scenes from our hotel room

Despite the many adventures to some really fantastic places that I've been able to have this summer, I was really tired of being away from Marcus and Alex all the time.  So when booking my travel for the BlogHer conference, I flat-out told Marcus, "There is no way I'm going if you and Alex aren't on that plane with me.  I just can't do another flight without you right now."

Happy, Marcus agreed, so away the three of us went to San Diego last Wednesday.  And even though there were a couple of occasions when I had to do a few things at the conference separate and apart from them, for the most part the last few days really felt like a family getaway, which is exactly what I'd hoped for.

There's something about being with your family somewhere other than home, don't you think?  I don't know if it's natural absence of routine that makes it happen, or if it's just the shared sense of adventure and the unknown, but I really love family holidays.  For us, it seems like there's less sniping and nagging, and more "Wow, did you see that?" or "Oh, man, you have got to come check this out."  We obviously love each other very much, but it's almost like the time away is the perfect opprtunity to remind us how much we all really like each other too, you know?

Anyway, we got to do some awesome sightseeing, and I'll share pics of those experiences tomorrow.  But for now, and truth be told, some of my favourite times on this trip were the very, very lazy mornings we had in our hotel room.

It's so good to be back with my family.

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Thanks to all of you who signed up to ONE.org -- it is so appreciated.  The winner of the package of books and photos from Africa is Colleen -- Mommy Always Wins.  Congrats, Colleen!  Please keep a lookout for my email, requesting your snail mail address.

Thanks again, everyone -- and have a great week!

Images:  Photographed with my Nikon D300 and 17-50mm Tamron lens.

Song:  Hotel California, as performed by the Gipsy Kings