I started the day by interrogating mom and the nannies by email/text. All goes well with Tess and her keepers. Phew! Then I spied on how she was eating, with our handy dandy food tracker app. Who needs cameras? She’s fine.

I miss Tess most in the mornings. Dave leaves for work before me, so I benefit most from her giggle fits when she wakes up. That cute little grin just kills me – and I’m not getting my fix. Dave is cute and all, but seriously. Dave misses her most at night, when she’s all snuggly. I can’t blame him; that’s pretty cute too.

Still, we’re in California! After coffee on the boardwalk, surrounded by birds of paradise in their natural habitat, I went to a half-day seminar on destination-language stylistics. A specialist in Quebec French-English translation was presenting, and there may be a little hero worship going on. We’ll just say he’s one of my greatest role models in the language world. When that ended, Dave and I walked down the marina for some lunch. We then went back to the room and both worked for a few hours. We shot up to Torrey Pines State Reserve beach just in time for a long, sandy walk on a gorgeous beach and a pearlescent sunset. Seeing as we were field trip distance from town, we decided to have dinner in Delmar. Prepkitchen made us an awesome dinner in a room full of books and conversation, then maxed out our happiness with free dessert. We’ll be back!

It’s the first time in years that we’ve traveled and actually relaxed. To put this in perspective, a year ago at this conference we picked a home study agency. On every trip we’ve had in the last 3 years, we’ve been struggling with unemployment, infertility, adoption headaches and home renovation. Everything has come beautifully to fruition, but that’s a long time to be a stressball. So it feels weird and almost naughty to sleep, read, learn, network and go for long walks on the beach with the man I love. You know what? I’m pretty sure we’ll get over that weirdness. This whole business trip in paradise thing is pretty awesome, and we love our jobs!