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!