Visiting The Land of Milk and Honey

Alina and Rosemary took advantage of Rosemary's last "free" weekend before turning age two to visit California. Rosemary's godparents, Leah & Kris, live in San Jose.

Alina's good friends from NU - Prashant, Myra & Christine - live in the Bay Area, too. Unfortunately Prashant was out of the country. But luckily Myra and Christine were both available. The weekend was full of lots of "family" fun. Alina and Rosemary spent most nights with Leah & Kris and one night at Christine's. Alina felt absolutely pampered and lucky to have such a great friends.

At Leah's house, a prime source of entertainment is the cat which visits the house multiple times per day. Rosemary was overjoyed every time the cat arrived! Here she is, looking excitedly up at Kris as the cat approaches the back door.

Leah baked yummy Ghiardelli brownies, always a hit with Rosemary.

Since Kris and Leah don't have any kids yet, we had to improvise on toys and entertainment. Chopsticks + exercise ball = drumming! Who needs expensive toys, anyway??

On Saturday, Leah took Alina and Rosemary shopping at Santana Row, an elegant outdoor mall. Leah treated Alina to a kid-free hour which included a spa pedicure. Tita Leah even changed a #2 diaper while keeping Rosemary content and happy. How's that for SUPER??!!

Later on Saturday, Christine & Emjay hosted a BBQ, bringing everyone together. Christine set up a tripod to take this photo.


We actually assembled all five kids at the picnic table at the same time! Photo snapped by Christine. From the front left, Joey, Rosemary, Rohan, Jonathan & Jack.

Christine snagged a photo of Alina pulling Jonathan and Rosemary around the yard. Jack had his turn in the wagon, too.

Leah brought a beautiful cake for Rosemary and Alina. Here's Rosemary catching her first glimpse of the cake. Photo taken by Christine.

Leah presented the cake and led the singing of Happy Birthday! Photo taken by Christine.

Rosemary tried a few times to blow out her candles but had a little bit of stage fright in front of the group so Alina and Rosemary blew out the candles together. Christine took this great photo at the exact moment the candles went out!

Earlier in the trip, Christine and her sister Stephanie drove Alina and all the kids out to a rocky northern CA beach. Although we took Rosemary on a beach vacation when she was 3 months old, this was her first time on the sand and at the ocean as a child old enough to remember.

She spent the first few minutes calling the sand "dirty" until she got used to the silky feel. Christine lent Rosemary some of Jonathan's clothes.

Christine invented a fun game for Rosemary and Jonathan to sit still while their feet are buried. Alina especially liked the sitting still part.

These two are almost the same age -- and they both loved it! The older boys ran around with Stephanie, flying kites. Thank goodness for an energetic Aunt! Rosemary eventually instructed Alina "up, up, up!" until Alina stood up... then Rosemary started walking toward the ocean, pointing and calling out "Big Agua". After strolling down to the waves, Rosemary enjoyed watching the water ebb and flow from the safety of Alina's arms (she wasn't interested in getting TOO close!)

Other outings included a trip on a rainy day to a very nice town called Los Gatos and a trip to a zoo/amusement park called Happy Hollow. In Los Gatos, Alina said to Leah and Myra "This is nice, why don't you live here?" and they both laughed - CA real estate is much different than the Midwest. No photos from the rainy day but we did still have a nice time hanging out together.

At Happy Hollow, Alina again was very grateful to have an energetic Stephanie along to run with the two older boys. All the kids loved the park. Alina had fun watching Joey and Rohan on the rides, especially Joey's first time on the Frog Hopper and Dragon 'roller coaster'. Before long Elliott will be enjoying bigger rides.

Here we are, gearing up to enter the park:


Christine grabbed this photo of Jonathan and Rosemary kicking their feet up in the double stroller.

Here's an adorable photo of Rosemary buckling her doll in the stroller.

After a fun day at the park, we headed to Myra and John's lovely home for dinner. Myra pre-ordered Chinese food and boy did we dig in! Asian cuisine is delicious in the Bay Area.

Myra took this photo of Jack and Rosemary eating together at Jack's picnic table.


The kids had a chance to play in the backyard.



Alina used Myra's camera to take a photo of Rosemary in action, climbing up the slide.


The long weekend in California was a great getaway for Rosemary and Alina - hopefully to be repeated in the future with Steve and Elliott along, too!