So, we spent November 29th through December 12th of our 7-week trip at my parents house. Here are a few of the things that kept us busy:
The Play Cafe
This was one of the outings the kids and I did with my mom. It was a cute little place in Oakland with different areas for the kids to play and a cafe with yummy food. As you can see the kids spent most of their time in the "swimming pool."After playing/eating at the Play Cafe we headed over to Berkeley to do some shopping. The kids found these "cool chairs" and decided to do some people watching.
Noah's face is a very appropriate response to people watching in Berkeley.
The kids favorite snuggle spot - or fight to the death for spot, depending on their mood.
Paul and I got to spend a day alone together in San Francisco, which we haven't done since we were engaged. The weather was beautiful. We shopped and ate our way through Ghirardelhi Square, Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39.
Noah made friends with Echo, a girl from my parents ward. Thanks to Echo Noah finally went to primary the last week we were there.
I'm not really sure how he managed to make friends with such a cute girl when he does things like this though
The Bay Area Children's Discovery Museum
This was a major highlight of our visit - and also a crazy story. A few years ago my best friend and roommate from college moved to the same area my parents live in. So now we get to see each other and get our kids together whenever I'm in town. Our kids are close in age and have so much fun together. So one day we drove into San Francisco and spent the day at this great museum. It was a really nice day and the kids even got to play outside and there was a beautiful view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. We didn't leave until about 3pm so we knew we'd hit some traffic on our way home. We made it across the Golden Gate Bridge and were driving through the city on our way to the Bay Bridge when we hit absolute GRIDLOCK. I've never seen anything like it in my life. People were yelling at each other out their windows and it would take us about 30 minutes to move the length of one car. Thank goodness for the DVD player - that was a lifesaver for the kids. But they were still tired and hungry and at one point all 4 kids were screaming hysterically. Sarah and I were sitting up front laughing hysterically. What else could we do?!? We thought about having Sarah get out and going to buy us all some food - we would have only moved 2 inches by the time she got back. But all we could see (about every 10 feet) was Starbucks. So, what should have been a 1-2 hour drive home ended up taking 6 HOURS. No exaggeration. I was so glad I was with Sarah. It was quite the experience, and we definitely learned our lesson - never try to leave the city on a friday afternoon.
"The Trick"
My dad used to do this with us when we were kids and that's what we called it. Now my kids love it too.
Fentons
The trip wouldn't be complete without a crab salad sandwich and black and tan ice cream sundae from Fentons (best ever). Thanks mom and dad!
Other things we loved:
This pretty much sums up how we feel about our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Hunt. Thank you, we love you and miss you already!
Noah's face is a very appropriate response to people watching in Berkeley.The kids favorite snuggle spot - or fight to the death for spot, depending on their mood.
Paul and I got to spend a day alone together in San Francisco, which we haven't done since we were engaged. The weather was beautiful. We shopped and ate our way through Ghirardelhi Square, Fisherman's Wharf, and Pier 39.
Noah made friends with Echo, a girl from my parents ward. Thanks to Echo Noah finally went to primary the last week we were there.
I'm not really sure how he managed to make friends with such a cute girl when he does things like this though
The Bay Area Children's Discovery Museum
This was a major highlight of our visit - and also a crazy story. A few years ago my best friend and roommate from college moved to the same area my parents live in. So now we get to see each other and get our kids together whenever I'm in town. Our kids are close in age and have so much fun together. So one day we drove into San Francisco and spent the day at this great museum. It was a really nice day and the kids even got to play outside and there was a beautiful view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. We didn't leave until about 3pm so we knew we'd hit some traffic on our way home. We made it across the Golden Gate Bridge and were driving through the city on our way to the Bay Bridge when we hit absolute GRIDLOCK. I've never seen anything like it in my life. People were yelling at each other out their windows and it would take us about 30 minutes to move the length of one car. Thank goodness for the DVD player - that was a lifesaver for the kids. But they were still tired and hungry and at one point all 4 kids were screaming hysterically. Sarah and I were sitting up front laughing hysterically. What else could we do?!? We thought about having Sarah get out and going to buy us all some food - we would have only moved 2 inches by the time she got back. But all we could see (about every 10 feet) was Starbucks. So, what should have been a 1-2 hour drive home ended up taking 6 HOURS. No exaggeration. I was so glad I was with Sarah. It was quite the experience, and we definitely learned our lesson - never try to leave the city on a friday afternoon."The Trick"
My dad used to do this with us when we were kids and that's what we called it. Now my kids love it too.Fentons
The trip wouldn't be complete without a crab salad sandwich and black and tan ice cream sundae from Fentons (best ever). Thanks mom and dad!Other things we loved:
Noah loved "exploring" outside, shooting hoops with daddy and uncle Landon, and "chefing it up" with Grandma
Alex loved the DVD player in Grandma's car. One day at church Alex was being really naughty and I said to her, "Alex do you want me to take you to sit in the car?" She responded excitedly, "Yes!!!" So much for that punishment.
I loved going with Paul to his Stanford interview. We had a great dinner the night before and walked around downtown. After dropping him off at the hospital in the morning I went jogging, got some hot chocolate, and after checking out of our hotel went shopping. I met an old freind for lunch and shopped some more until Paul was finished. Very realxing. The weather was GREAT and Palo Alto is very beautiful and has excellent shopping - especially when you don't have your 2 kids in tow : )
Paul loved my parents annual Christmas party and gift exchange - he came away with a brand new ipod nano.
This pretty much sums up how we feel about our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Hunt. Thank you, we love you and miss you already!
8 comments:
We sure loved getting to see you guys! Tharren is still talking about the "best day ever" of skiing with Paul. Sometime lets get together with our kids. I sure would love to see yours! They are just too cute and remind me so much of you and Paul. Talk to you soon!
That looks like you had such a fun time! I love SF and Palo Alto, etc. What a fun city! So are you secretly hoping Paul gets one there so you can move there? That would be so cool! Great shopping, great weather, so many great things to do...all the time! Oh I can't wait to hear where you end up!
Oh my gosh we are SOOOOO jealous that you guys ate at Fentons! Crab salad sandwiches...YUM! Very cute pics, sister! Looks like you guys did a ton and had lots of fun! I am also jealous of your shopping in Palo Alto...I think Mom has taken every single sister shopping there except for me...what the hell!?
Okay, I can't even begin to tell you how jealous I am of your trip! I'm so glad you had a good time though. I miss the Bay Area. You know what would be wonderful? If Paul went to Stanford for residency and Mike went there for business school. I would be in heaven! Mostly Nor. Cal. is just a dream though because it is so expensive there. Anyway, glad you had so much fun. Your kids get cuter every day. I love that Noah and Alex are such good buds. The older brother protector roll is so sweet.
so fun to read about your trip! I haven't been blogging like normal- and it is so fun to see all of the new posts! hope you guys had a merry christmas!
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my site, it is about the CresceNet, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . A hug.
What an awesome trip! I don't know if you guys could have gotten anything else in :) I'm so glad that you and Paul had such a great time in Palo Alto... maybe even good enough it's worth all of the debt? I know, I know.... but it would be so fun!! ;) I love all of your new posts, I have totally missed reading your blog! You are so funny. And I loved our outing. Loved it. I can't think of anyone else that I would have rather been there with. Love you!!
So fun to see all the great things you guys did. I love that you and Paul are so good at making time for yourselves. It all sounds great, besides the 6 hour car ride, I can only imagine how crazy that must have been, thank goodness for a friend to laugh with!
Post a Comment