It has become an annual tradition to visit mom in San Fransisco. It's a lot of traveling but so worth the trip so that Acalias can get the attention he misses out on while living on the other side of the country.
Eating at mom's favorite cafe, Yummy Yogurt. Acalias was quiet pleased with it. He ate a lot of mom's yougurt as well as the fruit smoothie I ordered.
Playing out side near the pool.
Crawling down the endless hall, a nice change from our small apartment.
Mimicking grandma, he makes this face when he's excited.
Visiting Aunt Misi, I hadn't seen her since I traveled to Tonga in 2003.
Playing with Waldo, but Lias later discovered that he is not as nice as Skofeild.
Visiting our favorite hotspot, the Golden Gate Bridge.
Baker's Beach.
Playing in the sand with grandma.
Thanks again mom for showing us a great time, we miss you already!
Acalias and I spent 9 days in San Francisco with my mom. I had to keep the secret for three long months but it was so worth seeing her reaction. It was as if she had won a million dollars. I love seeing how my mom interacts with Acalias, she loves him so much.
From the time I arrived, until the time I departed Acalias spent the majority of the time in Grandmas arms. Good thing we have a swing and other bouncy toys for him at home, otherwise we would go crazy feeling like we need to hold him all the time. When I visit Mom, I typically visit my mission but this time I spent the majority of the time with mom. We visited the Golden Gate Park and Bakers Beach (both of which I had never visited before). Acalias is easily entertained anywhere, as long as bright colors or people are involved. Grandma and Acalias at the Golden Gate Park & Bakers Beach
I met up with a couple of my close college friends as well. It’s crazy to think back to my college days. I made great friends, and I’m glad that we have kept in contact with each other; I have so many great memories with them. Jolynn and I shared two classes together at the U of U. We studied for tests together and became great friends. I can’t believe that we are both mothers now:)
Umu and I were in the Pacific Islander Student Association. We traveled to San Diego to support our basketball team and Tonga to present our research together.
It was great to catch up with both of these ladies, they inspire me.
Mom received a second surprise on Friday morning. Mom would typically take me to the San Mateo shoreline trail to run while she walked with Acalias. On Friday I told her that I preferred to walk around the neighborhood. I had planned with my siblings for them to be at the door once she opened it. Surprise! I was so jittery that I missed the bulk of it when I tried to record it. Then when I finally got my camera on, I was so excited to see everyone that the footage is of the wall and floor as I made my rounds hugging everyone.
Watching my nephews interact with Acalias was priceless, Audric was happy to sing Acalias a song in this next video.
Unfortunately, it rained the entire weekend that my siblings were in town. Derek flew in on Saturday and presented at the AOA Conference on Sunday morning. We thought it would be nice to support him until we found out that it would cost $150 dollars just to get into the conference. We made due by playing card games, puzzles and coloring. We had fun catching up, I hadn’t seen my siblings since last November and Derek hadn’t seen them since last July. I’m super excited to go home and spend more time with my siblings in December.
Proud Grandma!
The weather cleared up the last few days that we were there, just on time for the AOA 5k on Tuesday morning. It was cold so we left Acalias with Grandma.
I also had my mom take family pictures of us at the beach. These are a couple of our favorites along with the new header picture we have up above.
We had a wonderful time with mom, it was hard to say goodbye.
Our flight was scheduled late, our total travel time would be 12 hours. Acalias slept the majority of the time, thank goodness. When I realized our layover in Atlanta,Georgia would be 4 hours, I called my sisters and invited them to come and meet their nephew. It was so good to see them, I hadn't seen them since their graduation in May 2009.
I have over 200 pictures of the trip. I will post the remaining pictures on Facebook for you all to see.
Derek and I had a great month. We enjoyed Confrence, the Oakland mission reunion, Easter with family and visiting my mom in California. My mom begged us to visit one last time before we move away to West Virgina. Whenever we visit California, we binge on Seafood (thank goodness I married a seafood lover) and just relax. It was a short trip so we didn't get a chance to visit my mission or my buddies who live out in California. Mom cooked us a big breakfast every morning, we always gain a few pounds while we're there. Here we are in the kitchen after a nice big meal.
This is my favorite picture, my mom bought me color stay lipstick and it is true to it's "stay" claim. We ate lunch, dinner, snacks and it stayed, we woke up the next morning and it was still on as if we had just put on a fresh application. Thanks for treating us to a well needed vacation mom, we love you! Happy Mother's Day.
This month we have a lot to look forward to, i'll be running my first marathon next saturday and we plan to visit Georgia for my sister Nia and Kura's graduation. We'll be driving with our nephews so it should be quite entertaining.
Wish me luck!I really just want to finish the race, i'm not going to be too focused on time.
