Santa Monica, CA

Kindergarden started in the Fall. The winter took a turn for the very long. Stuck at home. Surrounded by the same walls, that seemed to be closing in. The non-stop chitter chatter and boredom of sweet little darlings. Not enough snow to have any fun. Not enough sun to keep some of us from sinking into the seasonal depression. We were LONG over due for a break.

There was a need to celebrate the fact that we survived. Alive. With a super-sitter at home, just the hubby and I take it to sunny California to catch our breath.

Together, we have traveled quite a few miles on this old lonesome highway,

so at the end of it all we sat down and had a 'white trash' hotdog with a Coke and a smile...

This is deep. Sometimes, you are forced to stop and reflect, even when you're feeling a little shallow and a little too sorry for yourself.

I just want to be BIG or at least a little less big with a less responsibility...

I realize that there is a certain amount of pouting happening here.

Deal with it. I am.

We left with no plans. None. So, we walked...

stretched...

watched...

shopped...

thought...

and ate and talked...

There was a total solar eclipse of the sun...

Early to rise...

 ...for a little ride down the beach...

Starbucks stop in Venice. Crack.

It's kind of chili out...

I think I left my wallet around here somewhere...

This guy is celebrating 100 years of surfing or something like that...

Mike's down with beautiful Manhattan...

and I love me some surfers...

The end of the road.

A tad desolate and a little uneventful, but quiet and peaceful and wide open...

On the way back we had lunch. It was quiet. Nobody yelled or threw food...

It was just like that time we rented bikes in Amsterdam, but without being high. Just kidding. Just kidding, again.

Hooray for boobies...

BooM. 50 Mile bike ride down and up the coast. YaY!

AND the SUN finally came out and it warmed up just as we were returning our bicycles.

The president of Russia was staying in our hotel. Secret Service everywhere. A young mountain lion wondered into downtown Santa Monica. He was lost and confused. The police shot and killed him.

...ain't that America? Home of the free...

Totally living it up around the corner from...

...but after finding out that...

...the rest of the night is spent doing this...

Zzzzzzz.....

The next day on our way to get coffee, we took some advise from this mural...

 ...and I realize that even though I can escape my children for a minute, I can't escape the fact that I have the same humor of a prepubescent boy...

 ...this one cheered me up and then I couldn't get that Christina Aguilera song out of my head, so then that kind of bummed me out...

Hey you. Yeah. You...

Vacation nail polish!!!

So happy that summer is finally here...

 If we didn't care so much about keeping our kids rooted, I think we would ditch the arctic tundra for sunnier skies and warmer weather...

Isn't this some obligatory picture???

Would all this get old???

Maybe it's too good to be true????

...I hate traffic just as much as I hate snow...

Pretty sure we would get crazy homesick...

Things just wouldn't be the same...

I guess sometimes it's fun to fantasize with your head stuck in the clouds...

..and it's okay to take an occaional brake from your reality, before your reality takes a turn...

...because what is waiting back at home and missing us like crazy is the best thing to ever happen to us. EVEN if it can cause temporary bouts of insanity...

...and it's that - if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?

--Dorothy Gale, from Kansas