Posts Tagged ‘Santa Barbara’

Today we met up with Adam, Denna and Tyler in Santa Barbara for lunch to say goodbye. I hung out with them with my brother last week at the zoo for Tyler’s birthday, but we wanted to have all of us get together one last time. We met up on State Street and had lunch at the yummy Natural Cafe. Tyler always starts out kind of shy around us, and then warms up throughout the visit. He kept hiding his face in the stroller this morning, then he noticed the fresh flowers on the table and came out of his shell some. We had a nice meal and chatted about our upcoming adventure. We were going to walk around a little and window shop, but Rhino started getting cranky and hungry, so we swung by the car to feed him. Tyler loves babies, so he got a chance to hang out with Rhino and chat. It’s been nice getting to build more of a friendship since they got back from Italy. They just moved back, so it’s kind of a shame that we’re leaving now. I hope that when we fly in to California from Japan that we’ll get to arrange visits with them before we head off to visit our families. Here are a few photos of today’s visit.

Tyler and Rhino from Melissa on Vimeo.

Dearest Rhino,

Today you are two months old! It has been another wonderful month with you and so much has happened!

You have grown so much! Daddy and I used to carry you around in your car seat all the time, but now you are almost too heavy! You have your doctor’s appointment tomorrow where you’ll be weighed (you haven’t been since you were two weeks.) Whenever we go out in public, people think you are much older than you are because you are such a big boy and are often very alert and interested in everything around you.

You did a whole lot of new things this month! We visited Daddy’s Uncle Roger in San Diego. It’s a long car trip, but you slept most of the way, only waking to eat. When we were there you saw your Grandpa and Aunt Jen before she moved away from California. They were very happy to get a chance to see you one more time before we move away. You also met a lot of cute dogs and went for your first hike (attached to me!)

Right now my brother, your Uncle Matt, is visiting us from Texas. He is just here for the weekend, but wanted to meet you before we move away. He plays the guitar when we’re just relaxing around the apartment, which you seem to enjoy. You also had your first trip to the zoo, where you saw giraffes, macaws, elephants, and lemurs. You also visited with my friend Denna’s son, Tyler, who just turned two years old. You met him when he came over last month and he really loved you. After the zoo trip you also went to the beach for the first time. You slept the whole time, but I stood in the water with you strapped to me. It has been quite an eventful time!

Daddy and I have had such a great time getting to know you better this past month. You have been so smiley with us, which is just the best thing ever. You have such a gorgeous smile! I printed out some black and white patterns and glued them to cardboard to stick on your things for you to look at. You will stare at them for the longest time and sometimes smile at them. Just recently you started to coo and babble. Often times you hold long “conversations” with these black and white patterns while you’re getting your diaper changed! You also converse with Daddy and I, which we both really get a kick out of!

You are about to have a really exciting adventure in a couple weeks. At the end of this month we will be moving to Japan and will be there for a few years. We have been waiting for a little while to get everything in order with your official papers but are now finally ready to go. It was nice that you were born here in the US so your relatives could come and visit easily when you were first born. We won’t be able to visit with all of them quite as frequently because we will be so far away. It will be fun in Japan — Daddy has always wanted to go there, so we are very excited. You will get to see so many interesting things and hopefully you will remember a few of them!

You are such a fun baby and Daddy and I love being around you so much. Every day we feel tremendously blessed that you are with us. You are growing so fast all ready, it feels like we just brought you home two weeks ago rather than two whole months ago! But at the same time, I feel like we have known you much longer all ready. It just feels right having you in our family, like we have been holding a space specifically for you. I never thought I would enjoy being a mommy so much. Thank you, Rhino.

Love,
Mommy

Dearest Rhino,

Today you are now one month old! It has definitely been the most amazing month of my life. Your birth was the most beautiful event I’ve taken part of. Labor was hard, but Daddy and I were well prepared. The very second you were born all the pain drained out of me and I was filled only with love and joy. Daddy and I screamed with excitement and cried tears of happiness as we held you for the first time. It was definitely love at first sight.

The month has flown by so quickly. Daddy had ten days off work when you were born so he could take care of us. And you had a lot of visitors! Aunt Jen, Daddy’s sister, was also here to help out and spend time with you. She decorated our apartment for your arrival, took a lot of pictures of you, and helped Daddy and I out a whole lot. When you were almost two weeks old Grammy, my mommy, came to visit you from Colorado. We took you out to a restaurant for the first time (Chinese food), went to Santa Barbara, had your first bath, and had your two-week pediatrician visit. Grammy also helped Daddy and I out tremendously by cooking some yummy dinners and doing lots of cleaning. While she was here, you went to church for the first time and were dedicated to the Lord. There was a little ceremony in front of the whole congregation where our friend and church elder, Jim, said a very nice prayer for you. Grammy had the video camera to record the whole thing. She did a terrific job and we were very pleased to have a video of the event to share with people who couldn’t make it. But when we got home to look at the video, we found that Grammy never actually was recording! She felt very bad, but it funny now and there will be plenty of videos of you in the future! The day after Grammy left, Grandma and Grandpa (Daddy’s parents) flew in from New York. They brought lots of gifts from family and church members back there. While they were visiting you were held and played with all the time. A bunch of ladies from church also threw you a party where you got so many clothes and nice things! When Grandma and Grandpa left, we got a little break from guests to just spend time with you alone. Then yesterday Pop, my daddy, came in from Texas to meet you. You, Pop and I took another trip to Santa Barbara to pick up your birth certificate and go out for pizza. We also visited the base where Daddy works. Today is my 25th birthday, so Pop took us all out for a nice dinner where you were very good! Pop will be here a few more days before going back to Texas. Other than family members, my friend Denna and her 18-month old son Tyler came to meet you. Tyler loved spending time with you, holding you (with me), patting, and kissing you. You also met people from church who have come over and you have been to our weekly Bible study. You sure have had an exciting month of meeting new people!

You sleep a lot and don’t cry very much. Sometimes you sleep in the bassinet, but usually you sleep with us. I didn’t used to think we’d want you to sleep in the bed with us, but now I wouldn’t want it any other way. I love cuddling up together as you feed, then drift off to sleep. I love even more waking up with you as you stretch and grunt yourself awake. You eat a lot and have grown so much! In the three days you were in the hospital when you were born you lost 10 ounces. By your one-week appointment, you gained it all back and then by your two-week appointment gained 9 more ounces! Everyone thinks you are going to be very tall, just like Daddy. Most people also say you look just like Daddy. I think it’s because you have dark hair like him. We looked at some pictures of me when I was about your age and were very surprised that you look a lot like I did. So now we think you look like both Daddy and I — you have the best of us in you!

Daddy and you are getting along very well! He was worried before that he wouldn’t know what to do, but he is an expert at taking care of you! He is a pro at diaper changes (and asks to do them to give me a break!), holds you in the shower while we clean you (yes, you take showers now!), and talks to you and plays with you all the time. You are very lucky to have such a wonderful, loving Daddy and we are so lucky to have such a sweet baby!

It is a very exciting time for our new family. Daddy was supposed to be transferred to a new job just a couple weeks after you were born! The job is in Japan and that isn’t a good idea to move right away, so we asked to have it bumped back to the end of March. So now we are getting ready to move to Japan for about four years! Your grandparents aren’t quite as excited for us, because they just met you and now they are going to miss you a lot because you’ll be much farther away. We will take lots of pictures and videos of you for them and you have all ready used a video camera over the internet to talk to your grandparents. We will visit when we can and they will even come out to see you! Japan should be a very neat place. Daddy has always wanted to visit there and now we get to live there and see lots of new and exciting things!

We thank the Lord every single day for blessing us with you, such a beautiful, healthy boy. You have made us so happy and we are so excited to get to know you better and grow with you. We will do our very best to take care of everything you need, to love you completely, and to help you grow healthy and strong in body and in faith. We love you, Rhino. Thank you for making us a family!

Love,
Mommy

Mama (“Grammy”) came to visit on Friday night and left this morning. It was so nice to have her around and to meet Rhino. It was really great to have her help out with Rhino and take care of some cleaning and cooking. She brought some adorable outfits, a few of which Ron picked out (including the very cute firetruck/police car PJs below) and one from one of her real estate clients. We had Wayne and Rena over for a lasagna dinner one night. On Tuesday Rhino had his second pediatrician visit, so we took him down to Santa Barbara. He is up to 9 lb 3 oz and is in excellent health. We cruised up and down State Street in his snazzy stroller and stopped for a nice lunch. He’s been doing really well in car trips, but he got a little fussy with hunger at the end of our trip. It will be a while before I see Mama again, so it was really nice to get to spend some time with her before we leave.

This is what Barbara, our Bradley instructor and doula wrote about Rhino’s birth:

The Birth of “Rhino”

I arrived at your house just before 10 am. You had been having contractions all night and they were now 4-6 minutes apart. Your water had been leaking during the night, too. Since we had an hour drive to the hospital, we all agreed that it would be best to go ahead and drive to Santa Barbara.

It was a hard drive for you. You couldn’t get comfortable and got sick.

We arrived at the hospital around 11:20 am and they hooked you up to the monitor for an initial strip. They did an exam and found 5-6 cm, 100% effaced. They took you off the monitor. You threw up again (4th time) so they started you on an IV.

12:30 pm – Dr. came in to check on you. Exam – 6-7 cm, 0 station. Started IV antibiotics. They were concerned about the baby’s heartbeat, so you couldn’t take a bath.

12:50 – Bathroom and on the birth ball for a few contractions.

1:15 – Feeling some pressure, maybe wanting to push. Exam – 8-9 cm, +1 station. Baby looks better. A lip, but baby in good position.

You did such an amazing job working together.

1:30 – Grunting at the peak of contractions. Nurse says it’s OK to push, just don’t hold your breath.

1:40 – 9.5 cm, rim of cervix left.

Started pushing around 2:00.

Baby “Rhino” is born at 4:06, February 13, 2008.

Placenta took a long time to come,I think it was finally born around 5:15. Thank you, God!!! They were talking about doing surgery to get it out. I rubbed and rubbed the top of your uterus, trying to get it to detach.

Rhino wasn’t a very aggressive nurser right away, but he caught on. You and Matt are going to be great parents. Rhino is blessed to have you.

“Rhino”
Born February 13, 2008 at 4:06 PM
weight: 8 lb 10 oz
height: 20-3/4 in

Matt has been working mid-shifts, 5:30pm-6am. I was up late Tuesday night when my water started leaking and I had weak contractions. It was about 1:30am and I decided not to get too excited just yet — we could have a very long day ahead of us. I didn’t call Matt because I didn’t want him to come home until I needed him because I didn’t want his paternity leave to start just yet. Around 3:30am contractions were about 8 minutes apart and I couldn’t sleep through them. I was debating whether or not to call Matt or just wait a few more hours. Matt came home at 6 and we decided to try and get some rest. Of course, I couldn’t sleep more than a few minutes at a time. Matt got about an hour of sleep before I woke him. I called Barbara around 8 and told her I was feeling fine, but to stand by. She had spent a week in Kentucky and had just arrived back the previous day, very tired. I had been feeling decent, but from then on things started speeding up a lot. I called Barbara back at 9 to let her know she needed to hurry up. I was considering just skipping Santa Barbara and going to the Lompoc hospital instead. She assured me I had plenty of time, but she was still an hour away from us. Matt was great with every contraction and made sure to take care of me, give me plenty of water, rub my back, and keep me calm. I was encouraged to eat a little bit, so I made some oatmeal. Then I started getting sick with the contractions, which was quite a surprise. Barbara arrived around 10 and we pretty much left right away.

The drive to Santa Barbara is about an hour and I didn’t think that would be such a bad idea. Contractions were uncomfortable enough in a bed, they were even worse in the passenger’s seat of Barbara’s car. I was sick a few times along the way and had to pull over on the side of the 101 for an especially rough contraction. We showed up at the hospital at 11 and a nurse told me to take a seat in the waiting room. Sitting was the last thing I wanted to do, so I took my pillow and curled up on the floor. The man sitting next to me didn’t seem to mind. I was taken to the delivery room with the tub because I had requested to labor in water.

Matt with Melissa, laboring

The nurses knew how I felt about my doctor, that I was worried about him wanting to intervene to speed things up or try to push pain medication on me. After my first exam, the nurses asked him to go back to work and they would call him when the baby crowned. I was hooked up to the fetal monitor, supposedly for a 10-minute strip. With each contraction, Baby’s heart rate was dropping, so they kept me hooked up to keep on eye on it. I tried a lot of different positions to move Baby around, and eventually something worked. The tub was filled, but I was never able to get into it because I was on the monitor. I was still getting sick, so they put me on an IV to replenish all the fluids I had lost. Because my water had broken more than 12 hours previously, they also put me on antibiotics. When I arrived and had my first exam, I was 5 cm dilated. I focused a lot on relaxing and pretty much “played dead” most of the time. Keeping my eyes closed, keeping my breathing deep and regular, and staying quiet was the key for me. Supposedly I progressed really quickly for a first baby. By 2pm, I was complete and ready to push. I wanted to push when I felt the need and not have anyone tell me when. The pain was so much more tolerable by this point and each push was a relief. I hadn’t slept for over a day and didn’t have any food in me, so I was pretty exhausted. I pushed for two hours, which were probably the most tiring two hours I have ever experienced.

Meeting our son, “Rhino”

At 4:06 pm our son was born. I tore a little bit, but it wasn’t bad. Matt cut Rhino’s cord and then he was immediately placed on my chest to feed. He was really stuffed up with mucus and was having difficulty breathing, which made feeding really hard. They tried to unclog him with the aspirator, but it wasn’t enough. They suctioned him out with tubes, which helped him out a lot. I had some complications with the afterbirth and was on the table for another hour trying to get everything to detach. They kept talking of sending me in for surgery, which would have been really disappointing. To go through all that I had with no pain medication to have a natural birth, I really didn’t want to be put under for surgery. I prayed and pushed and, against all expectations of the nurses and doctor, at 5 finally I was finished. Matt had spent the hour with Rhino and Jen (who was present the whole time) and Barbara was there to support me. Because Matt had been up working all night, by 7pm he passed out in the waiting room. Barbara went home and Jen stayed with me to eat.

Hospital Family Photo

The birth center was great to us. Matt and I had our own private room with two beds and Rhino was able to sleep with us the whole time. The accommodations were comfortable and the nurses were wonderful and very helpful.

Melissa and Rhino

It was the most amazing day ever and I felt so empowered, energized, and ecstatic. Rhino is so beautiful and I fell in love instantly.

So today we had our second baby appointment in Santa Barbara. The first time I was a little disappointed and frustrated. This time really wasn’t any better. I had my blood pressure taken (95/50), was weighed (so I’ve gained 33 pounds now …), the doc measured fundal height (I guess it’s normal — he didn’t really talk to me about it), and scheduled another visit in 3 weeks! He never mentioned my glucose test from last month, so I asked how it went. I passed, but he’d cut me off mid-sentence and seemed really rude or bothered that I dared to even ask. Ohwell. The whole visit took less than five minutes and Matt was wondering if it was even worth the hour drive! I’m not going to get too upset about it anymore. Everything seems healthy and I do a lot of my own research so I’m not in the dark.

We stopped over at the birth center at which I’ll be delivering to arrange for a tour. They do tours every first Wednesday, during our Bradley Method classes, so that just doesn’t work out. Apparently they don’t really schedule tours other than at that time, so they asked us to come back in 15 minutes and they can squeeze us in! We checked out other parts of the hospital and walked around the outside twice, then popped back in. We spent some more time in the waiting room where I could look through a scrapbook of photos and thank-you notes and Matt could play with the kids toys!

All the nurses were super nice (we talked mostly with Mikah) and the whole tour made me feel so much better than the doctor has been making me feel. It’s one of 17 UNICEF-rated “Baby Friendly” birth centers in the nation (61 hospitals + birth centers). This means they’re really breastfeeding friendly, which is really important to us. They encourage rooming-in (baby and husband for the entire time I’m there!), immediate bonding and breastfeeding, have lactation consultants on duty, and seem generally extremely helpful and have just the philosophy I was looking for. Mikah explained to me that my doctor was pretty much there “just to catch” and that they would make sure I get what I want and don’t get what I don’t and will be there for me more of the time. That makes me feel so much better about my doctor and I not quite seeing eye-to-eye. The facility itself is really comfortable and small. It doesn’t feel very “hospital-y”. Mothers don’t share rooms, but have their own room with a separate bed for hubby. That will be really nice too, since we are an hour from home. Wayne and Rena said they would be really happy to drive us down there when the time comes. We’ll have to work out plans for that, but I think that would be nice. That way Matt can just hang out with me for the drive, and their car is much more comfortable than the one we’re borrowing! And it would be nice having people around, too. Jen will get a call right away so she can drive up, too. I wish our parents could be around for it, but this will be nice too. And it’s not that far off! I can’t wait!

Not too much of interest has happened since my last blog. Jason's still here and workin'. Matt just got off an exercise, during which he had to work the 11pm – 7am shift. Today was his first day back working a normal schedule, thankfully. I had my first math exam last Monday which, after 7 hours of straight studying prior to the test, I think went pretty well. Really, for not being in class for half the material I think it went all right. It's a good thing there are 4 more exams this semester, though. I finally had my investigation interview for my clearance (after completing the paperwork over a year ago!) Matt, Jason and I went to a BBQ at my friend Brian's last Saturday. Brian was in my math and physics classes for the last couple of semesters, but is moving to San Diego this week. We had a blast playing a few crazy games of croquet and hanging out with friends. We're getting ready for Matt's parents to come out a week from Friday. We'll head down to Santa Barbara to pick them up on Friday evening, then they're leaving us on Monday morning, so there's not a lot of time. I'm really looking forward to it, though! Matt and I gave up our WoW addiction last month for a new one: Guild Wars. I'm enjoying it more, though. Our main characters are level 19 (out of 20) right now and got up there pretty quickly, but there's still so much more to the game, not just leveling. He has a ritualist/necromancer, I have a monk/mesmer. We also have rangers which we haven't been playing as much. I'm having a blast and it's always nice to run around with Matt. Melissa came over last night and we made dinner and baked cookies. We tried these awesome sloppy joe turnover things (just sloppy joe filling scooped into a rolled out biscuit, then folded over and baked) that everyone gobbled up and she made peanut butter cookies. While I was working on the sloppy joe meat, I saw her pouring salt into a 1/4 cup. Wondering what she was doing, I checked the recipe and saw that it only called for 3/4 teaspoon both salt and baking powder. I missed the part where she added 3/4 cup baking powder, and she was almost finished with the salt! We tried to salvage it, but it just wasn't happening. It was a good laugh, though. We'll never forgot to pay attention to measurements. :-p I've really just been hanging out with Matt during his off-time while this exercise was going on, so I haven't spent too much time by myself. That's started back up again, so I filled today with chores and crocheting. I collected a lot of cheap practice yarn when I first taught myself how to crochet, but didn't use it all up. Now I have baskets full of yarn I never really want to use. I gathered up eight skeins to make an afghan for charity with or something. I've done a few rows on it now and it's grown a lot on me. I've been wondering what on earth to get my brother's girlfriend for Christmas and haven't really come up with anything. I'm sure it gets pretty cold in New Jersey, and an extra afghan can't hurt. That is, unless Matt really wants to keep it (I think he likes it more than I do!) I also finished my Stitch My Square trades. Unfortunately, it's not going on this month, so I don't have any squares to stitch. Here is my community post with photos of all my squares, sent and received. Well, Matt should be home from work soon, so I'm off to figure out dinner!

Yes, it certainly is. Matt was a sweetheart and picked me up at the airport last Wednesday looking all handsome in his nice suit, and greeting me with chocolate and a rose. It's been a nice, relaxing week for me to adjust to being back home. It's cool hanging out with Jason and having him around. We play a lot of games together and whatnot. It's also nice having a third seat at dinner; we don't have leftovers that will never truly be eaten. Last night the three of us went over to my buddy Brian's house (joined by my other school pals Missy and Evin) for some food and Office Space and [if we had not been tired and stayed a little longer] Halo 2. It was a good time and it's nice to introduce Jason to some new people. We went to a new church that Jason picked out last Sunday and stayed later for a great potluck. It was a good time and a nice, small church and it suits Jason really well. Matt and I are going to return to Calvary, though. There is a lot about that particular church that we like, we just have to find a way to be more socially comfortable. That's up to us, though, and not really any fault of Calvary's. We also went to Jalama Beach last weekend, which is a very pretty, tucked-away beach right in our backyard.

We had a good time walking up and down the beach and sunbathing. The water was nearly freezing, but Matt and Jason jumped in anyway. They got a tad sunburned and Matt has been suffering all week, but we plan on going back hopefully every weekend. Good times. I also finally got a chance to upload the photos I took while TDY. I have an album up of visiting with Andrea. I said earlier that we did some origami and crocheting while I was there, here are a few of our finished products.

I also got a chance to do a bit of crocheting while I was hanging out by myself in the hotel room. I started working on a baby afghan and worked on a bunch of squares for Mama's afghan. These are the squares I completed:

So there's that. Jason and I played a bunch of pool today. I never really learned how to play, so today was sort of instructional. Of course, I've played plenty of games before, but I learned today that I've been doing everything incorrectly. We practiced for almost two hours and had a grand ol' time. I got an email from Andy yesterday saying that he had been sailing from San Diego to Santa Barbara as part of some crew, proving his seaworthiness in order to be part of some large Mexico –> New Zealand trip. I was so excited to hear he was in Santa Barbara and sent off an email immediately making plans for today. Alas, he called today from Colorado as soon as he received my message. I was a little bummed that he was in California and didn't even think to get together. He's a world-traveler now and I'm not sure when our paths will cross again. I'm sure they will. I think sometimes I just get nostalgic for times in my past. College in Colorado was fun most of the time and I do miss the friends I had then. Being that they're all males, I often feel it's inappropriate to keep in touch or be as close as I'd like to. They're good guys and I think of them often. It's always good to see someone or get an email hearing about all the great adventures. Matt and I are planning a quick trip next month. Neil Gaiman will be up near San Francisco, about 4 hours away from us, for a book signing. He's cutting back a lot on his appearances and I don't want to miss an opportunity. I've never been to a signing before, but I think it sounds like a good time. And of all the famous people I know of, I think he is the one I'd like to meet the most. Matt will take a day or two of leave and we'll probably stay the night up in the bay area. We had only been once, for a Switchfoot concert, and didn't get to explore the city at all. So maybe we'll make a big event of it. Anyhow, I'm excited to pick up Neil's Fragile Things and get to say hello. Wednesday was my first day of math class. I was really nervous about the whole thing and ready to drop the class that day. I received a text message from Erick earlier reporting that they just started chapter 5. I had just finished chapter 2 and started freaking out about how I'd never catch up. It really bummed me out a bit because I've been struggling on my own with the coursework. Then I received another text informing me that they had skipped chapters 3 and 4, renewing my confidence. I went to class and found I wasn't really that far behind. I just have to do some super-studying for our first exam two weeks from now. I'm not working (though I am researching some exciting jobs) and this is the only class I'm taking, so I shouldn't have any excuses not to do well enough. I went to the dentist today for a first exam and cleaning. It went well enough at first and I really like my dentist. Before going to Georgia I had toothaches and learned I needed a root canal due to decay around some poorly installed Air Force filling. Bummed about that, got over it though. I still need to get a crown on my tooth-stub. Today they found another filling that had improperly bonded and didn't do it's job. So I have some deep decay in that tooth as well and will go in to look at it again next week and see if we can avoid another root canal. And another Air Force filling cracked and will need to be redone. And my gums are receding around the implant I got when I was sixteen, exposing the metal. It could get worse and become a bad thing, so I need to go to someone else to see about some bone grafting. Fun … and cheap, I'm sure. Ughh. So it was somewhat of a disheartening day at the dentist, but that's life I guess. I'm just wondering how our wallet is going to take to all this work. Well, that's my overly wordy update for the week. Jason starts work on Tuesday, then I'll be home alone during the week. I have class at night on Mondays and Wednesdays, but during the day I'll be alone … studying, crocheting, and most likely blogging. So ta ta 'til then.

Yesterday Matt and I took a drive up to Avila Beach, about an hour north of us. We went to Pismo Beach together once, before we started dating, and that was the last time either of us visited a beach. We were to meet my friends from school, Missy and Brian up there (well, and quite a few others that either said they would join us or told me maybe then never got in touch!) Matt and I walked around the town, waded in the waves, and played on the rocks for an hour until they showed up. We shared some dragonblood and passionfruit shaved ice while the two of them took a dip in the ocean. We sort of just hung out in the sand and chatted about school before deciding to take a walk to the pier. It was about a 45 minute walk to the Port San Luis pier, but it was such a beautiful day with a wonderful view. There's a fresh seafood market, lots of fishing, a couple restaurants, an inn, and a bunch of cute sea lions! We stopped off at Fat Cat's for some dinner and admired all the pictures of very large (one 46 pounds!) cats people display on the walls. I had a delicious breakfast and Missy had some creepy looking squid, complete with crunchy tentacles! Avila Beach is a really cute town and Matt and I will definitely have to go back sometime soon! Friday night we went out to see The Lake House. Neither of us generally likes sappy love stories, but this one was really neat (sort of Memento-ish?) and awfully sweet! I think this one's purchase-worthy. Go see it. Bring tissues! Today we've mostly just been playing WoW (our hunters, Matt's level 12 [Moochi] and my level 13 [Ponzu]) and packing for our trip. We fly out of Santa Barbara at 1:30 tomorrow, but need to leave early to run some errands, get Matt a haircut, and run by work to sign some things. Matt's quite pleased to get an 11-day weekend and I'm psyched to go "home" for a few days! It will definitely be a great and hopefully relaxing time! More about that later!