Summer Vacation Part Two

Following our family filled week in Tahoe, Stef headed back to Hawaii and Lance and I spent another action packed week in the Bay Area.
After our trip at Christmas time which was full of sleepless nights, a congested three month old, and an early departure back to Hawaii, I was scared to death that my days of calling both California and Hawaii home were over. By the end of that trip, Lance had made it clear that he much preferred heat, humidity, and not being dragged all over the place to meet friends and family. Needless to say, I had high hopes that this week at my other home would go better. And it did!

We enjoyed two days with Pops and Elisi in Marin, spending time together at their house, going for walks, and playing at their palace of a playground.

We spent the rest of the week getting together with friends and hitting up all of my favorite CA hotspots (Target, Trader Joes, IKEA, Stanford Shopping Center).

Lance got to play with Ella while sporting a remarkable bedhead. She shared her toys fabulously anyway, and seems completely ready to embrace her new sister due next month... Meanwhile, I got to pump Ameils with all of my millions of parenting questions as usual.

We also had a playdate with Casey and Ali, and their babes, Tripp and Laila. Casey and I were in the same kindergarten class so introducing our guys 27 years later was pretty amazing! The three of us together go back to junior high school- it's so fun to see where life has taken all of us...

We got to spend time with some of my very special friends and Lance was able to meet a few for the first time! There is something very indescribable about the experience of introducing him to these people who have been such important parts of my life. Sadly, I didn't capture all of the meetings on film and don't have shots of him with Jessica or Mel Case. :(
I did, however, get these shots of him hitting it off (and cozying up) with Kate:
and playing with his first friend (who met him the day after he was born) Mel Callen:
In between time with friends, we managed to squeeze in a few more precious moments with the fam:
and, of course, we got lots of coveted time with Nini
We weren't able to squeeze it all in, but the good news is that this week on my own with Lance really boosted my confidence about making the trek home even more regularly in the future.