Recently, Ryan, Katherine and I traveled to Huntington Beach, California, to visit family.  Here is a quick recap of the highs and lows of our trip.

The airplane flight was better than I expected.

I was nervous about flying for the first time with Katherine, who was 8 months old.  We flew on Southwest, which was a great experience overall.  The workers for the most part were all friendly, and I liked the open seating.  It certainly worked to our advantage on the long last leg of our flight from Phoenix to Columbus.  The flight was “completely full,” but apparently there was one open seat, and it was next to us.  Go figure – no one wanted to sit next to a baby.  But she was good and only cried a little bit when she was tired.  We kept her entertained with a couple of toys, her sippy cup, and the Baby Einstein iPhone app.

Katherine loved being around her cousins.

Katherine had met her cousins Luke (10) and Linnea (12) back in April when we went to my cousin Eric’s wedding, but this time she got to spend a couple of days with them.  It was funny to watch her chase after Luke in her walker.

Ryan and I kayaked almost every day.

I am so grateful to my mom, who watched Katherine quite a lot during our vacation and enabled us to paddle around Huntington Harbor on a regular basis.

Katherine was able to experience the Pacific Ocean.

We took Katherine to Sunset Beach (north of Huntington Beach) and put her feet in the ocean.  She seemed to enjoy the experience.

Katherine and Rebecca at Sunset Beach, August 2010

We also went to a little beach on Trinidad Island in Huntington Harbor, where we set Katherine up in her walker at the edge of the water just to let her put her feet in the sand.  A few young children came over to meet her and ended up entertaining her for quite a while.

The new friend entertained Katherine as I hovered nearby

Katherine said her first word.

“Mama.”   Need I say more?

The one low of our trip – the smash and grab.

After we returned to Columbus, we learned that someone had broken into the front passenger side window of our minivan.  It did not appear that anything was stolen, and the parking lot replaced the window before we returned and offered to pay for the interior cleaning.  Regardless, it was a hassle, and it’s quite disconcerting to get into your car and see smashed glass all over the place.

Overall, it was a great trip, and we look forward to getting back out there for our Christmas vacation.