We have stayed pretty close to home in the last few months - with the exception of visiting our grandparents - we haven't been on an airplane since returning from Argentina. A fact that didn't sneak past this little one. She loves an airplane.
And the possibilities it brings to watch shows.
And we are thrilled to have a happy traveler, so the shows flow on during the flight. This flight was not quite the epic over-nighter that we had grown accustomed to with the Argentina trip, but a four hour trip to San Francisco to visit our aunts and uncles!
This is the first time we decided to stay at an Air Bnb instead of a hotel, which worked out amazingly. The place was in a cool neighborhood where we could walk around and use public transportation (it made us very homesick for living in a city), and it had separate rooms for us so to maximize everyone's sleep.
It also had this really cool bathroom.
We were super excited to see our only first cousin, Eve! What a cutie pie! Also, Uncle Dan has his charms, which include baby-wearing in style.
Within a few blocks of our temporary apartment was this fantastic donut shop,
Dynamo. Gretchen went bananas. They had incredible homemade donuts, including chocolate, with delicious coffee and other breakfast treats. In the background of this photo you can see Alex reaching in vain for some delicious donut action. It was an awesome early morning meet up with our favorite family of 3.
Since everyone has jobs and responsibilities, we spent the weekdays exploring San Fran on our "own" (with the benefit of Aunt Lian to help us along the way. Thank goodness for her flexible work schedule...). There is so much to do downtown, we had to choose wisely how to spend our time. Our first stop was the Exploratorium, an incredible, hands-on science museum that focuses on putting big ideas into child-friendly exhibits. It is a must see for kids (and, quite frankly, adults).
Jon and I loved it, and both kids were enthralled from start to finish. After waking up, of course...
There is a particularly memorable exhibit at the beginning of the museum that involves an inclined moving belt (think grocery store check out line belt) and a slinky. That slinky kept us busy for a solid portion of our visit.
Everybody's having fun!
We also visited the Aquarium and Fisherman's Wharf, concluding in a very sleepy cable-car ride home for the kiddos. Both were asleep within moments of sitting down.
The following day we visited the California Academy of Sciences. The kids also loved this museum, but most of it was a little over their heads. Alex sure loved these dials that demonstrated the shift of the Earth's continents over the last lotta-million-years. He was particularly partial to Pangea.
Luckily, Lian and Evie joined us in this adventure, it was so much fun to see the little ones interact.
Alex spent some serious time working to get Evie's socks off. When he succeeded, it was the happiest moment of his day. And, judging by the photo, Evie was pretty happy about it too.
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| Success!! |
We ended the day with a nice picnic lunch in the park across the street from the museum, enjoying the not-100-degree weather and running around collecting leaves. So happy to spend time with our little niece. Her mom is pretty great too.
We couldn't go all the way to California and not taste wine, right?! A beautiful Saturday was spent at Larson Family Winery, which - as it's name suggests - is great for families. They have bocce ball, bag-o (bean bag toss, whatever you call the tailgate game with beanbags), dogs, goats and a laid back atmosphere that is great for those who can't just sit and focus on the wine.
Lucky for us, we have aunts and uncles that will watch our little ones so that we could spend and hour tasting and purchasing and perhaps joining a wine club while we were there. Alex is pretty pleased with his Aunt Kyra here, even if he wouldn't nap, he was doing just fine with all of the loving attention.
The trip also wouldn't have been complete without a Golden Gate run-by - or run-over - which was a great way to end the trip. Lian and I battled our fears of heights, and almost lost the car keys to the water below on this fun morning run. If you ever need scenery to take your mind off of an exercise routine, this is the place to do it. The bridge, the water, Alcatraz, holy many things to see.
This is a particularly hilarious shot of our little guys sizing each other up. Alex is walking and has the freedom of life outside the saucer. Evie is confined, but has first grab of all of the great toys. I'm not sure who is jealous of who here.
Wonderful trip, wonderful company, we were so happy and excited to get back to San Francisco now that it is so much closer than before. It is also a great place to escape from the Houston heat. Jeans never felt so good! Great trip team, we'll be back for sure!
It happened. Our baby turned ONE.
