A week with Grandma and Grandpa

We were lucky enough to have a week with Grandma and Grandpa in sunny California.  Somehow, everyone remained healthy and we were able to go out and about to show them some of our favorite things to do in CA.

First, there was lots of back yard playing.  We have added lots of toys (read: plastic crap) to our yard and it has turned into a really fun place for the boys to play. I still love going to the park, especially when we are meeting friends, but for those days when you just don't want to load anyone into (or out of and back into) the car and you just need a simple place to run around, the yard is awesome.  The boys are obsessed with bubbles and I enjoyed trying to get pictures of them blowing and catching bubbles.  The only obstacle is that Rocco is also obsessed with bubbles.  He likes to bark and try to pop the bubbles with his mouth.  It makes for a very animated time.

 In addition to bubbles, the boys also like to play in water and jumping through the sprinklers with Dad.  Everything is more fun with Dad.

They also like eating every meal outside (well mostly I like that because I do not have to wash the floor)!

 We spent one day at my Aunt's house swimming and eating.  It was so much fun! The boys really loved swimming and were completely at ease in the water.  They even tried to blow bubbles and kick their feet like Kathy and I taught them a few weeks prior. 

We also went to the park a couple of times.  I have decided three adults and two boys is just the right ratio for optimal park play!

On Friday, we went to Santa Cruz for the day to hang out at the beach and visit with Aunt Ellen.  It was a great chance to catch up with family and spend more time at the beach!

Chris and I took advantage of grandparent babysitting and went on a double date with Kathy and Sam.  We went to dinner in Palo Alto and it was a great time.  Grandma and Grandpa went home on Saturday but we were able to squeak in a few more fun events to round out the week.  On Saturday, Chris and I hit one of the local music stores and bought the boys some bongos, a key board, and some maracas.  A few months prior we bought the boys some junior guitars.  Given all the instruments now in our house, they should be primed to start their own band.  They love having access to the instruments. Every time they touch the guitars, they sing "E-I-E-I-O".  They also try and shove the maracas into the guitars.  Maybe they are trying to invent a new instrument?  This is Silicon Valley, I should let their creativity run wild.   

To top off a great week, we had dinner with the California contingent (minus my two cousins) and my Uncle Mike, who was traveling here on business.  The boys broke out new blue button down shirts and strutted to dinner in style.

It sure was a week to remember!

Exploratorium with friends

We are fortunate to have many cool places to take kids here in the Bay Area.  When we found out our good friends, the Hagobians, were coming to visit and planning a trip to the Exploratorium, we seized the opportunity to meet up with them in San Fran.  We had a great time catching up and seeing our little ones explore the vast creative space.  With our four kids running around, it was a bit hard for the adults to catch each other up on the going-ons of our lives.  However, this is something we are all used to, so via random snippets and truncated tales, we managed to bring each other up to speed.  I always feel warm and fuzzy after spending time with such great friends.  Old familarness mixed with new little people and experiences makes for a great get-together. 

 

The vacation from vacation

It goes without saying that not everything we do turns out like sunshine and buttercups.  Yes, we have two amazing kids, yes, we manage to take some great day trips to cool places and yes, we have farmers markets year round that would make your eyes bulge.  But, we can royally mess up a vacation if given the chance! I may write mostly about the good (like this amazing day) but sometimes you have to document the bad too to get the full picture.

As 4th of July weekend approached, Chris and I decided we would try and go away for 4 days to do some exploring in CA.  We added a topper to the truck so the dogs could ride more comfortably, packed up ourselves and the animals and set off to a destination we hand picked.  The criteria for our amazing destination: Chris saw a TV show about the town and it looked cool (note to self, set higher criteria next time).  We left on Wednesday night right at bedtime figuring the boys would sleep in the car.  The drive was pretty uneventful and we made it to our destination at around 3 am, ready to get a hotel room and sleep the rest of the night.  We were only able to reserve a standard room for this first night so I was intrigued to see how the boys would fall asleep knowing we were feet away from them in our bed.  It was quite hilarious really.  After they ransacked the room for about an hour, we settled down, put them in their Pack n Plays and said goodnight.  Then we laid there completely still and waited to see what would happen.  They stood at the rails, yelled at us, threw their toys at us, giggled with each other, and then eventually one of them (I'm not sure which one because I was trying to to move!) laid down, then the other, and they fell asleep.  They slept until 10 which was awesome for us! When we woke up and explored our destination by daylight, we were not impressed.  We were so not impressed that we had trouble wanting to stay away for 3 more days knowing that the town and the accommodations we less than ideal.  Being a holiday weekend, jumping to another town was not possible because everything was booked solid (especially pet friendly places).  So, swallowing our pride, we left on Friday and pieced the 6 hour drive home between naps and some staggered stops to stretch our legs.  Yep, we ditched our vacation and I have no regrets!

Although the overall experience was less than ideal, we did come away with some important lessons.  First, we proved we could get out of the house.  For a long time I have been a bit fearful of traveling with the boys.  We did a lot of travel when they were smaller and I consider us pretty adventurous, but now that they are older, I could not anticipate how they would adapt to extreme change or even how they would roll with sleeping in a Pack n Play.  In short, they did great. Yes, they ransacked the hotel rooms, touched the exact items I would have preferred they not touched (really, right for the remote and phone, really?!) but they also slept in the Pack n Plays like champs.  They ate in restaurants without too much of an issue and they handled the long car ride pretty well.  I am so impressed with them and am inspired to try another road trip to an actual vacation destination.

We did have some fun (of course).  We spent an evening on the beach with the dogs.  We had the beach to ourselves, something that never gets old to me!

 

We also found a little zoo to explore.  I am not a huge fan of zoos, but they are a great place to let your kids walk around and explore, especially when you are in a strange place and do not know the lay of the land.  This one was super small and very empty so that was also a plus.

(Dressing your kids in stupid hats is always ok with me, especially when you can not find any of your own hats that you packed.)


I would not say that the weekend was cursed per se, but it certainly did not highlight our finest moments.  On Saturday in an effort to redeem some vacation feel, we tried to take the boys on an inaugural bike ride.  It might look like we had a good time, but really they screamed and hit each other the whole time.  I guess we should have gotten a bike trailer with an isolation curtain?

 (I love that Brody looks so mad in this picture because he was actually pretty happy the whole time.  Contrary to this media image, it was Brady who cried and squawked the entire ride.) 

On Sunday, we went berry picking.  We really wanted to show the boys where food comes from and we figured any activity where you can eat while your outside is a winner.  A few days prior we were at my Aunt's house and the boys were able to pick plums off of her fruit trees.  They thought this was the most amazing thing ever so I figured they were ripe for this opportunity (ha!).  Well, I think they would have had a great time but it turns out the the previous week's heat wave fried all the berries so there were approximately 5 berries to be picked in the whole place.  The boys were none the wiser to this fact though and still really liked the experience. I will be happy to take them again in the future (you know, when we are not riding the wave of bad luck).

All in all, it was certainly a weekend to remember!  I'm glad to say our luck seems to be better and our last few weekends have been more normal.  Happy 19 months boys!