This year for Mother’s
Day my husband asked me what I wanted to do. I thought about it and told him I
would love to take the girls down to Laguna
Beach, walk around a bit and then get a margarita with
chips and guac at the Hotel Laguna on the deck. Perfection.
I romanticize about
my Laguna outing all week and finally the day arrives. We pack up the car for what could be a
week. The STUFF necessary to pack for kids on any given outing astounds me. Cheerios? Check.
Dipes? Check. Stroller? Check. Baby food? Check. On and on… But we get packed
up, loaded up, and on our way.
As we approach
Laguna it seems like everyone and their mother (no pun intended) had the same idea. Lots and lots of people and lots
of traffic. But what was I
expecting? After all, it was a GORGEOUS afternoon and we live in Orange County.
Our 4 year old falls asleep in car just as we
approach Main Beach.
Great. But, turns out she gets a
good catnap because it took forever to find parking. We finally find a
spot, several blocks up a hill, and get unloaded. I am in new flip flops that
are super cute, but aren’t quite broken in, so the hill is looking a bit
daunting. But I suck it up as I feel a blister
forming. It’s my perfect afternoon so I
walk with a smile!
We get down to Main Beach
and it is SO CROWDED. My oldest attempts
to play on the playground there, but can barely get a turn on the slide. Tons
of BIG kids. She is over it and tells me
she wants to build a sandcastle. We are
not equipped for sand play, but we acquiesce and go down on the sand.
First thing baby
does is pick up a fistful of sand, which goes directly into her mouth and subsequently all
over her face and in her eyes. Then 4 year old starts to complain she is too
hot. So I have a sandy baby and a whining
4 year old and I decide it's margarita time.
We make our way to
the Hotel Laguna. Right when we walk in, I smell the smell. Baby has pooped. Big one. We go swiftly go to the women’s room
and I find there is no changing station.
Husband tells me I should go out to this courtyard area and change her on
one of the tables out there. I look at him like he is on crack because there
is a WEDDING ceremony set-up! What?!
At that moment, I ironically
run into a girl I used to work with years ago who now works at the hotel. She tells me she has a one year old and seeing
that I am now talking to a fellow mommy, I ask her if there is a restroom with
a changing station. She tells me I can
do it in her office and do I have a changing pad?
Yes, I do. Conveniently
located in the trunk of my car. Up that
hill. It never fails, with ALL of the
gear I pack, it is the ONE thing I forget that I actually need!
I get baby changed and we make our way to the deck to find a table. We get a few looks
from fellow patrons as we walk in with our stroller, all the gear and two
little ones. But it’s 5:00pm, not prime romantic
dinner hour, so give me a break! It’s
MOTHER’S DAY weekend and I will have my margarita and chips if my kids scream
or not!! And, if they do, I just might
have two!
But they didn’t. They were both SO good. I got about 45 minutes out them. And I had my drink and some REALLY good chicken
nachos amidst plastic placemats, baby food, spilled Sprite and cheerios looking
at the ocean with my family on a beautiful OC day.
And even with those imperfect moments, to me it was the
PERFECT afternoon.
This is an Original
Post to the Orange County Moms Blog.
When Jennifer is not gallivanting with her family on perfect (yea, right!) outings,
she can be found blogging about her outings at her personal blog for OC moms, Tiny Oranges. You can also connect with her on Facebook or follow @TinyOrangesOC on Twitter.
