Kindergarten!

Mae

Adi

Vivi: "me, me!"

Dad helps with the bike rack

Mae at the door

Adi in line

Road trip Conclusion

It may not have been obvious from my previous posts just how challenging this trip was. Vivian was not happy to be in the car and, although she would fall asleep alright, rarely slept for more than an hour. She was in the middle row of the van and it was necessary for one of us to sit next to her most of the time, actively engaging her. Even when we resorted to movies on the phones or laptop, she wasn't happy. Basically she is of a miserable age to travel with, although she did more than double her vocabulary and we think it was probably due to the 40 some hours of direct engagement.

Adi and Mae, by contrast, were great. And even more do when you figure how little attention they were getting from their toddler-focused parents.

I took these pics over the course of the trip for us to remember the sweet aspects .

Early mornings: we took turns spiriting Vivian out of the room when she woke in order to let the big girls sleep in. Although there was a nice coffee shop in San Rafael, my favorite early morning destination was the beach at Dana Point.

Once the girls were asleep, we could turn on the lights, watch tv , take flash photos...

The only thing she wanted to watch were pictures of the Erie hot air balloon fest or too-slowly streaming teletubbies.

McDonald's play land + ice cream in 107 deg Las Vegas 

$2.99 gas station princess sets for everyone 

Home, finally. Celebrating our survival with a midnight beer.

Road trip IV. Orange County

Hello, ocean!

Hello, cousins!

Hugs for baby Sofia. Hugs for cousin Abbie.  (Vivian learned how to give hugs on this trip).

Family dinner with my Uncle Dick and Aunt Marti.

Beach time:

Abbie and Sofia with Adi

Clarissa 

Sofia

Mae and Adi

 Dave, Pablo and his daughter Samantha 

Cold wind

Dave and Vivi

...watching me surf!

It felt a lot more graceful than I look! But I finally stood up, 18 yrs after my first attempts. 

Goodbye, ocean. Goodbye cousins and friends! Off on the long journey home...

Road trip III. Oakland

Unfortunately Vivian had a fever so cried a lot, which means I didn't take many pics, most regrettably failing to take one of our dear friends Adriana and Fernando.

The girls loved the whiteboard wall in Fernando's home office

They live right next to Knowland Park, a large mountaintop open space currently threatened by developers. This is the view from the top.

The city goats were helping with fire mitigation. 

Just so cute-- I want one!

Road trip II. San Rafael

Back in the vanAsleep within minutes

Making friends with Maya and Dexter, the adorable kids of our benevolent hosts, Todd and Kearsley.

San Francisco sights

 

Kiteboarding national championships next to America's cup boat in front of Alcatraz.

Road trip I. Reno

Vivi momentarily entertained by the lock board (still entertaining us, thanks Samantha Piper)

Kite flying turned out to be a great rest stop activity. And an effective way to calm the windiest day-- next time we'll challenge ourselves with Wyoming!

Arrived in Reno, to see  the cousins.

Happy 7th birthday, Colette! Seems just yesterday I was holding a week-old baby while her parents madly finished their kitchen remodel.

To the Truckee to tire out the dog and wet the kids.

Kite flying attempts (yep, we shut the wind down in Reno, too)

Uncle Yac's and Aunt Sarah's permacultured back yard. Jealous!

Bath time

Story time with Grandma 

Grandma's pond (with a million tadpoles)

Queen of the mountain

Cuddles in pajamas 

Vivian's favorite fountain.