Thanksgiving in SD Pt. 1

Last Thanksgiving weekend was spent in San Diego with my Brother and his family. I hardly ever get to see my neices so this was quite an exciting trip for me. I miss them very much all the time and since I've been Facetime-ing with them, I just knew I had to make this trip whether my Mom could come with me or not (she couldn't come with me last year). But this time, my Mom came with me (which made me so happy!) and we had such a blast.

We left pretty late on Wednesday night and we thought we'd be adventurous to see if the 405S would be any shorter. The 405 had as much traffic as the 5 so we just kept going down the 405. There was heavy traffic here and there, but mostly due to cars slowing down, rubbernecking accidents happening along the way. This was the first time I took the 405 down to San Diego so I didn't really know what to expect. GPS told us to take the 73S back to the 5S. That was the weirdest freeway to drive at night. When we approached the 73, other cars seemed scarce, and at one point, we were the only car on this 4 (or 3, I forgot) lane freeway. It was dark so we couldn't tell what was in the background, but I could tell we were driving on hills because we were going up and down, up and down. It was just so eerie being on an empty, dark freeway after encountering bumper to bumper traffic on the 405. Then we found out why the freeway was so empty. It was a toll road haha. We had to spend $5 to get through. Such a mistake but hey, we bypassed all the LA traffic and ended up in San Juan Capistrano so fast and with ease.

When we got there, my Brother and Monica were the only ones awake. They were watching the Brittany Spears Femme Fatale Tour. I couldn't watch it. I know she's trying to make a comeback but poor thing cannot dance anymore. She just stood in one place and basically jiggled, occasionally pointing here and there, and up and down through her songs while the others just danced around her. McKenzi came out to say hi and she got to cuddle with Grandma before she went back to bed.

Look at them angry eyes. Haha.

My Brother also got a video game chair that I got to experience. It vibrates all over and it has surround sound in the head cushion and on the sides. It is a pretty nifty chair, that's for sure.

My Mom and Monica eventually went to bed and my brother and I sat at the table, had a few beers (and shots, haha) and talked until I was sleepy.

My bro asked for this stuff...Gaahh....

The next morning, we woke up to my nieces telling us to wake up and "It's time to eat breakfast, Aunty Lanie and Grandma!" We got up and we got two huge hugs from my nieces. A sweet way to wake up on Thanksgiving morning! Kenzi was so sweet, she showed me their new bunk bed and then I took photos of them jumping on an air mattress.

We had breakfast in front of the TV on their eating mat and she cuddled next to me with her blanket while we watched Shrek (the 4th one, which was super cute, btw).

I noticed that Milli loooooves bacon and she's not much of a cuddle bug like Kenzi. Well, only with mama haha. She also likes to do whatever big sister does, which is probably normal.

We got ready and headed over to Ocean Beach.

I love going to busy places on holidays. No one is around and you get to park
anywhere you want.

We went to Starbucks to get some coffee before walking on the pier. The beach was cold, wet and overcast. But very beautiful, almost dreamlike.

The tide was so high that when the waves would crash, they'd almost be as high as the pier itself. I wanted to check the tide pools but the sand was kinda muddy and my brother didn't want to get his kicks dirty.

Plus there were swarms and swarms of gnats in that area because of all the washed up seaweed. So, we ended up walking half the pier. It was a super long pier but it was really cool because we got to watch a lot of the surfers do their thing.

It was nice. I couldn't help but remember my Uncle Manny, my Grandma, and other loved ones who had passed. I just hoped that they were at peace.

Kenzi held my hand and was by my side almost the whole time while we were at Ocean Beach. We watched the surfers, we chased each other on the pier a little, we tried to interact with a seagull, and we just enjoyed everything about that moment.

I don't know how this happened...haha

Lots of laughter, smiles and good, simple fun! It was really sweet! I love being an Aunty! After hanging out on the pier, we had to get back home because Monica had to cook up a dish to take to Thanksgiving dinner. So, we said our goodbyes to the beach and headed back home to get ready for the traditional feast at Monica's in-law's house.