Right after the school year ended, we hopped on a plane to San Diego for a week to cat-sit for Tío Jorge and Chase. Of course, cat-sitting was just a great excuse for an inexpensive vacation—someone else got the job of looking after Luna and Mona back home.
We hadn’t been to San Diego since you were little, when we took a beach babymoon before Matteo was born. Looking back, that was one of our last big adventures as a family of three. So when Jorge invited us down, we didn’t hesitate to book our flights.
These are my favorite kinds of trips—just living somewhere else for a while, with no packed itinerary or pressure to sightsee. We stayed in a studio condo in Little Italy, the perfect spot for walking downtown. We hit up happy hour for Italian food a couple of nights and played at nearby parks. While I worked a few days, you and Mom took off with Matteo to explore the San Diego Zoo and the Museum of Illusions.
We only ventured out of the neighborhood twice, driving Chase’s Subaru WRX (side note: it was fun driving a manual again!). We visited my cousin Kevin, his wife Krystal, and Aunt Pam—who was celebrating her birthday in Carlsbad. Jude and Tessa, your second cousins, were there too. We spent a perfect beach day together and capped it off with birthday donuts on the main street. Another day, we drove up to Solana Beach to visit my friend Shelby, who let us hang at her place and enjoy her practically private beach.
We found ourselves returning to the same parks and restaurants, which is what happens when you settle in somewhere new and just live for a bit. One night, during a waterfront walk, a street magician caught your attention. He dazzled us with card tricks and left you with a signed souvenir card—the same one he kept making jump to the top of the deck. You and Matteo signed it, and now you’ve been practicing your own card tricks. You’ve really nailed a few!
By the time the week ended, we were ready to head home, but you got a little emotional saying goodbye to Cheese and Nora. I’m sure Nora is happy to roam the condo freely now—we barely saw her, hiding under the bed the whole time. Cheese warmed up to us eventually, but Nora clearly didn’t love our vacation from her point of view. You can’t win them all.
Love,
Dad