Weekend trip to San Diego and my weekly workouts

Hi, friends! How are things? I hope you had a good weekend!

Since we last chatted in Friday’s post, Dave, Brady and I flew down to San Diego and came back home to the East Bay. I didn’t want to mention too much about the trip on the blog, because we were heading there to surprise Dave’s dad for his 65th birthday, along with the rest of Dave’s siblings, who came from all over — NYC, New Hampshire, Southern California and Northern California too. A big spread!

Mission complete, because Dave’s dad was very much surprised when he came home on Friday afternoon and walked into his house to find all of his children, most of their spouses and their children, all waiting in the living room with party hats on! Who doesn’t love a good surprise?

Let’s do a quick weekend recap, heavy on the pictures, light on the words (well, as light as I can be, because you know I always write long posts). Here we go …

Brady’s first flight 

We finally took Brady out of town other than to wine country! It was nice to get away, because I hadn’t actually been out of town since my wonderful baby shower trip to Florida in August — guess I’ve been busy with having a baby and moving into a new house and all. We left on Friday morning, and I brought my breakfast on the go …

I was a little nervous for Brady’s first airport and flight experience, yet it went off without a hitch. Granted, the flight to San Diego is only a little over an hour from us, but it’s still a flight.

We were fully prepared with our gear — we checked the stroller and car seat at the gate, we did family boarding on Southwest and secured a window seat for me, and I nursed Brady on take-off and landing to make sure his little ears didn’t bother him with the altitude change.

He slept the rest of the flight on the Boppy on my lap and barely made a peep. It couldn’t have gone any better! He was so darn cute, just looking at everyone around him on the plane and in the airport. What a champ!

Surprise birthday weekend in San Diego

On Friday, we arrived around lunch-time to San Diego and met Dave’s younger sister, Gwena, at the airport (she flew down from Santa Cruz), and then we got picked up by Dave’s mom and headed to their house on Coronado — a beautiful island connected by a bridge to San Diego.

We picked up quinoa burgers on the way …

We immediately said hello to all of the other visiting siblings (Dave has four sisters!), let the babies meet (Dave’s older sister, Chrystn, has a baby girl just five weeks older than Brady), and then we hung around enjoying each other’s company all the way until Dave’s dad came home and was surprised to have us all there. He was so happy! And it was super fun to watch his reaction!

That evening, a chef came over and cooked our group a delicious vegan spread after the babies went to bed (well, let’s be honest, Brady ended up waking up and coming back out to sleep in our arms as the evening went on with the adults, because that’s just his style).

Dave’s parents are vegan and have been for over a year, and so all of our food for the weekend was plant-based, and it was A-okay with me. Soooo much delicious and nutritious colorful food, without a stitch of meat or cheese or animal products in sight. I definitely don’t mind eating vegan meals at all, but I don’t see myself ever giving up any food groups any time soon. 

I wasn’t able to capture any good pictures of the catered dinner that night, because we ate later and flash photos are a no-go, but believe me — it was GOOD! We had beet bruschetta as an appetizer, an incredible kale salad, then an apple lentil loaf, carrots and cauliflower rice with garbanzo bean gravy as the main course, with the most delectable vegan donuts and coconut ice cream for dessert. I had seconds and thirds. Ummm, yum. I’ve always wanted to have a private chef make a meal for a party, and it was as cool as expected. She even served us and washed the dishes! Yaaaasss! A great night! We went to bed full and happy.

On Saturday morning, after a simple breakfast, for some strange reason, I felt the urge to get outside and hit the pavement, which I NEVER do. In fact, I really couldn’t tell you the last time I went on a run just to run, and it must have been more than three years ago (although I’ve always done plenty of running on treadmills and in group fitness classes — just not recently or even since getting pregnant last year).

Dave and I did two miles in the sun around Coronado and sprinted at the end, and it felt awesome (note the post-run smile above). I’m not sure I’ll become a runner or anything, but I liked it. There’s something about getting out there and moving your body in the great outdoors with zero equipment. So convenient and anyone can do it!

Later that day, after showering up from our run, we went for a family picnic at a park on Coronado, and I wore Brady in my carrier, and he slept a good portion of it, as I tried to keep his face in the shade — while eating and chatting.

We had quinoa veggie wraps, fruit salad, sweet potato chips, kombucha and some super tasty vegan birthday cake — and it was quite the spread. It was sunny, yet chilly, and it literally couldn’t have been a more perfect day to be outside.

That evening, we hung out at Dave’s parents’ house, played with the babies and and all of that good stuff. Our big group had take-out Thai food for dinner, followed by a large selection of all sorts of stuff for dessert, and then we all hit the hay pretty early, after a fun and social day.

On Sunday, we decided to take Brady on his first visit to the beach and walked around Silver Strand State Park with the family for a while watching a couple of surfers and enjoying the sea breeze.

Brady was not too sure what to think, but I’m positive he liked it. I can’t wait to take him to Florida to actually put his little feet in the water too. (It’s way too cold in the Pacific most of the year for any bodily contact with the actual ocean.)

Shortly thereafter, we showered up, packed up, said our goodbyes to the fam and got some sandwiches on the way to the airport — Dave’s dad dropped us off. And our flight home was just as easy as the flight there … thank goodness.

On the way home to Pleasant Hill, we swung by our friends’ house to pick up sweet Rudy (our maltipoo, in case you’re new around here), who had been hanging out for the weekend. We call these friends Rudy’s “godparents,” because they are so good to him and always take care of him when we go out of town. They are the best!

We were home and unpacked and showered up by 7 p.m., ready to dig into some grass-fed burgers and red wine for dinner on the couch with Rudy, after we tucked Brady into his bed. Because even though we loved every healthy and delicious plant-based veggie meal we had all weekend, Dave and I were both ready to bite into a juicy piece of meat!

Overall, it was a super relaxing and nice weekend, in which Brady got to spend time with his extended family, and we were all able to give Dave’s dad, (who is also named David), a spectacular surprise birthday weekend! We love family time, and we love visiting beautiful San Diego too. Weekend success!

There’s the report! 

My postpartum weekly workouts

Now that the weekend report is done and because it’s Monday, let’s look at how I’ve been exercising this past week …

At 20 weeks postpartum …

• Monday: Took 1-hour BODYPUMP class, 10 a.m. (Woohoo!)
• Tuesday: 30 minutes of CXWORX at home, 30-minute walk, 12 p.m.
• Wednesday: 30-minute POPSUGAR weights workout, 30-minute walk, 12 p.m.
• Thursday: 1 hour and 20 minute walk, 10 a.m.
• Friday: Rest day
• Saturday: Ran 2 miles, 11:30 a.m.
• Sunday: Rest day

A lighter week, which started with an in-person BODYPUMP class, woohoo, and had two full rest days, as well as a nothing-but-walking day! I only did two workouts with weights this week, which is less than my ongoing goal of three-resistance-sessions-a-week — but because we went out of town, I think it’s totally okay. You’ve just got to do what you can, when you can and not stress about it too much.

That’s all I have for you today, my friends — and I didn’t finish this until quite late on Sunday, so I hope it turned out alright! 🙂 See you soon!

P.S. Have you entered my giveaway on Instagram for collagen peptides yet? It closes tomorrow, so head there and enter today! 

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Questions of the day

How was your weekend?

Do you like flying?

What’s a meal that you look forward to having on Sunday nights?