Dancing with Dolphins!

January & February were good months. After ending 2014 fulfilled, but also really, really missing our family and friends (holidays have a psychological way of doing that...) February couldn’t come soon enough. Friends from Chicago were vacationing in Santa Barbara so we made a weekend out of it, and then we hosted the Rodrigueses (love calling them that) for a week. And let’s not forget that the Patriots won Superbowl LIX! And if we back up to January I surprised my entire family and showed up at my sister’s house to celebrate Mom’s birthday. Talk about fulfilling.

Something else that fulfills me (whatta transition) is birthdays. They say if you celebrate birthdays you’re an optimist. I wonder what they say about those who start to plan their own birthday months in advance…?

When we lived in Mass I threw myself annual b-day dance parties. Since moving, birthdays have been different. Amazing nonetheless. Since we are coming home for Joey’s Goddaughter’s baptism this year it seemed obvious to throw myself a 30th. Plus it’s such an easy excuse to see all of you. 

For my actual birthday my request was a day at the beach with my Husband, which is a damn hard sell. I think Joey was going to do whatever it took not to do that because a few days before the weekend Joey asked me to buy a Gopro, reschedule my birthday blowout, cancel my massage, pack a bag with warm clothes, walking shoes but not necessarily sneakers, a bathing suit, and be ready at 12:30 on Friday.

Post prying I felt pretty confident that we were traveling by car, and that a boat or at least water activities were involved. And we had to be somewhere at a specific time. I tend to run late and he made it clear that 12:30 was non-negotiable. He also mentioned a few times that he was nervous for an activity. My guess…the one that involved the Gopro, and very likely involved me/us under water since I had to cancel my hair appointment.

Let the record show that I was ready and waiting with our ridiculous amount of luggage for a weekend getaway at 12:15. Good lord I don’t even want to think about how much baggage we will travel with to South Africa. 

Departing Dana Point Harbor

Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of California. The island was sporadically used for smuggling, otter hunting, and gold-digging, before successfully being developed into a tourist destination by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley Jr. in the 1920s.

The total population of Catalina is around 4,000 people, 90% of whom live in the island's only incorporated city, Avalon, which is where we stayed. Avalon is 2.6 sq. miles. To put it into perspective Martha’s Vineyard is 87 sq. miles and populates 15,000 people. Needless to say it didn’t take us too long on Friday night to see all that Avalon has to offer.

Saturday morning I found out we were doing something I’ve always wanted to try! Let’s just say after taking my first breath underwater, then coming up for air because I felt weirdly claustrophobic in the crazy vast ocean, then taking my second breath underwater feeling much more calm, I couldn’t stop feeling mesmerized that I was swimming and breathing under the sea. And I definitely couldn’t stop singing Under the Sea. Check out the video of usscuba diving!

I blame the wine at dinner for waking me up before the crack of dawn on Sunday. A few hours of sleep usually doesn’t get me through the day. But it was my birthday, and evidently I was working off of birthday fuel. I woke Joey an hour later to tell him I was heading out to catch sunrise on the pier. He told me that is how the beginning of a graphic novel begins... "It was her birthday. Her 30^th birthday…" So he came with.

It was a cool morning, a little rainy and very peaceful. I love how these stormy sunrise pictures came out. Thank you, wine.

Just before 7:00 I was ordering birthday pancakes at Original Jack’s Country Kitchen. As you can see Jack’s is next door to Scuba Luv, which is next door to Lobster Trap, where we had lunch on Saturday. I’m telling ya, Avalon is a small town if I ever knew one.

To close out the trip Joey planned a whale and dolphin excursion. Does my Husband know me, or what?! As fascinated as I’ve always been with dolphins -my Bat-Mitzvah theme was dolphins for goodness sake- I’ve never seen one close up. Well that definitely changed on my 30^th birthday!! Check this out! We were just a little excited.

Phenomenal birthday!! THANK YOU SO MUCH, Babylove! It was perfect ++