California Vacation

So, is the purpose of a vacation to relax and enjoy yourself? Or to learn new things--about yourself and your destination?

Our Northern California trip this summer fell into the second category. Here's a few things we learned:

The only thing better than eating a donut as big as your head is eating a donut as big as your head every day for four days. Ditto on the chocolate croissants for Mom and Dad.

Yes, your cousins have cooler toys than you do.

Sand in your underwear doesn't really feel that good.

Nothing beats an old-school Crockett Scrabble game.

Why is it fun to splash other people, but it's not fun if other people splash you?

You can never really get away from work. And, even on an iPad, answering e-mail is just not that cool.

The ocean is really cold.

The following sentence only makes sense to adults: "Don't bother putting on your swimsuit. It's so cold you won't want to go in the water."

Always leave room in your plans for an unexpected adventure.

Try not to let the unexpected adventure be the discovery of poison oak. Luckily we got away with an intellectual and not a hands-on lesson.

You're never too young to play in the sand.

And...

When it's midnight and you're hungry, you can still get really great food in San Francisco. Lehi hasn't reached that stage yet.