On the way to San Diego & the hotel...

Karen & Todd & their kids decided to go on vacation over Labor Day weekend and they invited Emma & I to go with them. So we did! As soon as I got off work Friday afternoon, I headed home, threw the suitcase & kid in the car & we headed south. Karen & Todd had picked up Emma from daycare BEFORE her nap for me, which made the drive nice as she slept for about an hour of it. We made pretty good time, just over 2 hours, door to door. We got a suite at the Embassy Suites Hotel in downtown San Diego & it was wonderful! They had an awesome atrium area with koi fish that the kids loved to watch and glass elevators which were also a big hit. In fact, when Karen asked TJ the following week about what had been his favorite part of vacation, he enthusiastically exclaimed, "the elevators!" Ahhh, the simple joys in life. :) Emma was too funny because she had a very distinct way of saying "elevator" which I had never noticed before. She spent all weekend telling me that she wanted to ride in the "alligators!" The lobby floor had a frosted glass barrier separating the back of the bank of elevators from the atrium, but you could still kind of see the shadow of all the plants behind the glass. I finally realized, about the 3rd day, that the shadows looked kind of like kelp and that was why the kids kept saying that we were "splashing down into the water" before we got off the elevator! I love their imaginations!