trip redux

i had every intention of posting more details about our trip to san francisco soon after we arrived home. now it's two weeks later and, i guess, better late than never! lots of fantastic pics of the boys with their papa and uncle parker are still probably on papa's nikon, so i'll have to wait to get those up.

we really did have an amazing trip filled with lots of laughter, squealing and celebration. jordan's little brother parker was bar mitzvah'ed, and he did an amazing job. even though i only caught bits and pieces of the service, i was seriously impressed by his performance. go parker! words can not describe how much the boys love their uncle parker. i'm talking about total adoration here. we have never seen the boys so smitten by someone, and they would pull out all the stops to get his attention and play with him. i can't wait to get papa's pics to show y'all their antics. the boys were also quite taken with their aunt paige, who lavished sweet attention on them. and paige's darling friends had them constantly entertained!

abie lovin' his aunt paigey

the girls give the boys high fives

this was the first time the boys got to meet their grandma vicki and their great grandma nan! nan had all sorts of tricks up her sleeve, including making little popcorn holders out of mini cereal boxes. the boys thought this was the greatest thing, and let's just say i learned a thing or two about ingenuity.

oz with g-ma vicki and abie with g-g-ma nan

the boys had a blast living in papa's house for a week. oz squealed with delight every time he got to lay on the fuzzy pillow, and he showed everyone his tennis chops with parker's racket. let's just say, everyone's pushing for the boys to become the hot doubles team in 2025.

amidst all the celebrating, we were able to sneak away as a family and spend the day in the city. we hung out at the aquarium for a while, watched the boats in the bay, oogled the street cars and double decker buses, and even managed to capture a picture of us all at the golden gate (oz would emphatically ask for "more, more, more!" every time we crossed over!).

i have to say, as worried i was about the actual traveling, it was an absolute breeze. we were seriously lucky. on the way had both rows to ourselves, and on the way home, we only had to share one seat of an entire row with someone else. we were able to set up the boys car seats even though we didn't buy seats for them (whew!), which made a huge difference. the boys loved the portable dvd player and backyardigan dvds (which the actual dvds and covers made for excellent toys as well), their travel doodles and books. they were more content traveling then they are at home on any given afternoon!

i did learn a thing or two on this trip, so here's my top five:

5) portable dvd players rock! as do go-go-kidz travel mates. if you're traveling with toddlers, they are both worth the investment!
4) never, ever let your child eat more than two boxes of raisins ESPECIALLY two hours before your flight. we narrowly escaped disaster here. it was way too close for comfort.
3) try and keep your toddler kiddos on roughly the same schedule as you do at home. it really helped to keep some version of the same routine, as far as sleep times, eating times, etc. we even kept the boys on central time, or rather, THEY kept themselves on central time.
2) with lesson no. 3 in check, throw out all the rules. the boys got to watch lots of tv. they ate endless bowls of popcorn an hour before dinner. we were all better for it.
1) take advantage of un-advantageous situations (i.e. see the bright side, silver lining, etc). the boys were up at 4am every morning. we got to see spectacular sunsets of the bay every morning. i was sleep deprived, but i loved every second of it.