We took our first big family trip this month, and BOY was it an adventure! Hayden and I have never been good at "vacationing." Every time we take a trip, we are sure to pack as many adventures as we possibly can to maximize our time, and this time was no different! Except for the fact that we were hauling around a nine-month-old and I haven't been so exhausted in a long, long time. Overall, SJ did pretty well! We took her on her first airplane ride to San Francisco and she was a little angel. Getting from the airport to Aunt Diana's house outside of San Francisco was a bit of a struggle, but after that, she was pretty well-behaved! Our girl is already a regular adventurer!
Let's back up a bit, just to keep it chronological. Uncle Isaac gave his mission farewell talk this month! He did a great job and will be a wonderful missionary in Croatia and the surrounding countries. We would never choose a favorite uncle, but, Isaac IS the most experienced...
Funny story: I was looking through Isaac's baby pictures a few years ago thinking he was the cutest little thing. It's crazy how much SJ looks like his baby pictures!
Okay, back to San Francisco. Aunt Diana was kind enough to let us stay at her house and she was the best hostess! We rented a car for the week and spent the first day of our trip touring Angel Island and Muir Woods. SJ took her first ferry ride and loved it!
It was such a beautiful, clear day! It's rare to see the Golden Gate Bridge so clearly because it's usually so foggy. We lucked out big time!
We hiked around the island and toured the Immigration Station.
Of course, SJ had to dip her little toes in the ocean.
After riding the ferry back to the mainland, we drove to Muir Woods and enjoyed a beautiful evening strolling through the huge sequoias.
People had been telling us all day how cute are baby was, but dinner in Sausalito was where SJ earned real celebrity status. As we sat outside this DELICIOUS pizza restaurant called Sandrino, at least 10 or so groups of people stopped to swoon over our little girl. That's not including all the waiters and other customers at the restaurant. I mean, I know she's adorable, but these people must have been seriously starved for infant interaction because they acted like they'd never seen a baby before.
That day was absolutely perfect. Everything went so well and we saw (and ate:) so much!
The next day we woke up and drove south to Monterey. We had a whale-watching tour scheduled so we had to leave eeeeearly. We were lucky to have yet another clear, cloud-free day so the visibility was awesome! We saw some incredible wildlife, and SJ did pretty well most of the time. She had a bit of a breakdown toward the end, but we made it through. Once we got back to the shore, we got some fish and chips and clam chowder that was so yummy, even SJ enjoyed it.
Hayden's mom's cousin was kind enough to let us stay at their house in Monterey! We couldn't have lucked out more. The house was in a perfect location and hotels were so expensive. They even had a hot tub! We were so grateful to have a comfortable place to stay, especially after our boat tour. I'm not kidding, I hadn't felt that exhausted since giving birth last December. We took a niiiiiiice nap before going back to the shore for sunset.
The next day was Big Sur day. We'd never seen the California coast this far north, and MAN it was beautiful. SJ was a trooper, sitting in the car for a lot of the day. The scenery was well worth the drive!
We made it back to Diana's that night after stopping for dinner at our cousin Jeneane's place in San Francisco. On Sunday we just relaxed after such an exhausting couple of days, and Monday we were right back at it! We bought tickets to ride the hop-on-hop-off bus in downtown San Francisco to maximize our touring time. We saw most of the iconic sites. It was a chilly day and not as clear as the weekend before, but we still had a blast walking the quirky streets and eating such delicious food.
Traveling with a very active baby like SJ requires a lot of crawling time pitstops. Here's SJ and her dad getting out their wiggles near the Painted Ladies.
SJ has a hard time smiling when strangers take our picture...
But when her dad takes the camera, she's all smiles!
The next day, we flew back home. It was the first of many family trips for us, and it was so much fun!
Soon, it was back to the real world--the real world of trying to get SJ to eat the same dinner we eat. She likes spaghetti but can't figure out how to pick up the noodles and it's frustrating, to say the least.
The messiest baby.
Uncle Brandon came to visit from California for a few days and stopped by to meet SJ! He loved hearing her "littlest elf" laugh. That's her latest trick--she'll do this little chuckle that sounds like the elf at the beginning of A Series of Unfortunate Events and it's the funniest thing. Here she is playing with Papa while Brandon laughs at her cuteness:
And here's a better angle of her hair! I'm not sure how this happened, but she woke up from a nap this day with the funniest chicken hair.
Here is one of very few halfway-decent family pictures we have together. SJ wasn't even smiling buuuut the view was beautiful! We really need to work on getting better photos of the three of us.
Here's the last photo we took of Isaac and SJ before he left on his mission. We'll sure miss him!
But the very next day, SJ got a new uncle! Well, sort of. Uncle Jonah finally made it home from his mission in England! Hooray! He was flying into the St. George airport but he had a long layover in Salt Lake, so we got to see him even before my parents.
We're so happy to have him home!
The same day Jonah came home, we met our new niece and SJ's new cousin Sukie Rose! She's the sweetest little newborn, and SJ isn't the tiniest in the family anymore. <3
Phew! It seems like a lot happened this month! Truly every month is an adventure with this pretty blue-eyed baby girl.
This rare picture of me taking a nap holding SJ deserved a permanent spot. Oh, how I love this little girl! She's growing and talking and moving and she's a little clingy (which is a phase I hope ends soon!) but I just didn't know it was possible to feel this much love for such a tiny human.
