share of times in Hawaii and the Caribbean. Sure, I love the ocean and spend plenty of time at the beach. Sure, I'm a California girl both at heart and according to the United States government. But you guys, the California coast scares the living daylights out of me.

Maybe it's because when we first moved to California when I was a little kid, we played at the empty beach all day and then saw the "Caution: Great White Sighting Yesterday" sign as we were leaving. Or maybe it's because the California coast is freezing and murky and, oh yes, full of great white sharks. Or maybe it's because I've watched Shark Week and have also googled all of the shark attacks off the coast of California in the last five decades. Okay, probably all of those reasons. So while I love to go to the beach and play in the waves, the shore is my friend and actually swimming in California's little piece of the Pacific Ocean is entirely out of the question. Except for when we go to Catalina for the weekend, apparently.

I don't know what came over me, but snorkeling was actually my idea. Word on the street was that Lover's Cove had some fantastic fishies and I am very easily persuaded when it comes to travel and adventure. Next thing I knew, we were renting wetsuits and heading out into the deep blue. The wetsuits were amazingly warm, but unfortunately don't cover your face ski-mask style, which was quite the shock when I first dipped my face into the water. The cold combined with the realization that I was in 20-plus-feet-deep open ocean water (likely full of sharks, natch) may have required me to take a minute to compose myself before enjoying the underwater wildlife.

In the end, we were amazed by how many pretty fish we saw (bummer that our underwater camera died before we could capture them), how creepy-cool it is to navigate around seaweed (potentially deadly maze), how clear the ocean actually gets when you get deep enough (yikes!), and how few sharks we came in contact with (zero). (Thank goodness.)

A few hours after our ocean swim, we enjoyed a relaxing dip in our hotel pool. Let's all breathe a sigh of relief, shall we? No sharks in the swimming pool! Jakey got in on the action this time and, happily, liked the pool much better than his first time. He even learned how to splash in the pool! (He splashes in the tub all the time, but the pool is a bit more intimidating, apparently.) So fun.

Riding tandem

Jake's first bike ride? Check.

Quaint towns like Avalon basically beg for bike rides, and we were happy to oblige. Jakey was a bit unsure about the whole helmet thing at first, but he warmed up to the bike ride once we got going (and then cooled right off every time the helmet would slide down onto his face. You can hardly blame him). Matt took Jake for a ride in a baby seat, Talon and Carolyn shared a tandem bike, and I merrily tagged along on my cute little beach cruiser. We went on a pretty ride from Lover's Cove to the famous casino and through plenty of adorable streets in between. Then, before turning in the bikes, we took turns with Talon and Carolyn's rental. Tandem bikes are clearly a good time.