A hike to remember

Last weekend my cousin Kerry and her boyfriend visited beautiful California for a quick weekend getaway.  My aunt put together a hike and so Chris, the boys, and I could visit with everyone. We were excited to be able to use our Osprey packs again since it has been awhile since we have done any real hiking with the boys (actually, Kathy and I were the last to use them for a hike together a couple of months ago while Chris slaved away at his desk). 

Doing these kinds of outings is getting easier.  First, the boys are getting up earlier these days.  Although painful for this mom, it does mean that we can get out of the house in a more timely fashion leaving more time for adventures. In fact, I surprised both of my aunts and several friends this month by being on time for our play dates.  [Gold sticker for this mom!]  Second, although nap time is still very important,  the boys are more resilient and can adapt if we push nap time back an hour or two. This allows us to be out about bout longer and (as long as we are doing something fun) not to have to worry about meltdowns or our kid passing out.  I'm not ready for naps to end, don't get me wrong, but for these intermittent adventures, it is nice that we have some wiggle room before the kids pass out.

Kathy suggested we hike in the Marin Headlands, someplace I had never spent any time. Kathy had a hike in mind but we had a little trouble finding the trail head.  Instead, we opted to start someplace new to all of us. The trail was named "coastal trail" so we figured there would be water and likely a beach.  What could be bad?

We started out descending for about two miles, something that I did not think much about on fresh legs and with all the chatter going on.  It was great catching up with my cousin, meeting her boyfriend, and catching up with Kathy and Sam after the holidays.  When we got to the bottom, there was neither a beach, nor a scenic view, instead there was a busy street, a horse farm, and a "path less traveled" that cut straight back uphill.  In our minds, this uphill path was the best choice because it was going back in the direction we thought the water should be.  We walked up the hill, Brady urging me to go forward my swinging his legs into my side, and when we got to the top we found some nice views, and in the distance, we spotted a black sand beach that looked like a perfect spot to let the boys get out and play.

We walked toward the beach along a road and got to where the decent started.  It was primarily sand and stairs all the way down, and I was impressed at how hard it was to walk downhill with 35+ lbs on your back.  Chris stayed close so I could grab his shoulder as needed and together we got to the bottom (without thinking too much about having to go back up ;)

We played on the beach, enjoyed the uniqueness of the black sand, and noticed that this beach had something else special about it.  What clued us in first was when we thought we saw a distant naked woman doing yoga.  We debated a bit as to whether or not she was just in a flesh color bikini, but when a shirtless man walked down the stairs, walked past our group, and took off his pants about 20 yards away from us, we got our answer.  We were sitting on a nude beach and we had no idea.  The best part was when naked man walked back past us, Troy, our four legged hiking partner, started to chase him and Chris ran after Troy, not knowing the guy was naked.  It was not until later that he found out he was chasing a naked man and a dog.

After ample play time and site seeing, we packed up and decided to head back to our cars.  Since we had taken kind of a circuitous route to the beach, we were not entirely sure where our cars were.  We figured that we had to hike to the top of the stairs, the walk slightly uphill and around the next bend and that would be where our cars were.

Walking those stairs was a true workout but it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  We reconnected our hiking group at the top, the started on the last leg to the car.  When we got around the bend that should have been hiding our car, unfortunately we did not find our cars.  Instead, we found a huge hill, made up of several switchbacks.  After consulting phones for maps and ensuring that *all* we had to do was climb this huge hill in order to find our cars we stripped down to lesser clothing (not as little as was being worn by some people on the beach mind you), drank some water, and pushed ahead.  The hill was tremendous but what made it climbable (aside from the fact that we had to get home of course) was that Brody sang to Chris the whole way up the hill.  I could only hear snippets as the wind carried his voice back, but I could hear him singing the whole time. It was adorable!  Brady enjoyed yelling "GO" as loud as he could and, towards the top, smacking me in the head.  In case you were wondering, being smacked in the head while you walk uphill is not ideal.

When we got to the top, we were rewarded with a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the city.  It was beautiful and well worth the effort.  Also, we found a sign that confirmed that we had just carried or 35ish lb, 2 year old children up 18% grade, a feat that I will not soon forget.  I will smile about this fact until we beat it with a bigger, badder hill climb! 

We had a great time on our adventure.  It was wonderful to see my cousin whom I have not seen in a long time.  I keep up with her on Instagram so I kind of feel like I have a window into her life, and visa versa, but it was great to be able to spend some facetime with her (ha, Silicon Valley joke).  We really had fun on this family outing.  The only thing that made it better was the sweet reward we treated ourselves to at the end!  Come back soon cousin Kerry (and bring your siblings!!)! 

Side note: I cannot say enough good things about the Osprey packs we wore.  The boys were on our backs for about 3 hours and I never felt a bit uncomfortable.  The packs made it easy to do this kind of things with toddlers, I am sold!

A visit with Granny and Cousin Sadie

Soon after my mom left, we welcomed Chris's mom, Mary, and our niece Sadie!  We had such fun sharing our house and some of the finer aspects of California with them.  Mostly though, it was fun for the boys to get to spend another week playing with family.

We started their visit by ringing in the New Year with a 5k.  Our neighboring town puts on a low key 5K for its residents.  I was so impressed with the event.  There was a DJ and they blocked off the streets so that there were no cars allowed.  It was a great way to bring in 2014, and even more importantly, it symbolized a huge milestone in our lives.  We had every intention of doing this race last year but we could not get out of the door in time.  Oh what a difference a year makes!  Chris ran with the jogging stroller and on the homestretch we stopped and let the boys run with us so that they could ring in the new year with physical activity too (as if they are short on physical activity).

Latter that day we continued our New Years day celebration by taking Mary and Sadie to the beach!  They enjoyed the weather and watching the boys play in the sand and frolic in the waves.  Hysterically, Brady decided to break out in some serious yoga posses after (I assume) seeing other people doing yoga on the beach.  Not to be outdone, Brody followed suit.  I'm not sure where they picked this up from but it may just fall into the "when in Rome" category.  We ate hamburgers and came home tired, but rejuvenated.

 

We spent the rest of the week playing with new Christmas toys.  It was great to have so many hands available and able to chase after the boys while they tried out their tricycles and scooters.   I cannot believe how quickly they become proficient at these skills.  It was amazing to watch them zip around me in circles.

At the end of the week, we spent a day trolling around Palo Alto.  We walked around Stanford and took in its unique beauty.  Growing up in the North East and living in New England, I'm used to ivy covered walls (and if you have ever seen the schools I attended) very ugly cement buildings.   Stanford is a very different looking college campus with a lot of Spanish style influences and I always enjoy walking around there.   All in all, it was a great visit and we missed them very much when they left.  Come back soon!

The characteristics of a post-child(ren) date

Chris and I took advantage of  the Grandmas visiting to go on two real live dates. As we were having our dates, it occurred to me how different dating as parents is compare to dating pre-kids.
Here are some of the key differences:

1.  The date happens when we have family visiting and not just on any old night.
2.  The date starts at 2pm instead of 8pm because we do not want to subject others to the circus that happens at bedtime in our house.
3.  The very first thing we do on the date is get coffee so that we are both awake enough to enjoy the date.
4.  Overwhelmed by the sudden sense of freedom, our date starts by throwing out hundreds of adventurous ideas- as if we have all the time in the world.
5.  After tossing around many unrealistic ideas (e.g. getting show tickets that are impossible to get last minute,  going places more than 2 hours away), we decide to go to SF to have dinner and drinks (date 1) or to the movies (date 2).
6.  We do the math to decide what train stop to use to get into the city so that we minimize travel with strangers but maximize ability to have a drink or two with dinner.  On our second date, we eat a quick bit before the movie (at the awkward time of 3:30) and slam a couple of beers just to make sure we have time to have a grown up drink on our date. 
7.  When walking around, we realized we have no idea how to walk without a stroller and surprisingly, I kind of miss having someplace to stash my bag.
8.  When told that there would be a 45 minute wait to eat, my immediate thought it of the state of  Chris's hunger, what toys I have in my bag, and if we could make it that long without a scene.  I soon  realize that we were adults and neither one of us were on the verge of a hunger induced melt-down. Reality check, 45 minutes,  no big deal, where is the bar?
9.  Chris was slightly embarrassed that we were ordering drinks at 4 o'clock.  When he mentions that it seems a little early to be sitting at a bar, I pointed out that our date will be over by 8 so after applying "date adjusted time standards" it is really like sitting down to the bar at 9 pm and we should commence drinking. 
10.  I actually chewed my food and taste it instead of inhaling it.  What a lovely change. 
11.  On the way home, we sit on in happy silence because we can.  No singing, no itsy bitsy spider, just lovely silence. 
12.  We both agree that seeing a movie was a poor way to spend out precious date time.  When did the movie experience become 3+ hours.  Next time, a nice linner (lunch-dinner) and drinks is the obvious choice for us (How lame did I just sound?  The truth hurts.)
13.  When arriving home, we felt like we were gone for days instead of just hours.  Its amazing what a little alone time with your husband and a warm, enthusiastic welcome from your kids can do for your spirits!

Thanks for the babysitting services and the chance for some date time Nana and Granny!  We had a really nice time!