And then Laila went to college.

When the government makes it a 3-day weekend and your employer complies and you live in LA, the best way to spend those 72 hours is to GET OUT.

So Mack and I loaded up the hatchback with a change of clothes and went to kidnap Laila and take her to San Diego. She'd been so excited to go with us on an overnight, out-of-town, NO PARENTS ALLOWED trip that ever since we mentioned it, she made a point to tell Mack, "I'm free this weekend," every time we visited.
She assumed the back seat on her own, after trying to convince me that I wouldn't be as bored back there as I'd be in the front seat, and we hit the road.

We went to the beach and inspected tidepools and sandstone cliffs.
We walked along the rocky outcroppings and felt the ocean mist our faces.
We watched the pregnant seals roll around on the sand, certain they were seconds from giving birth.
We explored caves marked by strange foot formations.
We went back in time and visited dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.
All of this was a lame waste of time. Laila wanted to get to the hotel, "check out the mini fridge," and pretend we were college roomies. Less than 30 minutes after checking in, she had unpacked her bag AND my bag (hanging up all of our clothes, including our pajamas) and created a "beauty bucket" for our toiletries.
Then we broke out the beer bong and took her to get a tattoo. How can she be this big already?