Staycation at the St. Regis Monarch Beach
all last week it was in the low eighties here in los angeles and i started to feel resentful of all the exotic instagram feeds featuring children bundled up and landscapes white washed with snow. i know it sounds crazy to grumble about beautiful weather but sometimes you just want a rain storm in february. instead of continuing to complain, i grabbed our swimsuits and headed an hour south to
in dana point.
for my family, planning weekend activities can be a little stressful. there has to be the right amount of activity and downtime to keep everyone happy. the
family traditions at st. regis
program took the guess work out of our stay in dana point and crafted a wonderful itinerary for us. all we had to do was show up and enjoy!
we arrived and the girls were greeted with sand buckets and the cutest beanie baby dolphins (elodie is recently obsessed with beanie babies, is this a six year old thing?) they made a beeline to the pool where we enjoyed a lovely lunch in a poolside cabana.
after a swim and a bite to eat, we headed to catch a boat for a dolphin and whale watching tour in dana point harbor. i am a little ashamed to admit that i've never been whale watching in california even though i grew up an hour south of dana point. just as we were leaving the hotel, a fog rolled in and there was a little concern that we wouldn't see any of the dolphins and whales that had been swimming just off shore. the girls both fell asleep for about a half an hour and then woke just as the sun broke and the first pod of dolphins appeared alongside our boat. we saw so many dolphins and four grey whales during our trip out to sea. we watched the sun set over the catalina islands and passed a buoy of sea lions on the way back to the harbor. i must admit that my two year old was a little over it at the end and i wish i had packed more snacks but it was entirely worth the wrangling to see her delight in the jumping dolphins.
that evening we had dinner at the
and then we headed back to our hotel room. the girls loved the turn down service which included kid-sized robes and cookies. it was so fun to cuddle up in bed and talk about the exciting events of the day.
the next morning we headed straight to the pool and stayed there until the girls were too tired to swim. they sat excitedly eating lunch in big fluffy towels until we scooped them up and took them to the big bathtub in our hotel room. one of my favorite feelings from childhood is the kind of tired and hungry you experience after a full day of play. so often we are busy rushing from here to there and not able to fully immerse ourselves in one place. the look of contentedness on their sleepy faces let me know that they will remember our stay for a long time to come.
*this is a sponsored post. all opinions are my own. thank you for the sweet family experience
!
