Wednesday, August 27, 2014

California Kids

Last week the Hufford's all headed to the airport - the kids and I went to California and Mike went to Alaska! We planned it so we would all be at the airport at the same time (flights within 30 minutes of each other) and we would all be able to get through the airport together - well that was not how it ended up working out. My airline had a gigantic line and Mike wasn't able to wait with me. Picture this: Blair strapped to me in the Ergo and I also was wearing a backpack, Sawyer walking next to me (or circling me) with his backpack, and I was dragging along a suitcase, a duffel bag, and a stroller with two carseats stacked on top. Now that it was over a week ago, I can kind of laugh but my gosh I'm sure we were a total circus. Countless strangers were telling me that it looked like I had my hands full - they were right! Ha! Once we got through that line (about 40 minutes) we waited in the security line (another 20 minutes) and finally found Mike, his dad, and his dad's friend Alex all sitting waiting for their flight without a care in the world. Meanwhile I'm sweating and exhausted and my hair was flat- it was no ones fault but I'm sure the kids and I were ridiculous looking. (now that I am writing this out I'm laughing at what we must have looked like to everyone who saw us).

Anyway, we all made our flights and they were uneventful (a good thing) though Blair was kind of wild until she passed out on me while sucking her thumb. It was pretty cute.

I let Sawyer wear his school clothes and use his school backpack for the plane ride, I thought he looked totally adorable : )



The kids were very happy to finally be at my parents house and Sawyer was cracking us up with all his comments. He went into their kitchen and called out to us "hey guys! I like your kitchen - its white!" After that we were in the backyard he looked around and said "it's kinda nice...." He is one funny guy.

Our house/street is on a hill so we don't really get to just hang out in the front yard on a blanket and Sawyer can't easily ride his scooter on the sidewalk so I packed his scooter and we enjoyed lots of "front yard time" since my parents live on a nice flat street. At one point a neighbor walked over to say hello and Sawyer said "who's that girl?" Always the welcome wagon!







My dad made us spaghetti and meatballs for dinner - Blair went nuts

On Tuesday I went to meet some friends at nice open air outlet mall. It was fun for my kids to meet my friends kids for the first time.
First up was Maura and Colin




I mean, how cute are they?

J. Crew chaos

Next up was a friend I've had for as long as I can remember, Amanda, and her two boys, Jameson and Cameron, who were as cute as can be. It was really great to see them.

I didn't notice until now, but I'm kind of dying at the underwear clad mannequin in the background


Back home to some more outdoor time

Blair took her first step on this day too! (Aug 19) She hasn't really taken off since then but usually just does 1 step  (sometimes 2) at a time and then plops down. 




He decided he was a police officer and was putting my mom under arrest. Who knows why. 

The next day we stayed in town and my mom and I took the kids to Vasona Park. They had a little steam locomotive running that we knew my dad wanted to take Sawyer on, but he was REALLY wanting to go on it so we all went after some time on the swings. While on the train he was so happy and said "This is GREAT!" 







That night I went over to a friends house for dinner but somehow didn't take any pictures - I don't know why. It was really fun and nice to catch up with some old friends. 

The next day (Thursday) we took our rented mini-van to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I had really high hopes for this day and it ended up not meeting my high expectations. Not because the aquarium wasn't awesome, but because Sawyer wasn't as into it as I thought he would be. It was so strange, I guess just an off day for him. He liked seeing some of the fish and sharks (basically his typical obsession) but he got scared and almost in tears at a tank that had an enormous fish and a few sharks. After that he became pouty and was in a bad mood. I guess that is a 4 year old for ya! He says he had fun though, so I guess I shouldn't dwell on it. Then on the way back to my parents house we hit some traffic and Blair lost her mind. She had been strapped to her carseat, strapped in the stroller, and strapped in the Ergo since we left our house and I think at the end of the day she was just done. I don't blame her. Such is life right - not everything goes as planned!









It could not have been a more beautiful day
















this is about the time the grumpiness hit









On Friday, our last full day in the Bay Area, we went to Santa Cruz. I have been dying to go to the beach and haven't been in a long time. I love Santa Cruz and we all thought the kids would have fun - and this time we were right. It is not too far of a drive thank goodness, so we piled into the mini van again (I will say it was really nice, but I just cannot own one) and drove over the hill. Once we got into town I ran into a little surf shop to get Sawyer a cool hat, I felt like he needed one - with his long hair he can pull off the surfer dude look.

It was a perfect day, Sawyer loved building a sand castle with my mom

It was a touch windy though so I left Blair in her cardigan,  she cracked us up because she looked like a little old lady shuffling around



She loved the sea breeze




Mr Cool




nothing like a mouthful of sand!











hilarious, sorry Blair!






A step on Saturday morning

We left on Saturday evening, but before that my dad took the kids and I back to the park so we could all ride the steam locomotive again.  My dad has been wanting to take Sawyer on this for a long time.





Super fun week, I'm so glad we got to go!
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