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There is nothing like going on vacation to remind a girl how much she likes her home. Don't get me wrong; we had a lovely time. I just like being at home, surrounded by my stuff, and able to sleep in my bed. I love my bed.

So anyway, we drove down to LA for a few days with at my aunt and uncle's house, which was nice. It's funny watching them play at being grandparents and go all gooey over Bug. Can't say that I blame them about that. Being in LA gave us time to hang out with Uncle Jeff, who we saw on Friday after we into town, on Saturday for dim sum in the Valley, on Monday night for dinner, and Tuesday when he drove us to the airport. On Saturday, Bug and I also got to meet the fabulous Miss Kendra and had a great time peoplewatching.

Sunday, we went to the LA Zoo because my aunt wanted to see the baby giraffe. He was pretty cute, but not as cute as Bug is. See for yourself:



Bug could not have cared less about the zoo, but she did enjoy the park inside the zoo. She was happy to sit in the grass and play. She also wanted to eat the the leaves near her, so we distracted her with one of her favorite toys.



After the zoo, we pretty much just sat around and relaxed. We did introduce Bug to my aunt's pool and she seemed to enjoy swimming, which was good because we expected to spend a lot of time at the pool in Puerto Vallarta.

Here she is swimming with Daddy:



Tuesday, it was off to Mexico. We arrived at our hotel in time for dinner, which we learned was far from compelling. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort, not because we cared about it being all-inclusive, but because they offered all day childcare as part of the package. They had a great, toy-filled room for little ones and some very nice day care providers, so we felt comfortable leaving her there for a few hours each day. It was nice to have just a bit of time alone together. That doesn't happen very often these days. So I did some reading and some knitting and just generally relaxed. The big downside (aside from a not particularly comfortable bed) was the food. Breakfast was fine, but that's the best I can say. Lunch was either a dreadful buffet or burgers and dogs from the snack bar. And while it was all you could drink, a girl can only tolerate so many watered down margaritas. A nice thing about Puerto Vallarta is that the water at all of the hotels and restaurants is purified, so the risk of illness was pretty minor. The resort did a dinner buffet every night, but, as part of the package, we got to eat at the three other restaurants, supposedly an improvement. Except not. One of them might have served the worst meal I ever ate. So, to preserve our sanity and our tastebuds, we chose to go to dinner outside our hotel. So much better. Dinner on the beach one night, the equivalent of Benihana another. Bug's favorite restaurant had strolling musicians:



That's about all there is to tell. I even have a bit of a tan (well, for me anyway) since I spent lots of time outside. Uncle Jeff fetched us from the airport and, because he is an awesome human being, he brought Winchell's donuts. Woo hoo! I definitely lucked out in the brother department. We spent the night at my aunt's and drove home the next day.

It was really nice to go away, but it was even better to come home.