Perfection

Sometimes when you are waiting for dinner to be ready and the light is perfect, you have to grab your camera and child and have an impromptu photo session.  Love this guy. And I love that he was beyond photogenic tonight. And on top of that, I get to count this as his 11 month photos as it was 3 days past the 21st!  So many things just lined up perfectly. 

So, here are the rest of the photos that weren't in his "11 month" post.

Big Basin Redwoods

Our Saturday adventure this past weekend was perfect. We slept in a bit, had pancakes for breakfast, got ready, then hit the road for the Big Basin Redwoods.

Hudson napped on the drive, which was perfect as it prevented him from experiencing nausea like I did.  The road we took to get to our destination was unreal.  It was by far the most windy road I have ever been on.  The road didn't have a middle line, as it wasn't really wide enough for 2 cars, and bikers were all over.  The good thing about this road is that it was in the middle of a forest.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Specks of light would break through the trees every now and then, but it was mainly filled with a soft, golden glow filtering through tree tops.  I wish I had taken a photo, but the though alone of pulling out a camera made me even more car sick. The forest was filled with redwoods, trees whose branches don't start for a ways up, so we just saw trunk after trunk.  These trees grow tall and wide, so we saw some hefty fellas.  Many curves in the road went around these giants, or rather between them, thus narrowing the road even more.  I must admit I had a few freak outs as we passed cars coming in the opposite direction, while rounding a corner and having a biker on our side, and going between trees.  Im surprised we didn't die. And I'm surprised I didn't loose my breakfast.  Hudson woke when we were a little ways out, and cried for the last 2 miles.  The carsickness hit him and it broke my heart.

When we arrived at the park, I jumped out with Hudson.  We desperately needed fresh air.  Colby went and paid for parking at the ranger station and I told him I would meet him in the lot and we'd just walk over.  Well, long story short, the main lot was full and there were signs pointing to what we thought was a back lot. Colby kept driving, and I started freaking out when I realized he was passed the lot and out onto back roads that split in multiple directions.  I had no clue where he was.  Our phones had no service (and mine was in the car...I had myself and Hudson.). I had no idea how I would reunited with Colby or if he even realized he had just left me stranded.  Not the 50 foot walk to the car I had envisioned.  Eventually Colby came driving back down the road I was walking up and I started crying.  I had just borrowed someones phone to unsuccessfully call Colby and I was terrified.  (as i type this, I realize I sound ridiculous, but really, it was scary and Colby agreed that it would have been tough finding each other.)

I got back in the car and we found a parking spot back in the main lot. Figures.  We had lunch at a picnic table then heading out into the woods.  The first part was more of a nature walk--a .5 mile loop through the biggest trees in the park.  We saw "Mother of the Forest" and "Father of the Forest"; both were over 15 feet wide and over 320 feet tall.  These things were huge!  "Mother" actually had a hollowed out bottom and we stood inside it.  It was kind of eerie, actually.  After the walk, we headed back on the trails.  I'm not sure how far we hiked, but once we could hear a constant buzz of mosquitoes and knew it was approaching dinner time, we turned around and headed back.  It was so breath-taking and beautiful back in the woods and smelled of pine, one of my favorite scents.  Without cell service, we could really just enjoy each others company.  Hudson was seriously such a trooper.  He was packed around in his backpack (I carried him about half the time!!) and just took everything in. He was so giggly and cuddly while I had him, which was fun.  He also discovered the joy of pulling my ponytail.  That was fun--not. But it actually kind of was because H is kind of adorable when he discovers new things like pony-tail pulling. Hudson fell asleep toward the end and slept rather peacefully for about 30 minutes--just enough to get him through the day until he conked out for 40 minutes of our drive home.

We took a different "less windy" route home, which was still quite windy. Again, I got sick.  Hudson's ears had altitude pressure he couldn't relieve, so once we got down from the hills, we were all much better off. With it being past 7, we decided to stop for dinner. Our alternative was scrambled eggs at home. Apparently I need to grocery shop. We ate at Pacific Catch and it hit the spot.  I really enjoyed being out to dinner at a sit-down place and couldn't really think of the last time we had done that just Colby and I (and our tag-along Hudson). It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Hudson vs the Kleenex box

Nooks and crannies

Hudson doesn't like to take the easy road, apparently.  If there is an opening somewhere, H tries to get through it.  Here he was trying to get through these 2 chairs.  I'm still clueless as to why he was even trying to do this.  There wasn't really anything on the other side he was trying to get.  He crawled from the front, around to the back side and in between them and tried to get through. Funny kid.  The life of a 10-month old...

San Francisco

Keeping on track with our 12 weeks of adventure, we headed into San Francisco this weekend.  We drove in rather than taking public transportation and parked up by pier 35 at a flat rate garage for $15--a great rate for the area. We really didn't have a plan for the day.  Alcatraz tickets were sold out online, but we thought we would see if anything was available in person.  If there wasn't anything, we could do Pier 39 and explore some of the city. We checked on tickets.  Sold out until July 29th.  Guess you really have to plan ahead on that one.

We headed over to the pier and walked around for a bit out to the end and looked across at Alcatraz and the Sea Lion docks.  Because it's summer, there was only one sea lion!  We ate sourdough bread bowls with soup and sandwiched for lunch then headed over to look at a WWII Liberty ship and submarine, then walked over to Ghiradelli Square.  I wasn't feeling very great, so scratched my determination of splitting a Ghiradelli sundae with Colby.  I guess we will have to do that another trip. 

As Hudson woke up, we walked down to a park on the shore and played for a bit. We seriously contemplated hitting up the Dodgers vs. Giants game and headed back to the car to drop off our stroller.  We looked into tickets through the giants site and craigslist and decided to head to the stadium to see if we could find anything from a scalper.  As we waited for the street car, we decided it wasn't a guarantee to get tickets (and we were already an hour late--knowing Hudson wouldn't last a whole game anyway) and would rather take the opportunity of having our car in the city and driving around to explore.  I am so glad we did!  

We headed over to Lomard street--the windiest street in the world--and drove down that.  We waited a bit for our turn, but really enjoyed the street and the views of the city from atop Nob Hill. We then headed over to cross the Golden Gate Bridge.  (see video from both in the below post.)  It was kind of neat to drive across such a monumental landmark of the state and US.  We went to the overlook area on the other side and got out for pictures.  Fog and wind had rolled in and Hudson wasn't a happy camper about the situation.  We headed back across the bridge,and checked off one of my bucket list items--a kiss on the golden gate bridge with my forever love--romantic, I know.  I envisioned a nice sunny day accompanied by a stroll across the bridge, but a quick smooch with the Husband while he was driving fit much better into our situation. I digress. As we went to pay our toll, we headed to the carpool/discounted lane and then realized as we were at the booth that it was a FasTrack lane only and noone was in the booth.  The sign said proceed, so we did.  We are hoping we don't get a ticket in the mail!  It was an honest mistake.  We looked and realized no one was in any booth, so they either weren't collecting tolls, or its all electronic and rather than a ticket in the mail, we will get a bill.  Only time will tell.

We were ready to head home, but as we were getting back to the city, I caught a glimpse of the Palace of Fine Arts.  I really wanted to see this, but wasn't sure where it was.  We swung by and loved it (and the beautiful swans)!  It was a beautiful and immaculate monument.  We were surprised to read it was originally built in 1915 as a structure that would last only a year for a fair.  Later it was rebuilt to be permanent.  We decided we would love to live in the cute row homes across from the park.  A little out of our price range, though. Just a guess. As we headed home, we made a final detour to see the Painted Ladies on Postcard row.  The drive home was quick--about 30 minutes.  Not a bad drive at all.  We had such a fun day and Hudson really was a trooper through all of it.  He got in his first nap on the drive there, then took an hour nap in the stroller while walking around.  He is really quite the adaptable child.  I guess we will keep him around. ;)

San Francisco Video Clips

Lombard street:

Golden Gate Bridge:

Bay Area Adventures

When we found out we'd be moving to the Bay Area for a 12-week internship this summer, Colby said something along the lines of "12 week internship means 12 weekends. Let's come up with something fun for each." We love getting to know the new areas we live in, so of course I thought it was a great idea.

Our first weekend here (post move/settle-in weekend) Kellen came out to visit. We checked out Colby's office, the big tech companies (Google, Apple, Facebook) and Stanford, with a trip up Truman bell tower with great views over the area. For lunch, we stopped at a little hole in the wall maxican place that a friend had told us about.  Honestly, we were a little skeptical at first, but ended up really enjoying it.  Hudson had his first small taste of soda. We didn't get much of a reaction from him. We were at home for a bit for naptime. We went out again for dinner at Sam's BBQ followed by Willow Glen Ice Cream for dessert (both places we have to go back to) and strolled around Willow Glen in the evening.

It was a lot of fun to get out and explore our area and to have Kellen in town!

We attended our Cherry Glen Ward here for the first time and received such a warm welcome.  I really think we will love the ward here!

10 months

crawling, crawling, crawling. like a maniac.  It's crazy to think that a month ago I was concerned that he wasn't crawling. Literally the day I had a conversation with Hudson's pediatrician about him not crawling, he began crawling, and has never looked back.  He crawls, and does it fast.

Not only is he crawling, he is pulling himself up onto everything he can, constantly, including the crib and side of the bath tub.

He rarely lays in the tub anymore as he would much rather sit and stand.  It usually is a combination of those 2 with 10-20 second intervals at each spot.

He isn't "babbling" still (ba-ba-ba-ba) but is definately throwing consonants into his baby noises.  He no longer just squeals and squaks, but has word like noises such as "hey" or "psh." He recenly has started a low pitch growl.

His laughs and giggles kill me. every time. he is adorable.

He has become quite the little traveler and is content sitting in his carseat and will have conversations with himself (or so it sounds).  He actually does better alone in the backseat.  If someone is back there with him, he expects that they are there to get him out of his carseat and isn't sure why we leave him there buckled in.

he is still sleeping 12-13 hours at night with 2 naps in the day.

He nurses 4 times a day and eats solids 3 times a day.  For breakfast it is normally a pureed fruit and some cereal (rice, oatmeal, etc.). Lunch is usually yogurt or cottage cheese and a pureed fruit or veggie if he's still hungry.  Dinner is a pureed veggies and pureed meat mixture.  He eats 1-2 snack of banana or cheerios during the day.

he is growing like a little weed.  As we packed to move to San Jose, it was crazy how many clothes I left home because he would only fit in them for a few more days it seemed.

While it hasn't been anything serious, H has had an on/off cold and runny nose for the past month.  He still is his happy, uber-entergetic self, but it still hurts my heart.