Santa Barbara and Ventura

We hopped down to Santa Barbara and Ventura for two nights this Memorial weekend. Hotel points are one great perk of having a traveling husband!

Highlights included a lot of time spent hopping from the pool to jacuzzi and back with the boys. I loved that the room was glassed in.

After a rather unsuccessful beach trip in Santa Barbara due to wind, we rented one this beach cruiser, much to the boys' delight. Trenton proudly rang the bell for miles, and Chase giggled away. Ryan and I got a little work out, pedaling against the wind for the first couple of miles. But by the time our legs were burning it was time to turn around, and we coasted (thanks to that same wind) the entire way back. It was hands down the best thing we did on the trip.

Please excuse Chase's well-placed finger in the shot above. :)

Another highlight was eating at Lilly's Tacos, a hole-in-the-wall restaurant I spotted on yelp before we drove down. We steered clear of the eyeball and intestines tacos (seriously!), but the carne asada and pork were over-the-moon amazing! Each taco was only $1.60, but all four of us liked them so much that we ended up eating nine! Then we bought grapefruit and lime bottled sodas, one of which Chase claimed as his own by backwashing practically everything he ate into it! Sorry for the lovely mental image, but I don't want to forget how much we laughed about the big ol' radish that was in there by the time he was done with it! (Too bad I didn't take a picture!)

The low point of the trip happened when Trenton hopped right on a stool in our hotel bathroom. It instantly slipped out from under him, sending him head first onto the tile. I was only a handful of steps behind him but couldn't catch him in time. My heart breaks picturing it in my mind. It was instantly bleeding, so I grabbed a towel and held his head tight against my chest while assuring him that Daddy would be right back. I'm so thankful he was only parking the car! (Chase stood close to Trenton and I, repeating "big owie," "fall down," and "Daddy back.":)

Trenton was SO brave about the whole thing (sadly, he is no stranger to head wounds!), and after a phone consultation with Grandpa Greg the Doctor, Ryan and Chase went off to the nearest pharmacy while I continued to hold Trenton's head tight while we watched cartoons.

This is what his head looked like the rest of the trip:

The blood is dry and hasn't continued at all. Thank goodness. But the wound did necessitate limited swimming for the rest of the trip and a shower cap to boot (even at the beach). It's a blessing this all turned out as well as it did. (And yes, I politely but firmly gave my two cents to the hotel about that stool in our room!)

And just because we wouldn't want to end on that note, here are a couple sunset photos of my handsome boys!

Below, Chase's expression can be explained by the fact that he was very nervous being up high on that rock. He kept saying "Down!" and "Carefully!" This boy cracks us up.

Now we can say we've been to Santa Barbara!