Getting Her Hippie On

 

My mom joined us on our flight home from San Francisco last Sunday.  Rather than drag her all around the city at warp speed, the kids, Bob the hamster, and I brought her up to Woodstock for a relaxing week.

 

We showed her our favorite swimming holes, took her on walks at the lake, and explored the town a bit.

We got our creative juices flowing - painting, sewing, cooking, reading.

Holden made delicious watermelon, mint, cucumber popsicles

I made this cardamom, orange, almond loaf - YUM!

Bob supervised

Miniature oil paintings

Lots of BBQ and dining al fresco

We even visited a Tibetan Center and learned how to ring song bowls.

Kevin joined us on the weekend.  On the drive back to the city on Sunday we stopped off at Franklin Roosevelt's birthplace and lifelong home in Hyde Park.  We all really enjoyed the tour and museum and library.

The kids working on getting their Junior Ranger badges

I think we sent mom back to California yesterday a bit less exhausted than we normally do.

The Coldest Winter I Ever Spent...

We had another amazing week in the Bay Area jam-packed with friends, family, and fun. I'm going to try to do a post from my phone because I'm away from any computers for the next week (more on that in the next post!). So please excuse the brevity and any formatting wonkiness that may ensue. 

It started with an emergency landing on the way out for a minor repair to the aircraft that Holden completely slept through.

We had a great day picnicking in the Presidio with our close friends Nate, Naomi, Sloane, and Jack.

We couldn't miss the annual fireworks show in our old 'hood in San Mateo, even if the fog and wind made it feel more like New Year's Eve than the 4th of July. Catching up with all of our old friends and neighbors made braving the cold worth it.

Kevin's parents continued their decades-long tradition of a huge 4th of July celebration in Millbrae. We had a fantastic day visiting with cousins, friends, swimming, playing ping pong and corn hole and eating way too much.

On July 5th we celebrated Holden turning 9. We spent the whole day with Auntie Maxine, Uncle Sean, Rowan and Piper wandering through Golden Gate Park (parkas and all), exploring the San Francisco Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Tea Garden.

At the end of the day we met up with Kevin's parents for Holden's birthday dinner at Joe's of Westlake. I grew up eating there 2-3 times a month and there were reminders of my Dad everywhere. It felt like he was with us for Holden's birthday.

The next day Kevin and I took all four kids to the gorgeous new SFMoMA.

The next day we made our way to Berkeley and took a beautiful, long hike in Tilden Park with my BFF Alyssa and her kids Shauna and Grant.

I ended the week with my annual girls weekend in Calistoga with some of my besties. Those two days of sharing and laughing, counseling and consoling, fill me up with enough peace and strength to last me a year.  There are few things more valuable to me than my female friendships.

Our first night back at home in New York Holden cried himself to sleep. He said he wants to keep that feeling he had in California all the time.

We all do.