the leavitts.: santa barbara.

we are back home from our 10-day trip up to calgary.

it was such a fun trip.

our days were mostly spent going from one family gathering to another.

lots of family, and lots of friends.
[and a few times where matt and i got to sneak away all by ourselves]

it was just how we hoped it we would be.

we flew into calgary at 4:30pm on the 21st.

by 7:00pm we were having dinner with my parents and the fox family.

the next morning we went to church from 11:00 - 12:15. [we were on vacation.. give us a break!]
we visited at matt's brother's house from 1:00 - 4:00.
and we attended the leavitt adult family christmas party from 7:00 - who knows when.

so, i'm not kidding about the non-stop visiting!

most of our days were just as packed. always with our favorite people.

it was busy. but good busy. very good busy.

the worst part of the trip had to be the down right miserable children that tagged along with us.

[you thought i was going to say the weather was the worst part, didn't you?]

the weather made me kinda sad, but our kids made me really sad.

they. were. grouchy.

unfortunately, i can't really blame them.

they were both sick, holden got 3 molars while we were away, they were off schedule, they were skipping naps, staying up late, totally exhausted, the were out of their routine [and usually i am all about routine], playing with more kids in one afternoon then they normally play with in a week, and getting spoiled rotten no matter how awful they were being.

soo.. it was hard.

i honestly didn't even know how to deal with my own children.

i was sad that our family all saw their not-so-great side, but there wasn't much we could do.

thankfully, they are back to their normal selves.

they both slept in late on thursday, had a four hour nap, and went to bed on time.

[clearly, they were lacking some shut-eye]

and starting yesterday they were lovable again!

i had missed them.

but, even with all the meltdowns, time-outs, mood swings, and whining [oh, the whining!], we lived to tell the tale.
and chet miraculously has nothing but fond memories of the trip.

weird...

i have so much to share from our trip, but starting in on that seems rather daunting right now.

so today i am going to cheap out and share our new years day outing first.

we got back to LA on new years eve.

and, since matt didn't have to go back to work until the 2nd, that meant we had one more day of fun before we got back to routine.

one of matt's superiors at work had handed him a generous amount of cash before christmas [in a handshake - very sneaky] and told him to go have some fun with the kids.

we thought it was such a kind gesture.

and we were more then happy to do exactly as he had said!

after spending the past 10 days in the snow, the beach seemed extra appealing.

we had heard lots of people talk about santa barbara, so we made a quick decision and planned a day trip up there.

it is just over an hour up the coast from us [a lot west/a little north].

and boy, is it ever a cute city.

very touristy and very fish-smelly, but just darling to explore.

we spent the whole day right on the coast.

we checked out the marina, took a water taxi over to the wharf, rented a surrey bike, biked all up and down the beach, ate lunch at the east beach grill, played at a park, played in the sand, and grabbed a tasty milkshake for the ride home.