Oh, and on a side note, we missed Daddy Seb desperately! I really felt his absence on this trip. He ended up taking a small road trip himself to Carlsbad to visit with his brother. They golfed, hiked the caverns, and watched a movie. Sounds like it was a fun boy's weekend!
Wednesday, October 5
Friday, October 7
Back to the CA vacation! This trip has got to be one of my very favorites, in terms of bonding with family. I got a great sense for what a warm, loving, fun family Jared and Jenny have created. I loved seeing little glimpses into their lives - the BINGO games, reading chapter books around the dinner table, fresh-squeezed orange juice, naps on their cozy back patio, lots of bike riding.
I haven't had very many opportunities to just "hang" with Jared, and it was so wonderful getting to know him better! He reminded me a lot of both Mom and Dad - he's amazing with kids (Hannah simply adored him!), he's very gentlemanly (he helped me get my things into and out of the car), he's a party animal (he ordered FIVE delicious Papa John's pizzas), he's super smart, and he's such a sweet papa (it was fun seeing him interact with his boys). I fell in love with his boys and wish we could see them more often. Hudson and Beau had so much fun with their cousins dressing up in costumes, running around in the dark back yard, having light saber wars, chasing Hannah, and jumping on the trampoline! I was able to give them lots of hugs (I couldn't get enough) and was able to do a little Lego building with Mario - wish I could have done more! I also got to bond with Jenny. She is an incredible hostess - she surprised us one morning with green energy smoothies, she pampered all the kids with Star Wars pedicures, she treated us to her favorite Thai shrimp salad (yum!), and let me try out some fun facial products :) Her kids are sure lucky to have her as their mama - she teaches them so much and is tons of fun.
Here's my recollection of the trip, but some of the events may be mixed up since it's been so long since we were there! Ha ha - I must be getting old!
Here's my recollection of the trip, but some of the events may be mixed up since it's been so long since we were there! Ha ha - I must be getting old!
Sunday, October 2
- Dad and I shared driving duties. We took my van so the kids could watch movies. I got the boys coloring books and new colored pencils and crayons to entertain them! It did the trick! Hannah, on the other hand, spent lots of time fussing and screaming when she was tired. Poor girl!
- We had brunch in Flagstaff at Coco's and had banana cream pie to go! Mmm!
- We checked into our hotel in Bakersfield and Dad and I rushed out to find a quick dinner since it was already late. We brought back some tasty Carl's Jr.
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| Such good boys in the car! |
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| Hudson cracked Grandma up with this 50-cent machine mustache |
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| We finally made it to Bakersfield! |
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| Baths and cartoons make everyone happy |
Monday, October 3
- Breakfast at the hotel then drive, drive, drive to San Francisco! We arrived late in the day, so we rushed around a few tourist destinations until we were all pooped!
- I used a self-cleaning street toilet on the way to seeing the sea lions, and later purchased a small loaf of Boudin's sour dough bread. I was a little stressed trying to keep track of all three kids.
- The kids and I loved walking on a small beach and touching the sand and water. We walked out on a pier near Alcatraz to get a better view of the Golden Gate bridge, then walked up a steep hill leading to a park to get an even better view.
- We rushed back to the car to catch a glimpse of China Town before it got too dark. I let the kids each pick out a souvenir (Beau's ninja action figures and Hudson's ninja sword both immediately broke!) We had dinner then headed back to our hotel in Palo Alto.
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| Not in the car AGAIN! |
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| Beau's first tantrum! |
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| Mommy had a tantrum, too! |
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| My sweety-weety! |
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| First tourist destination ... a cool self-cleaning toilet! |
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| Visited the sea lions at the wharf |
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| Posing in front of the famous sour dough bread factory |
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| The kids loved their glow sticks from Grandma |
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| Alcatraz far in the distance - love how dad's posing with Hannah - ha ha! Don't drop her in! |
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| Hudson's not impressed by the cool teddy bear and alligator sour dough loaves |
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| Hannah flirting with the tourists |
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| Fun statues at the different shops along the waterfront |
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| These guys love pirates! |
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| My camera lens is broken, so excuse all the blurry pictures! |
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| Our favorite part of San Francisco was this little beach |
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| Beau drew a man in the sand with his finger |
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| Hannah loved digging in the cool, wet sand |
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| The boys immediately got their sock and shoes wet in the water |
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| There were lots of people swimming in the cold ocean! |
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| Cute scooting woman! |
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| My beautiful girly |
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| Hudson LOVED looking for crabs along the water |
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| I thought San Francisco was a really dirty city |
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| Maybe it was just the gray sky, but everything looked pretty dingy! |
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| Yay! The Golden Gate bridge! |
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| Look, Ma, I'm flying! |
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| Wishing Seb were here |
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| Crazy poses for Grandpa! |
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| The boys fought over strolling Hannah |
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| More views of the bridge |
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| Our original plan was to walk to the bridge, but it was too far away and getting late |
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| We fed the seagulls our leftover sour dough bread |
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| Late night dinner in China Town! Hannah passed out! |
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| Everyone's pooped after such a long day! |
Tuesday, October 4
- I took Beau and Hannah on a walk early in the morning because they were keeping everyone awake (my poor mom is a very light sleeper!). We discovered a beautiful little park with the most clean sand I've ever seen - no wonder, Jared said the city cleans the sand every week!
- Mom and I navigated the public transportation system (Dad had taken my van to Livermore for the day) to get ourselves to Stanford University. It was fun riding the city bus! Beau was convinced he was riding in a Taxi. On campus, we checked out the bookstore, had lunch, the boys laughed at the naked statues in the Rodin sculpture garden, we saw the mausoleum that the Stanford family is buried in, and enjoyed the whimsical cactus garden.
- That night, we saw Jared and Jenny for the first time! They live in a cute little home with pretty hard wood floors and a great covered patio and yard for the boys. We hung out together on the back patio and chatted while the kids played. Jared treated us to dinner that night: a huge pile of Papa John's pizza! And Jenny made fresh orange juice. We were all in heaven!
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| My baby jaguar, Troy ... or was it my baby red-tailed hawk?? One of the two! |
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| I was impressed by the number of people riding their bikes in the morning - sure beats sitting in traffic! |
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| Awesome palm trees at Stanford! |
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| Stanford's art museum |
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| The boys enjoyed posing by all the statues |
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| I think i'm in love! |
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| Sweet monkeys - these boys have so much fun together but are SO wild! |
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| This is where the Stanford family's remains are housed |
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| Loved this awesome cactus garden - what a neat variety of plants! |
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| Cool tree |
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| These cacti were crawling over another plant |
- Every morning, we pigged out on our hotel breakfast - oatmeal, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, tater tots, french toast, chicken fingers, you name it!
- Mom and Jared and I went shopping at Ikea and the Container Store while Jenny so kindly watched the boys. She gave them pedicures while they snacked and watched some Halloween movies.
- Played charades and BINGO with the kids.
- We had a late dinner at Five Guys and the kids played tag afterwards in the dark.
Thursday, October 6
- Jared and Jenny took us to the awesome Magical Bridge Park. It had some fun slides, music features, a big treehouse, and so much more!
- Dad was able to get out of work early, so we met up with him for lunch at Tommy Thai for the best Thai food I've EVER had. No joke! I really need to learn how to make sweet coconut sticky rice. It was to die for!
- After lunch, we went to the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo. The kids had fun learning about bugs and seeing all the cute animals. My favorites had to be the raccoons, bats, and bobcat.
- We stopped by Target so Mom could buy Mario some birthday presents.
- We spent most of the evening putting together the Ikea boxes that fit into the shelving unit mom bought and organizing the toys to put in it. The boys' room looked awesome when the project was all done, and the shelf matched perfectly with their Star Wars decor!
- We had some delicious and artistic shaved ice. It was so beautiful, piled up like a big fancy cake or something. So cool.
- Visited Jared's office - it was really late and dark. The kids had a lot of fun running around. Jared's office has a no shoes policy, so we put slippers on when we got inside. It's big, open, hip, and very modern. It looks like a really fun place to work!
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| Cool tree house |
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| My sweetheart! |
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| The boys loved sliding like this down the hill - what goofs |
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| They were having too much fun! |
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| Jared taught Hannah how to walk on this trip! She's been doing it ever since and hasn't looked back! |
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| Cool girl scooting around in Mario and Milo's room |
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| Fun with Aunt Jenny |
Friday, October 7
- For Jenny's birthday, we drove to two different beaches. One was a rocky beach with cool tidal pools. We loved looking at the neat pebbles and saw some seals bobbing in the water.
- We had lunch at McDonald's and let the kids play in the play place. Then, we headed to a sandy beach where the kids played in the waves and built sand castles. Hudson and Grandma got knocked down in the water and were pulled under several times. Poor Grandma lost her sunglasses and Hudson was pretty shook up. Beau was knocked over, too, and my boys had a few good sob fests. I'm not going to lie - it was pretty stressful being at the beach with three little ones. I kept thinking someone was going to get sucked out to sea and drown! I really enjoyed building a castle with Beau, and burying Mario and Hudson up to their belly buttons.
- We all took showers at Jared and Jenny's and pigged out on pizza, chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni, and Jenny's birthday cake. We played some games (Disney trivia, a bomb game) and I did some Legos with Mario.
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| What a gorgeous beach! I could see myself living here! |
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| So much fun being near the ocean! |
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| We were all in heaven |
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| Jenny helping Beau get his footing |
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| Cute boy cousins! |
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| We could have stayed here all day! |
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| Mario with his sweet daddy |
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| Jared looks like a samurai with his man bun! |
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| The tide pools and waves were too much fun! |
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| There were lots of little crabs in the water |
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| A few seals were swimming close to shore |
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| We found some sea urchins, too |
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| My brave boy |
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| What did Grandpa find?? |
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| A crab claw! |
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| Hannah couldn't wait to get out of her baby carrier and play in the pebbles |
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| What a handsome, fun, sweet guy! We miss you, Mario! |
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| The pebbles were all shapes, sizes, textures, and colors - so pretty! |
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| Look at these cute little men! |
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| Gathering my wild children for a cousin picture! Love Jenny's cute hat! |
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| Getting down and dirty! Cute diaper buns! |
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| Showing off their "Star Wars" pedicures! |
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| Love these boys |
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| Jenny makes everything fun! |
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| Enjoying the calming sound of the waves lapping the shore! |
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| Cute little tiny woman! |
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| And on to the sandy beach! Jared and Jenny had all these cute little beach chairs and umbrellas! |
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| SO excited to get into the water! |
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| So much fun! |
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| Hudson had a few scares in the water, but it didn't stop him for long! |
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| Jenny was so kind and compassionate when Hudson was crying |
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| How gorgeous! |
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| Cutest little Milo |
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| Grandpa was the bravest of us all! |
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| Enjoying the soft sand |
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| That ocean is SOOOOO big |
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| Cute little guy |
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| Love the faces in these shots |
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| Beau was terrified! |
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| He had already fallen in once |
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| Save yourself, Beau! |
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| And Mario is happy as a clam back there! |
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| Hudson adores the ocean |
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| Look at that face! What a thrill! |
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| Hannah is such a girl - she loves "purse-like" things |
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| Look what I found on the beach! |
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| Ha ha! |
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| Just sitting in his hole |
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| Just you wait, Mario - you're next! |
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| Chillin on the beach! |
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| Beau's awesome castle |
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| Beau and I built this castle together |
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| MerMEN! |
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| They are standing up straight - I buried both of them up to their belly buttons! |
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| Poor girl had lots of sand in her diaper! |
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| What a fun day! |
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| Hudson was cold and wet and sandy - not a good combination! |
Saturday, October 8
- We left early in the morning to head back to Albuquerque, but took the long route and visited the largest living thing in the world - the General Sherman tree in the Sequoia National Forest. The drive was really pretty with lots of winding roads and beautiful lookout points. Not sure if it was worth the extra time, though. We made it back home around 5am on Sunday morning! Ugh! Poor mom took the night shift and it was a miracle we made it home alive!
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| Beginning our short hike to see the General Sherman tree |
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| Beau with his Grandpa buddy |
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| This girl loves her Grandpa |
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| Thanks for the fun trip, Dad! |
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| Love Beau's serious face in this one ... not impressed! |
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| There's the big tree - it really doesn't look that big, does it? |
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| I think this thing is several thousand years old! |
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| Ready to go home |
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| These guys slept a lot on the way home ... a week in California tuckered them out! |
1 comment:
Whew! I'm exhausted after reliving that trip! Sure was FUN and memorable! I'm so glad we did it!!!
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