Awaiting Baby Porterfield... Part 2: Babymoon!

One of the things Doug & I love to do together is travel.  Visiting new places, taking in the sites, people watching, trying out local restaurants, relaxing ... we love it.  Due to the fair amount of work travel Doug does, his frequent flier miles & hotel points have added up, which means we've been fortunate to take some really memorable trips in the 4 1/2 years we've been together.

We knew we wanted to take one final pre-baby trip together to celebrate our first (fabulous!) year of marriage, and the anticipation of the arrival of our little guy.  As it turns out, the aforementioned "pre-baby" trip is commonly referred to by many as a babymoon; and so, in an effort to use "hip" lingo, we deemed this trip our "babymoon." 

After discussing different destination options, we landed on somewhere we'd never been together--- southern California.  We knew San Diego would offer the perfect mix of all the things we were looking for on our final pre-baby trip together: warm weather, plentiful sunshine, outdoor entertainment options, good food, a round or two of golf for Doug, and somewhere I could lounge poolside with a good book.  And so, we booked our flights & packed our bags over Labor Day weekend & made the trip to San Diego.  Here are just a few snapshots of the highlights...

Our first stop- Hotel Del Coronado for lunch & ocean views.
We sat outside & soaked up the beautiful San Diego sunshine.
It was the definite perfect start to our trip!

The view from our table during lunch.  It only seemed appropriate to kick off our weekend of relaxation with a local brew for Doug & a booze-free (yet delightfully refreshing!) mojito for me!

One last shot during our afternoon at the Del, before hitting the road for Torrey Pines!

If there's one thing Doug loves to do when he travels, it would be playing golf.  He was able to knock a course off his "golf bucket list" on this trip, by staying at... and playing... Torrey Pines.  This was the view from our room.  Admittedly, it was quite impressive.  Doug was in heaven!

Celebrating our anniversary on the first night of our trip with dinner at The Steakhouse at Azul.  We had a perfect view of the sun setting over the ocean from our table! 

Our waitress brought us a (delicious) celebratory dessert to celebrate our anniversary & the anticipated arrival of baby boy in December!  She even helped us brainstorm baby names for awhile.  :)

Day 1 in San Diego: Teeing off at Torrey Pines!  I took full advantage of the opportunity to spend some time with my hubby & joined him (in the cart) for 18 holes.  The course was so beautiful!  I absolutely love watching Doug play golf- so being able to accompany him AND take in the beautiful scenery made for a win-win!

I found myself unexpectedly entertained throughout the 18 holes by Hans (pictured in red above).  Hans is a retired banker, living the dream in San Diego... who must have smoked 15 cigars while pulling his golf cart from hole to hole.  

Several of the holes warranted a photo opp...

Lining up his shot.  Don't mind the ocean in the background.
Or the fact there's not a cloud in the sky.  

"Family Photo"-- 6 months pregnant with our little guy!

All smiles on the 18th green at Torrey Pines.

After golf, we packed up & headed to Carlsbad, where we stayed for the remainder of the trip.  Our hotel was just across the street from the ocean, which made it pretty easy to enjoy walks on the beach and soaking up the sunset. 

This picture was taken on Saturday, one of my favorite days of the trip-- it started with breakfast on the hotel patio, followed by a pre-natal massage, an afternoon at the pool & ended with an amazing dinner at a great local restaurant called Vigilucci's.  The ultimate "date day" for this girl!  

Beach shot before dinner at Vigilucci's!

Less sunset in the background=better lighting for a close up. 

This view never got old.  It was *almost as beautiful in the morning- we had no trouble settling into a morning "routine" of eating breakfast on the patio where we could see, hear & smell the ocean.

Out for a morning stroll on the beach... 

On our last full day in southern CA, we cruised up to Laguna Beach (a short road trip from Carlsbad) for a lazy Sunday of brunch, shopping & site seeing.

Beautiful beaches, constant sunshine, and cloudless skies, continued...

One last snapshot to document the end of our wonderfully relaxing babymoon!

We loved southern California & are grateful for the chance to get away together before becoming a family of three.  I find myself being especially appreciative of anytime I'm able to spend with Doug, just the two of us.  Spending time with him reminds me of how blessed I am to share my life with him, and how blessed our son is to have him as a dad & role model.  We know, and continue to be reminded, that life is going to be changing in a way you can't really prepare for or understand... but I don't think either of us are too concerned about that.  We're just going to take one day at a time and trust each other, and know that the journey we're about to begin is going to be the best, most challenging, most rewarding one we'll ever experience.  There will no doubt be ups & downs, but we're in it together, and I'd have it no other way.  Cheers to that!