CA Visit - Saturday

After staying up into the wee hours chatting with my sister, Cynthia, we awoke bright and early to attend Andrew's first soccer game ever. When Theresa told me he had a game, I asked if Andrew had had any practices yet, and she said nope. This was the very first time they'd be playing. We knew we were in for a treat. How could we miss it?!?!

My parents tell stories about David in little league as a kid, and how he'd pick daisies in La-La Land instead of paying attention to the game. I think Andrew may have inherited that trait from Uncle David. Here he is, twirling around and totally oblivious to the fact that other kids are chasing a ball.

Auntie Cynthia was showing Gabriela how to cheer him on. She is fascinated by balls and always comments when she sees "people running"so she got into it.

I think it was just a little overwhelming for Andrew. He'd never practiced before, had a bunch of other kids around and a big audience. During half-time/snack-time, he got in some time kicking the ball around.
The other team had clearly practiced. Here they are, all lined up for their turn to kick the ball before the game resumed.
After the game, my mom went home because she wasn't feeling so well. The rest of us went out for a sushi feast. We had a lot to celebrate - a fabulous visit, our last day with the Clower fam, Tim got a nice raise at work the day before, and of course to kick off the soccer season. We missed you, Uncle David and Auntie Tati.

If you know our Clower family, you know that while we are good at many things, moderation is not one of them. It is quite possible that the restaurant ran out of fish before dinner time that night. See for yourself:




Fo'real. The crazy part? We ate it. ALL. It was amazing. The kids were great. Mina somehow managed to pick up a roll with her chopsticks and get it into her mouth and Gabriela was a huge fan of the tofu. She liked it so much, the waitress brought out an entire bowl for her. Gabriela couldn't eat it fast enough, until she discovered how funny it was to shoot a cube of tofu out of her mouth onto the table. Bye, bye Tofu.

Sisters

After nap time and miraculously fitting all our new purchases and gifts for Gabriela into our suitcases, we headed back up to Oakland.

We got in some extra cousin time with Chaney and Beau. Auntie Ann and Uncle Jesse came to visit for dinner, and Grandma and Grandpa stopped by on their way back to Gilroy from Paradise. We stayed up late again talking with Nate and Meliss. And we would have taken more photos, but we left the memory card in the card reader at my mom's house. whoops.

So there you have it - one month later, and only a little tidbit of all the photos we took, that was our visit to CA. We had a wonderful trip.

As you can see, it was so completely jam-packed, we weren't able to squeeze in any time for friend visits, BUT we're coming back in two weeks and we'll have plenty of time to see you all then. Can't wait!

CA Visit - Friday

Friday morning Nana and Gabriela enjoyed some time on the swing set at Steve's.

Steve let Gabriela and Andrew feed his fish. She really got a kick out of this.

Gabriela and Auntie Tati

Uncle David, Auntie Tati, Andrew, Gabriela, and Lane and I went to Gavilan College to spot some ducks. We also found some turtles and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

California Poppies

Lane and I were like tourists in our old home town, stopping at the side of the road to take pictures of how pretty it was.

Then we went to Christmas Hill Park and enjoyed some time on the playground before going to In-N-Out. David hadn't been yet on his trip, and we didn't want him to be lonely!

Later that afternoon Theresa and my mom and I went to this totally fabulous place and got wonderful pedicures. They served us tea and snacks and brought us sparkling cider and gave us hot pads for our shoulders and backs. We had nice restful and relaxing girl time.

Then the little girls had a bath all together. Look how excited they are! Caetlin even joined in the fun.
Cynthia stayed in our room with us and she and Lane and I stayed up until the middle of the night just catching up.

More Cousin Fun - CA Visit - Thursday

Auntie Cynthia was crushed when she heard she might miss the kids' visit to the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. We rescheduled so she could join in the fun. Everyone had a blast.Here's Andrew the Firefighter. The kids loved playing on this fire truck. Gabriela adores fire trucks, but she must love steps even more. She climbed up and down the steps over and over again. I'm not even sure she realized there was a fire truck at the top of the steps. At least she had fun!

Gabriela the painter

Uncle Tim and Mina building a fort

Andrew and Gabriela and Auntie Cynthia spent TONS of time at this sand station with beakers and funnels and measuring cups. I think Gabriela may have enjoyed it even more than the steps!

Some of our museum crew

Auntie Kristie and Baby Caetlin enjoyed the museum too.

Bubble Time!

We took a lunch break outside where there is a huge field of grass right in front of the museum. We brought a feast with us and then took turns chasing the kids and letting them run wild.

Our fearless child

Gabriela enjoyed the water exploration center. Although, she constantly tried dipping her hands in the water and then into her mouth for a drink. After the water station, the kids were soaked. Thanks, Auntie Kristie for suggesting we bring a change of clothes! We went outside to the garden area before going home so the kids could dig around, smell the flowers, and water the plants.

Before we left, I had to have my picture taken with this exhibit. The girl's name is Elena!

You will not be surprised to hear that Gabriela practically passed out the instant we got on the road and had a very long nap.I just love cousin time. Looking forward to many more days like this after our move.

We stayed up really late that night talking with my dad, David, Tati, and Matthew.

CA Visit - Wednesday

Wednesday we all stayed at home. It was family photo day, which meant that my mom, dad, David, Tati, me, Lane, Gabriela, Matthew, Theresa, Bobby, Andrew, Cynthia, Tim, Kristie, Mina and Baby Caetlin all had to be ready for picture time. Did I mention it was scheduled for nap time? It all worked out perfectly. We took Gabriela for a walk to visit the neighbor's horses and played outside so she was down for an early nap. phew. Poor Kristie arrived from Morgan Hill and in the chaos of getting her whole family ready and bringing over stuff for feeding us all dinner, she forgot her outfit, so she had to go back!
We had some Clower family photos, every one, just the 6 kids, just the girls, just the boys, and our individual family photos. It has been more than TEN years since our last family photo, excluding those taken at weddings, so we're really excited to see how they turned out.

Uncle Matthew walking around the garden area with Gabriela

Hi Nana!

Papa and Mina

Besitos for Papa

And after all the smiling and chasing around kids and madness that goes with family photos we were all starved. This was the perfect day for PIZZAS. I can't tell you how many pizzas were made. I made a margherita one.
Kristie was the Pizza Queen. She made a meat lovers pizza, a buffalo chicken pizza, gluten-free pizzas for my dad and Cynthia, and bunches more. The crazy part?!?! Kristie can't even eat any because Caetlin doesn't react well to dairy and she's still nursing. Thanks, Kristie!
And as we always do in our family, the kids made their own pizzas. Here's chef Mina.
Andrew making his pizza. Although, he was much more interested in opening a package I had sent for him. It was a game. When he opened it, he was very polite and said, "Thanks,but I already have too many games" Too funny.
Gabriela and her pizza. She had to test the sauce to make sure.
After we feasted on like 11 different pizzas or something absurd like that, we chatted, drank wine, and played outside with the kids. Good times.