Back to the Redwoods

We decided that we had to take the Leys to the beautiful Redwood forest was had seen.  We were so excited to be back. 

And we all were even more excited that Roman, Isla, Sandra and Shawn were there with us!

We headed off and all the little ones decided they needed walking sticks, which was adorable.

The woods were just as beautiful and peaceful as we remembered it.

Side note people, what genius wears white pants to the woods with two small kids who love to play in the dirt. Lesson learned.

Roman was so sweet with Malcolm. He loved taking care of him and watching out for him. It was so sweet watching the youngest and oldest cousins and thinking about them in their teenage years and wondering where we’ll be when we next see them. 

I loved seeing all the cousins interact and get to know each other better. Maybe when these peanuts are older we’ll come back and camp out in the woods.

Thrill Seekers

40 minutes away from the house we stayed at in Capitola was the Monterey aquarium.  We held out until the Leys arrived and then excitedly all headed down to visit the aquarium together. 
Right when we arrived at the aquarium they were feeding the sharks! Later that day when we asked Adam what his favorite part of the day was he said this moment, right here, when he was watching the scuba divers feed the sharks in the tank. We talk a lot at dinnertime about what our favorite moments of the day are and it was pretty special when I went back to look at the picture from this day and was able to find the exact moment he was talking about.  

This aquarium is amazing. There are sting rays you could touch. Adam loves to ask if sting rays sting. Every time he asks I think of Steve Irwin, but I always go for the simpler no.

There was a whole area where you could touch all different snails, hermit crabs and starfish. Everyone loved it.

Then this happened.

There was this great tunnel of glass where big waves crash down and you can stand underneath it in the glass tunnel.

wait for it…..

wait for it…..

ready….

GOOOOO!!!!

Roman headed back to the sting rays after a couple of waves but these two hung out for about 10 more waves, screaming with glee each time one crashed over. 

waiting for a wave….

Here it comes!

These two nuggets are clearly the thrill seekers of the group.

Poor Malcolm was not a fan, but his mommy made him take a picture under a wave none the less. Here he is gripping to me for dear life.

He was much happier out in the hallway by the bathrooms. 

There was so much to see at this place.

And of course because California is just that amazing, when we walked outside in between buildings, there were rocks full of sea life right there just hanging out in the bay.

Monterey Bay Aquarium, we love you, even though you’ve ruined us for life for all other aquariums!

Birthdays in California

Guess who came to visit us in California! The Leys!! We were so excited to see them and even more excited to get to celebrate Roman and Isla’s birthdays! The last time we celebrated a birthday together was three years ago and they were this size! 

Now look at them!

Everyone was excited to be together and ready to party. Game faces and hats were on!

Malcolm may have been mid chew but I still love this picture.

Look at the smiles on this birthday boy!

And the birthday girl!

Everyone was excited about the lego set.  Malcolm must have tried to open this up about ten times.

These right here are ready for cake faces.

The perfect end to a perfect day and the perfect start to a fun week together!

Adam's Girlfriend

After a fun two days in San Francisco we headed back to our little house in Capitola.  Our friends Jenn, Miguel and their daughter Lily came to Capitola to spend the weekend with us.  Adam loved every second of it!  Lily was older and so sweet and spent loads of time reading and playing with Adam and Malcolm. 
Miguel drove up on his cool motorcycle! Beautiful bike, but I’m still not letting Adam or Malcolm even drive one-sorry Aunt Vangie and Miguel! But we did take some pictures of Lily on the parked bike. 

It was so nice to see our friends and have the boys spend time with them. My favorite thing this visit to the U.S. was getting to spend time with family and friends and watching the boys with them.  Oh and Whole Foods of course. We barbecued just about every night in California and the food was amazing. The boys agreed.

We spent the whole weekend on the beach with Miguel and Jenn and it was great. Adam was so happy to spend time with Lily. She showed him how to make ‘soup’ which involved a big bucket of sand, water, rocks and some dead crabs….i might not have let the dead crab part happen anywhere else but Santa Cruz. But there it just seemed like even dead crustaceans are fine to play with.

Here we are gathering some dead crabs and smelly seaweed for their soup.

Malcolm’s soup was just water and sand.  In case you’re wondering, I only have one picture of Malcolm because he’s the second child. Just kidding, in my defense he was napping and came later when I had already put the camera away because it was windy. But at least I have one picture…..right?

Oh wait, here’s one more of Malcolm…

Adam insisted his girlfriend Lily drive home with us. Look at the smile. This even after I wouldn’t let him bring his crab carcasses home.

The weekend was over all too soon!

Parks and Carousels – Take 15

Let me ask you what you haven’t seen in at least a day on this blog. That’s right, it’s a carousel! We took the boys and headed to Pier 39 to see some sea lions. Who knew there would be a two tier carousel on our way. 

After the carousel we headed out to see the Sea Lions and stopped to take a picture by the Bay.

Then it was sea lion time!We headed over with no expectations and there were tons of sea lions hanging out and sleeping! Again, California comes through with amazing animals that are so easy to see!

After a lot of sea lion watching we headed out to Golden Gate Park to meet our friend Jenn and her daughter Lily. Adam was smitten with Lily from day one. Who wouldn’t be, she’s 7, smart, beautiful and awesome.  She showed Adam how to do this slide (she’ up on top with Adam) and while mommy was a little nervous Adam of course was great and loved this slide.

Oh wait, guess what they had at the park…..yup! A carousel! This carousel has been around since 1914! While this may seem old, the Santa Cruz Carousel is from 1911 and the Central Park carousel is from 1908 but was moved there from Coney Island in in 1950.  And now you know more than you ever thought you would about carousels.  But it is amazing how many beautiful antique carousels are in parks in the United States.

This one both boys loved!

Malcolm insisted I ride with him.  This horse is clearly for someone smaller than me. 

The Coldest Winter

We decided to go to San Francisco for a couple of days our first week.  Gabby and Lev and their two cute boys were unfortunately in New York but they were so sweet and let us stay at their apartment.  It was perfect. There were toys everywhere and the cutest little toddler bed ever for Adam to sleep in. 

The last time we were in San Francisco Adam was just four months old. It was our first trip with him and he was so teeny. Now he’s like a teenager in a toddler’s body! He says things like “That’s a good idea” or “oh yeah”.

To quote Randy quoting Mark Twain “The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco.” And let me tell you people, San Francisco is beautiful but it was COLD! We are tropical people these days. 50 degrees is cold for us! But we bundled up and got a chance to have a nice day. We headed to the Ferry Terminal building for lunch where the boys tried to catch every bird in sight. 

After a yummy sandwich we walked around a bit and stumbled across toddler gold. On a pier nearby we found some fishermen and watched them for over an hour.  While some people might not have seen the charm of this long pier where some old men where fishing we had to tear the boys away. 

After we tore the boys away from watching people fish we headed to Dolores park.  It’s pretty funny that we had to tear them away from watching fishing to ‘drag’ them to the playground.  Once they were there they forgot all about fishing and had a great time.

First (and only) dip

Are you all getting sick of our loooong trip to the US yet? Don’t worry, only two and a half more weeks to go 🙂 If it makes you feel better we have been back at work for a month already and missing vacation. 
Day two in California only got better. We headed off to Point Lobos State Park. It was a bit further of a drive but luckily we had this little guy to navigate. 
The park is huge and one stunning scene after another.  We headed out to the farthest part you could drive to and walked back along the coast for a while.  One of the things that continually amazed me about California is the amount of sea life that you can see so easily.  Within minutes of getting out of the car we could see sea otters and seals. 

As we walked along the coastline everywhere we looked it was breathtakingly beautiful.  Even the boys must have sensed it was too pretty of a place to throw a fit and we had such a peaceful walk (or maybe I just don’t remember any tantrums a month and a half later).

When we got to the beach Adam saw some older kids climbing the rocks and insisted he try.  Randy and I of course weren’t sure but besides almost losing his shoe in the ocean Adam did great!

Me and Malcolm watched from a comfy seat.

We dipped our feet in the cold Pacific Ocean, the first time for both boys. It was COLD! But the boys loved it. Although, now that I think about it this may have been the only time either boy dipped in the Pacific. 

Not a bad place to sit and ponder life for a while.

A Big Red Tree

After a good nights rest we decided for our first  day in California to head out and see some Redwoods. The whole time we were in California we stayed right outside of Santa Cruz in Capitola and it was amazing! It was so close to so many things! Every day we saw something new and beautiful, but one day at a time people. 
We woke up, packed a lunch and headed out to the Redwoods, which were a whole 20 minutes away! Randy, my ever trusty travel agent found us a beautiful walk that the boys could easily do. And we had the stroller for when they got tired.  People, you have to set your limitations when you have kids. But let me tell you, this simple walk that was stroller accessible was one of the most beautiful walks I have ever done. 

Adam saw this sign about mountain lions in the woods and spent the whole time looking for one and upset one didn’t turn up. Meanwhile, I spent the while time wishing that we didn’t see a mountain lion, but don’t tell Adam!

Even the trash cans were adorable.

There was even a tree that over 30 people could fit inside! Adam spent about an hour inside. Malcolm was happier playing in the dirt.

California, I knew right here with one child inside a tree and one child covered in dirt that it was going to be an amazing three weeks! 

Touchdown in Cali

The next leg of our trip was a short flight to California. A piece of cake after our long trip from Manila one would think. Except that after United boarded us all they had us wait for hours at the gate, and let me tell you toddlers like nothing more than being strapped in longer than necessary.  Here are the only visuals I have from our journey. 
I think the first one might have been Malcolm, but I’ve since blocked out most of that flight 🙂

But the boys were troopers as always and before we knew it we were in California and drum roll please…..our amazing nanny Maria met us there! I don’t know who was happier to see her, Adam and Malcolm or me and Randy!

After long flights to California these three were wiped out.  But let’s backtrack.  
Once we landed we headed straight off to see Gabby and her adorable boy Mendel. We were in the process of reversing locations and they were headed to New York the next day for two weeks so we had to squeeze in a quick visit before they left.  These two were quickly thick as thieves. 

And of course Malcolm had to join in.  It’s pretty amazing that Gabby and I met a million years at a Friendlys in Binghamton and after spilling my soda all over her we because friends for life. Now 17 (eek) years later we have four amazing boys.