Tour de California ~ stage 1

It's going to be a long night people.  All I can tell you for sure is that I'm hopped up on canadian tylenol and two episodes of Downton Abbey.  Ian is finishing up his first nap of our trip and I've enjoyed a few glorious hours alone in our hotel room.  Poor Ben had to tackle Ava whose hopped up on copious amounts of sugar and her cousins in the outdoor pool and the frigid bay area winds.  Is that even a sentence?  I never promised cohenrancy.  Is that even a word?  Anyway, we picked up the mega-van on Wednesday 

 Ian decided to take the first leg of the journey

and then Dad picked up the slack.  

Emotional #1 was beyond excited to be with her cousins but apparently was feeling the loss of her seventy five bedfellows and had a ceremony of mourning before she fell asleep.

 She was easily distracted though once we picked up her benefactors from the airport.

 Our tour of I-5 was pretty uneventful minus an incident in McDonald's involving two children, a game of ring around the rosies and a giant cardboard display.  Whew, that mom must have been embarrassed.

We arrived in Berkeley yesterday and settled back into our healthy family patterns.  No, were not watching tv.  My family was watching me as I led praise and worship hour.

 Then today we picked up Grandma and took her to the mall for family pictures.  There was some under breath mumblings about her wearing pink sweatpants inside-out under her outfit.  I say if I ever turn one hundred I'll just be happy to remember to leave the house with clothes on and my teeth in. 

 I think Ian was trying to teach her how to high five here.

 There have been great amounts of giddiness since these two reunited.

 They're almost as tall as Grandma!

 Getting ready for their close-ups

 I had to hold back a few tears as Dad combed Grandma's hair before the picture.  It was such a tender moment between a mother and a son.  Love and joy and service all woven up in a beautiful gesture.

 And then there was food.  Lots and lots of food.  Dim Sum is my children's happy place.  Sadly, it is the deepest expression of their chinese heritage.  I owe half of their body weights to the many chinese restaurants they have visited in their short lives.  For that I am thankful.

 Here Ian is demanding more food and showing off his chopsticking skills.  He cannot identify the color blue or put on his shoes, but he can eat an entire meal with two sticks.

 And finally we visited Great Grandpa Hsieh's resting place.  It was a quiet moment of contemplation as we remembered his life and looked out at the Golden Gate Bridge.  And then came, "Can we please go swimming now?!!!"  So out of respect for the others visiting the cemetery we made our way to the party bus as quick as possible.

Mountain life

We went up to Mt. Hood this weekend for our second annual small group camping trip.  It was such a beautiful spot and I just couldn't believe we were an hour from home.  We were definitely transported to a different world.  Ava was in her element from the moment her crocs hit the dusty ground.  Ian took a little more coaxing but eventually he was won over.  I hope this becomes the Hsieh family camp ground for years to come.  Sometimes you just find a little spot in this world and you have to claim it for your own.

Helping Daddy set up the hammock

Heading down to the lake

 Ava walking on water

 Getting crafty with the camera

 S'mores!

 Snuggle time

 Bonding with Abby in the hammock

 Ava's just not herself until she has her morning coffee

 The perfect hiding spot

 Karl's home from Chicago and we are so glad to have him back

 Home Groupies

 Family photo

 More cuteness

 Ben swears that the water wasn't cold but mama wasn't convinced

 Signs of a good trip

 Until next year...

Room with a view

I got to spend four whole days looking at these beautiful faces.  I know, your jealous.  And you should be.  These girls light up a room from the inside out.  My precious family agreed to scatter to the four corners of Oregon so I could house my new roomies in style.  It was a glorious girls weekend.  I loved every indulgent minute of it.  From the pictures it looks more like a food tour of Portland, but it was so much more.  It was a spontaneous shopping, luxurious eating, conversation filling, soul satisfying, friend fest.  I'm already looking forward to next year ladies!

It took Jenni and I about seven minutes to get from the airport to our first flight of fancy.  BBQ!

 And a new favorite: Scrumpy's hard cider

 Crossing Salt & Straw off my Portland bucket list (twice in 12 hours)

 Of course a Voodoo Doughnut stop was in order

 The voodoo

 We all found our happy place here

 Then we burned off the calories at Powell's.  Amy showed my hers and I showed her mine (reading list that is).  Amazing to be in this bookstore with no kids and no time restraints.  Bliss times two.

 Some celebratory shoe shopping was definitely in order.

 Happy hour at the Observatory is a must for all out of town guests.  Get the fry bread and the Tom Kah.  You can thank me later.

 More ice cream please.

 Farmers market fun

 What to do?  What to do?  Hmmm?  What we always do during the middle of the day.  Go to the movies!

 We were exhausted after a morning at the "spa" and decided to kick back with $1 Mimosa's and some unusual pizza at Hot Lips.

 And then decided to move our lounging to Stumptown 

because the lighting was better.

 And finally a stop at the Waffle Window.  Get the three B's.  It's pretty mind blowing.

 And there you have it.  It is because of friends and weekend(s) like these that I can clean up the juice Ian spilled on the floor within ten minutes of being home and then curiously dragged his feet through and scampered around the entire downstairs, with joy.  It is a good thing to rest and dream and question and laugh and wonder and cry and remember, to be filled up and then go back to the good life.

First world problem?

I started to get a little worried that I hadn't gone berry picking yet so I enlisted the help of fast fingered Debby, (otherwise known as Mom), and Ava and Ian (otherwise known as slow and slower) and headed to our local u-pick.  It was a beeeee-utiful day for picking and if it weren't for the kids complaining about heat stroke and the need for a bathroom I would probably still be there.  As it was I got a wee bit carried away and ended up with 18 pints of raspberries.  It took me an entire day just to deal with them all.  By midnight I had made raspberry syrup, strawberry ice cream, raspberry scones, frozen three giant bags, and made what I'm now calling, the berry bomb cake.  And I still have five pints in the fridge.  After three days, Ben is still rolling his eyes every time he looks at me.  Apparently I'll never learn.