Bathtime with Owen Each fall my parents plan a trip to California.  Before they retired, the trips were only a few days and usually timed with a Stanford Football game.  But now that they are living the good life, they are able to come and stay for much longer. This year they stayed for 10 days AND were joined by Abbie and Owen. It was fabulous. 

Abbie and Owen were a surprise addition to the October trip.  Abbie decided in mid-September that she and Owen would come out and spend some time with us. They arrived on October 1 and I had them to myself until my parents arrived on the 3rd.  Riding the Ardenwood Train My goal was to get Owen saying "Katie" before he left. A day or two in I became Kakoo.    (He's super cute when he says it.) Like Jack's visit, this was the first time I had gotten multiple days with Owen and I really was grateful for the opportunity for him to get to know me more.   I didn't get to take off as much time as I would have liked given my busy work schedule, but we did maximize our weekend and I took a couple of half days.  On that Friday afternoon Abbie and I brought Owen to Ardenwood to ride the train and see the farm animals. The train was a non event for Fun at the park that little guy. But he loved the animals. He especially liked the chicken and the sheep.  He also loved our backyard. Now that's he is walking he is super independent and loves to redistribute just about everything: dirt, sand, bark chips, bubble makers, etc.    He also loves the playground and we are fortunate to live less than a ten minute walk to a playground designed for little kids. Owen went there every day they visited.  He was super confident and owned the place. He takes the slides like does their stairs- backwards.

Joy and Collin came down on Saturday and joined in on the family fun.  We returned to Ardenwood for Owen to spend more time with the animals and then had a belated birthday celebration for my mom.  The crew! Lee cooked up a delicious dinner and I made a cake.  Owen LOVED the cool whip from the cake - even licked my fingers clean!  We abandoned Abbie and Owen around 7pm and headed down to San Jose for the Portland Timbers vs San Jose Earthquakes MLS game.   My parents planned their trip around this game and bought tickets long before we knew Abbie and Owen would be flying in.  The game wasn't all that exciting, but the Timbers did get a win and it's always fun to be at a sporting event.

Owen loved the beach Sunday was our big day out.  When Owen woke up from his nap, we loaded up and drove down to Rio del Mar beach in Aptos.  We were lucky enough to be part of Owen's first beach experience.  He LOVED it.  He's a big fan of rivers right now (vihva) and this beach happens to have a river flowing into the ocean.  He couldn't get enough of it.  He also loved the sand and the waves.  He didn't stop moving the entire two hours we were there.   Uncle Lee & Aunt Kakoo with Owen On our way home we stopped at In-N-Out for dinner.   Owen wasn't all that impressed with the hamburgers.  He did enjoy the fries and then, once he discovered ketchup, that's all he wanted.  We managed to get a fantastic video of  him and his ketchup. It really was a fabulous day.

 On Monday the crew came into Palo Alto to meet me for lunch and bring me home.  Checking out the Ocean I then enjoyed my last afternoon with sweet little Owen before they left on Tuesday morning.  It really was a treat to have them here. I'm grateful they (and Lani, Kyle and Jack) made the effort to come visit.  I'm also grateful to all my friends who helped make it possible by loaning toys, car seats, pack-n-plays, etc.  With mom and dad at the game

My parents stayed the rest of that week until Sunday afternoon.   We normally keep it pretty low key when they are here, but this trip was an exception.  One night they met us in Palo Alto for dinner, ice cream and Stanford Convocation.   On Friday afternoon we met Lee at Stanford for a tail gate before the Stanford vs Washington State football game.    Stanford went all out for that game -- parachutists performed, bringing the game ball and carrying the flag, Stanford won, and there were fireworks after the game.  It was a really fun night. Our Kayaking Adventure And on their last day and night here we went out to Half Moon Bay to go kayaking before going up to the city to meet Joy, Collin and my aunt for dinner.   We ended up having a beautiful day in the bay and enjoyed being out on the water.  We even saw a seal and a sea lion!  It was fun to branch out and try something new. 

We had a wonderful time with my family and were sorry to see them leave.   Good thing Christmas is just around the corner.....  Pictures of their visit are here.  And, Hawaii pictures are finally done too!