Breaking Paradigmes

Hello My Wonderful Friends,

I am admitting to being in a rut. It snuck up on us. I don't even know when we officially reached rut status. However, we did. Complete and absolute rut! Last night hubby and I were talking and preparing for our little trip today and we realized it will be 2 years in August of this year since we have taken a vacation, and mini breaks are non-existent let alone day trips. Um, yeah, rut. We so need a change!

We talk about going places but lately we have been house bound. Enter 4th Grade Mission Reports. Thankfully Elena was assigned a Mission Report so we talked and deliberated on where to go. We couldn't decide between San Diego or Santa Barbara. San Diego has a Mission none of us has been to and then afterwards we could have gone to the Balboa Park, listen to the Spreckles Organ, Gone to the Botanical Gardens and hang out. It's one of our favorite places. Or we could have gone to Santa Barbara, to Stearns Wharf, and the zoo. Both wonderful days spent. I'll admit. I love Santa Barbara and if I had the money I would so live there!

Santa Barbara was our destination choice. Our plan: Wake up, pack a lunch and leave by 10am to drive up the coast to beautiful Santa Barbara. Spend some time at the mission, eat lunch, then head to the zoo. End our day at Stearns Wharf. Sounds like a good plan hu?

We had the lunch and kids packed in the car and left a little after 10am. When we left the winds were blowing and they were hot-hot-hot! Didn't look like it was going to be a good day for our neighborhood. Oh well, good thing we weren't hanging out here!

Our drive was an easy one. Super Bowl Sunday and hardly anyone on the road. The drive up the Coast Road was so wonderful. The sky was so blue and the water looked like glass. Everything was green and lush not like our arid climate. Cresting the hill and seeing all that green farmland with the ocean behind it is an instant relaxer for me. Camarillo, Ventura, Carpinteria, and 2 1/2 hours later we arrive in Santa Barbara. Aaaaaaah!

We decided to drive the long way around to the Mission, just sight seeing on our way up the hill. I love those cute little houses, they look so homey and seem to fit the landscaping. One of these days it would be nice to own one of those homes.

We pull into the Mission driveway, find our parking space and took a stroll around the grounds of the Mission. We spent about an hour checking everything out before we even set one foot into the Mission itself.  It's amazing how beautiful the Mission looked with the blue sky as it's backdrop. The day was a perfect 75 degrees with a slight breeze and we easily reduced our pace to leisure. Once on the grounds we inspected the front fountain and tried to count the fish swimming in the water. Unfortunately they were unhelpful as they wouldn't stay still for us. Either way we were entertained watching them swim.

A little later we returned to the truck and grabbed our picnic, found a nice shade tree, shook out our blankets and indulged in our repast of sandwiches, oranges, chips, and homemade trail mix. I don't know exactly how much time we spent under that tree but we weren't really in a hurry. Sated on Turkey sandwiches we later re-packed what remained of our lunch, returned the ice chest to the truck and entered the Mission for our tour.

We spent a good amount of time at the mission when we left it was after 4pm and we realized we really could not visit the zoo and enjoy it. A quick change of plans and we were headed to Stearns Wharf one of our favorite past times. Being that it was Sunday, Santa Barbara typically hosts Art in the Park and sure enough the artists were set up all along the avenue. Some of that artwork is Ka-razy! But the kids weren't in the mood to look at art so we walked on. At Stearns Wharf we poked our heads into shops here and there and just really enjoyed the afternoon. As all things come to an end it was now time to head back to the truck and head home.

We really needed to spend some quality family time together just the four of us. It's been so long since we have connected on that level. Elena said it was the best day in a really long time. We decided we really don't need to spend a lot of money entertaining ourselves. All we have to do is pack a lunch and head on out. We took 148 pictures today. A good portion of them were for Elena's report on the Santa Barbara Mission, the rest were of us enjoying our day together. Who knows where we will be next weekend but it's now time to start planning that little trip, pack a lunch, and just go!

Until Next Time, SoCal Marisa