Lily & Leo

We went on our first little vacation with Lily this past weekend at the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes!  I got a deal on travelzoo a couple months ago because we heard about this nice resort from our friend Kelsey who went there three years ago!  When we first arrived at the resort, we were greeted with complimentary champagne  talk about fancy!  Of course, I took one and gave it to Khoa, the perks he gets for marrying me =P.  Our room was really nice and spacious, with a nice balcony with an ocean view!  There was lots of room for us to put her adventure gym and toys to make Lily feel right at home!  We forgot her pack n play at home, but luckily there was a love seat with firm seats, that we used as her bed, and faced it against the wall and it was a perfect “crib” for her.  We had dinner that night at Bashi, an Asian Fushion Restaurant!  We ordered the shaken beef, garlic noodles, and BBQ spare ribs.  I also got a coconut soda while Khoa got a “perfect pear” cocktail drink.  We then got a milk chocolate banana tart, soooo yummy!

The next day we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast at the Catalina Kitchen.  We then decided to go to the shopping center nearby.  At first, Khoa “followed the directions” and we ended up at a Ralphs, and he insisted that was the shopping center…I told him to look up the directions again, and 5 minutes later we arrived at the REAL shopping center!  It was sprinkling on and off that day and it was rather foggy, so I wasn’t pleased when the mall ended up being an outdoor mall, but it’s ok, we got to browse some stores and take a picture in front of a giant Christmas tree, we’re such tourists haha.  After our stroll, we went exploring the little shops at the actual resort and we came across this store called Marea, and they had a really cute kid section.  They had the cutest baby girl headbands, so I couldn’t resist and bought Lily 2 headbands, one which she will wear on her 1st birthday =P.    They were a little expensive…but it’s all worth it for my little princess!!

Later that day the fog cleared up and the rained stopped so we rushed outside to see the sunset!  It was an amazing view and Lily just woke up from her nap too so timing could not have been any better!  We wanted to hike to the Vincente Lighthouse that was maybe 1-2 miles away, but we wouldn’t have made it before it got dark, so we just enjoyed the sunset and the amazing ocean view.  We then went to dinner at Mar’cel, a fancy restaurant at the resort.  They had really yummy food as well and the service was really nice as expected!  Everywhere we go, everyone just had to stop and look at Lily, she’s such a show stopper haha.  She sat in the little booster chair too and really enjoyed being at the table with mommy and daddy!  But before our food came out, she got sleepy and spent the rest of dinner sleeping cozy in her stroller.  That night we relaxed by watching a bunch of food network in our hotel room.  It was nice and relaxing, and since we don’t have cable, I really enjoyed watching all the food shows I was missing out on, and I saw some new shows I never even heard of, like Sugar Dome and Sugar Genuis haha!  However, the downfall of watching food shows late at night is that it makes me hungry…so Khoa went and got me a Truffle Mac N Cheese from Catalina Kitchen!  It was so satisfying!!!  Lily still was able to sleep through the night with ease, it was nice to hear her snore now and then.  Since she sleeps in her own nursery, I don’t get that pleasure every night, so it was really a nice memory to have.

The next morning, Lily was being a little stubborn and didn’t want to drink her bottle but wanted to watch the food network instead.  What a little couch potato!  Haha!  She’s so cute though, I must not fall into that habit, but how can you possibly say no to that face!  After she finally drank her bottle, we enjoyed a yummy complimentary breakfast buffet at the Catalina Kitchen again.  Since the rain stopped for a little bit and the fog cleared up some more, we decided to have breakfast in their patio with the ocean beside us!  It was a nice day, cloudy, but still very nice!  After breakfast, we checked out of our room and took a stroll along the ocean.  We then drove to the Vista Point by the Vicente Lighthouse.  We got some nice pictures to conclude our stay at Terranea Resort!  For more pictures from our Terranea getaway, click HERE!

On the way home, we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach!  Boeing had a sponsored event where all their employees get to go for free and bring a guest, so Khoa and I went, and Lily is free of course!  She was so curious at everything and was really alert and observant!  The aquarium had some Hawaiian dancers putting on a little show for everyone, and Lily was very intrigued by the dancing and the music as well!  She loved looking at all these new things she’s never seen before!  Finally after about an hour and a half later, she was getting tired yet she still tried really hard to look around, but she finally she started to doze off in my arms.  That concluded the end of our wonderful vacation!  We got so many great memories, I can’t wait till our next adventures!  For more pictures from the aquarium, click HERE!

“Whoa…is it gonna eat me?” – Lily