Waiting

Yesterday I had to observe a teacher at 9am, which meant we left our house at 7:15am to get Andrew dropped off at a babysitter by 8:45am and me to my observation. On our way down, we learned that Kevin's flight would be arriving from JFK around 7:30pm... so we decided we'd just chill on the Peninsula until he arrived.

We had doctors appointments and other work meetings that kept us busy until 3pm... and then we had 4-5 hours to kill (since Kevin's flight was delayed).

We started off with a trip to the Palo Alto Junior Museum. Andrew could've stayed there for 2 hours... but my brain was dead after about 1 hr.

Next we headed to downtown Palo Alto for an early dinner at Plutos. Andrew likes to dump all the salt & pepper out of the shakers... so we didn't last long there.

I thought it would be fun to go to Target and buy some cool things for our upcoming airplane trip- movies, toys, etc. The trip lasted maybe 10 minutes as I grabbed things and tried to haul the crazy child out of the store.

As I pondered what to do next... I noticed CHUCK E CHEESE right next door. I haven't been since I was little... and when I think of Chuck E. Cheese I think of lots and lots of germs! But we went anyway.
I introduced the little dude to skee ball. He couldn't make it up the ramp, which meant we both got a turn with each ball.


He loved hitting the sharks.


It was determined that he might take after his mom when it comes to roller coasters. He was screaming to get off the thing (and the video was only taking him up the roller coaster, he hadn't gone down yet).


After we ran out of tokens (I only wanted to spend $5)... he still played with all the machines for another hour.


With the 45 tickets we got, we won a measly plastic spider.


He played with it for a minute and we lost it. It obviously wasn't that cool.

He tried to scrounge for more tokens and tickets...


and even figured out how to cheat at skee ball.


Once we were done with 2 hrs of fun, we lathered on the purell and headed to Pet Smart for another hour of excitement.

This was my workout for the day since little man basically ran laps around the whole store. He kept me entertained with his crazy dance too.



Once I was worn out (around 8pm), we headed to the Google parking lot to wait for Kevin. We waited for about another hour. The little dude cultivated a new talent while we hung out in the car. As you can see here... we moved from tired to way overtired (and more crazy).



We also had a dance party.

Around 9pm we were reunited with Kevin and started the trek back home!

One of the many reasons I am happy that Kevin is home...

Does this guy love me or what??

It makes me happy just thinking about all these yummy treats that have now been added to my treat cupboard (it used to be a drawer... in the new house, it has expanded).

Also, soon to come, Kevin will be doing a post all about his Google Exodus from Europe. The short version is that it involved over 70 hours of traveling to get home (via bus, ferry, and plane) and a guy in a chicken suit. I know you're excited to hear all the details now... so I'll tell him to hurry up and get posting... after he gets a little sleep! :)

Sounds Yummy!

Tonight we took a trip to the San Francisco Creamery in downtown Walnut Creek. On our way there Andrew just kept saying, "ice cream, sounds yummy mommy."

Izzie, Chris, and Sarah met us there. We were a bit blown away by the portion sizes. Andrew had a "junior cone."


The kids got balloons in addition to their ice cream. Andrew didn't mind sharing his ice cream with Izzie (see video footage below), but they both did NOT want to share their balloons.


I am still recovering from my double scoop hot fudge sundae. After awhile we took all the ice cream off Andrew's cone and then he just dipped the cone in the ice cream and ate the cone. He enjoyed getting VERY messy.


I loved it when Andrew would let Izzie lick his ice cream. It was really cute. Turn the volume off on your computer though so that you don't have to hear my loud annoying voice! :)

I keep forgetting my camera, so I missed documenting a lot of other fun things we did this week... (these pics are all from my phone, which is why they aren't great).

Thanks again for all the shopping suggestions earlier this week. I managed to snag a babysitter today and spend three hrs shopping and running errands. I don't have much to show for it... but I'm going to try again next week. Wish me luck!

LOOOOOONG Week

This week has been an exceptionally LONG week... which is surprising since every day has been filled to the brim with fun activities.


The more I want it to hurry up and be done, the longer it seems to take.

Tomorrow I am going to give in and start pretending that it is going by way too fast and I wish it would slow down... that always seems to help time speed up a bit.

My impatience might have something to do with my constant daydreams of Maui... and how I will be there soon...


I'm thinking I'm going to cure the LONG week with a long shopping trip in the next day or so find myself some cute new summer clothes. Unfortunately I have no idea what to get or where to start!

If you were going somewhere tropical, where would you be shopping? What would you be buying? I want to look cute and my old outfits need to be retired!! (if you know me, think black polo and a skirt which was last summer's uniform... and the uniform the summer before... and let's be honest, really all the time, because it is skirt weather in Cali most of the year).

(I bought this pink skirt 8 years ago... and am still wearing it far too often!!)

I need a clothing intervention! Pass along your favorite finds so far so I can actually look cute in Hawaii!! It would totally make my week... and maybe help it pass just a little bit quicker? :)

Growing those brains

Yesterday it rained and today it rained. I was going to go stir-crazy alone in the house all day with just me and the little man again... so we coordinated with a few friends and met up at Studio Grow in Concord for some exploring.

The studio is cute, not overly crowded (because it is kinda pricey), and has a lot of imaginative play and artsy activities that Andrew loved. We were there for 2 1/2 hours and probably could've stayed longer.

Playing with the animals

Trains- surprisingly not his favorite activity today

Dollhouse time- loved opening and closing doors and moving furniture around

Andrew and Izzie loved taking care of the babies- Izzie fed her baby...

They both helped prepare lunch

And then they put the babies to sleep

There was a whole room devoted to dancing with instruments, pom poms, and ribbons. There was also a disco ball. Andrew kept sneaking back into the room when I wasn't watching to boogie and shake the pom poms! :)

Big indoor play structure with tunnels and slides

Little man spent awhile just pushing this stuff around and piling it up.

and of course climbing on top of (instead of through) the tunnels

I loved the little magnet boards with shapes (Andrew did too...just caught him itching with a grumpy face in this picture... he actually did like it :))

Ball pit! There were originally more balls in there... but Andrew liked throwing them out.

Painting time! Any excuse to get dirty is fun for Andrew

Stamping

Coloring with stencils and markers
(forget to get a pic of the kids at this center, but it was a lot of fun)

Playdough time- we came back to this one again and again

This activity was the most coveted. I almost want to buy one. There were more tears over this activity than any other because it was SO HARD to take turns because it was so fun! :) It's kind of like a mini roller coaster. Andrew, Claire, and Izzie liked going down backwards at the same time and racing. If only there hadn't been five other kids that wanted turns too. It was a great activity to practice sharing though...


Overall the morning (which stretched into the afternoon) was a lot of fun and we ended our trip with a visit to Sunvalley Mall for Mrs. Fields cookies and lunch... which made it a perfect day... until Andrew took too short of a nap and woke up screaming and tantruming for 30 minutes (think head banging/throwing himself on the floor)... I guess every day can't always be totally perfect with a toddler, right? :)

We solved the tantruming problem by grabbing some rocket popsicles and Ben & Jerrys at the grocery store. Now both of us will be in good moods tonight!

Choo Choo

I think I want Andrew's 3rd birthday to hurry up and come so I can copy this awesome Thomas the Train inspired party (more pictures here).


I think we'll actually be doing a low key party next year... but a girl can dream, right?

Traveling Saturday

We spent Saturday traveling to San Jose and San Francisco to spend time with friends and have a little fun.

We started off the day with a birthday party for Andrew's little friend Kailee. I ate way too much good food...


while Andrew jumped and jumped in the bouncy house.


Andrew's favorite thing to do was bounce and fall down.


The kids even got some of the dads to come in and they bounced and bounced until everyone was ready for a nap.


Little man also loved singing "Happy Birthday" to Kailee and eating lots of chocolate cake covered in Sesame Street characters.


We attempted a full group photo shot and it was madness, but shocking that this many toddlers sat still for tons of pictures (mostly because they were bribed with cake).



After the fun party we drove up to San Francisco. Andrew napped along the way and I tried my hardest NOT to nap while we drove.

We met our friends Paige and Priya at the Randall Museum. It is a cute museum in Corona Heights that is full of animals and trains. There are several interactive exhibits and we just followed the kids around.

Andrew could've stayed in the train room checking things out all day. Unfortunately we didn't make it down there until right before 4pm... and that part closed at 4pm... so he only got to watch the trains for a little bit.



I loved the vibrant murals on the wall.




After we played for a few hours, we wandered outside to check out the views. You can see all across SF from the museum.




We ended the night with a trip over to West Portal for dinner at Squat & Gobble . They had smiley faced french fries that Andrew loved and the salads were delicious. Once we were done I downed some chocolate to keep me awake as we trekked home.

The long fun-filled day left us exhausted and we both had a great sleep last night!