Trip to California to see baby Jasper and my sisters!

I got to escape for three days and go visit my sisters and baby Jasper, my new nephew, for 3 days.  It was the longest I was away from both kids ever.  I felt much more at ease leaving them this time though than last summer when I went to Tory's bachelorette party.  This is because Olivia is doing so much better going to sleep on her own and being with Daddy.  It also happened that the weekend that I was gone the kiddos had a ton of activities going on so I knew that while they will miss me they were busy and having fun.  On Saturday morning, Brandon had a t-ball game, then they had a BBQ for our friend Ben's birthday.  On Sunday, they had a birthday party in the morning.

I flew out of the Portland airport to Oakland on Friday at around 1:00 PM in the afternoon.  I almost missed my flight because the airport was the craziest I had ever seen.  They closed the Blue Economy lot and the Red Economy lot was 90% full.  I had to keep circling around for almost 30 minutes until I finally found a parking spot.  Then I had to run after the Econo Bus as I was worried about catching my flight.  The security line was insane, it would have taken me 40-60 minutes to get through and I was getting really worried about missing my flight.  Luckily, the express line lady let me through since I had a Southwest Miles Plus credit card.  I ran over to the gate and got there 10 minutes before take off.  They ended up holding the flight because 13 other passengers were missing and stuck in the crazy long security line. 


I made it to Oakland and got picked up by sister Rachel and got to meet my nephew Jasper for the first time.  We went back to Rachel's house and then my sister Tory and her husband Tom came over and Rachel's husband Patrick made us a yummy dinner.  I got to hold and got to know baby Jasper, who was such a cutie and sweetie.  He was just over 2 months old when I got to meet him which is such a fun age as he was getting more expressive and smiley.  It was really nice to get to talk to my sisters and their husbands without being interrupted by the chattering voices of my own kids.  I felt like it had been several years where I was just able to relax and not have to worry about any one but myself.  It felt very liberating.  After dinner, Tory and Tom and I went back to Tory and Tom's house in Berkeley, which I got to see for the first time.  Tory and Tom had been living in San Francisco directly in the city for several years but just recently moved to Berkeley where the suburbs allowed them to afford a cute 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house with an awesome backyard for their "baby" Charlie.  The plan that I was going to stay at Tory and Tom's house for Friday and Saturday night and then stay at Rachel and Patrick's house on Sunday night.

Meeting Baby Jasper

The next day, Tory and I went over to Rachel's house and we got baby Jasper already and went shopping.  Jasper loved getting out and looking at all the lights in Nordstroms.  We found some cute stuff at Anthropologie and then went to a yummy wine bistro and got lunch.  We got to do wine tasting of some very yummy wines with lunch and then headed back to Rachel's house to hang out for a while longer and get more baby snuggles. We ordered some yummy pizza and enjoyed some wine with our pizza.  Then Tory and I said goodnight to Rachel and I took an Uber with Tory to a bar near her house where we enjoyed a gin and tonic (or two) before heading back to her house and ending the night with my beloved house hunters. 

Yummy flight of wine at the Wine Bar

Many faces of baby Jasper 

Rachel and I at the wine bar

Olivia and Daddy with her ponies at Brandon's T-Ball game back home

The next day, we woke up to beautiful sunny weather again. I was feeling a bit chunky from all the wine and food I consumed the day before so Tory and I went on a 2 mile jog with Charlie.  We actually felt pretty good but Charlie was pooped after 2 miles and refused to run further!  We ran along a park near Tory's house that had beautiful views of the city.  Afterwards, Rachel, Patrick, and baby Jasper came over to Tory's house for a BBQ lunch and to hang out at Tory's place.  We walked down to the nursery but it had closed for the day.  The weather was so beautiful, it was so nice to just hang out outside and relax.  Rachel, Patrick, and I went back to Rachel and Patrick's for the night.  The next day, I got to wake up and have baby Jasper snuggles. My Aunt Lael and my cousins Lauren and Alex came over to visit and see Jasper.  It was really nice to see my Aunt and cousins and catch up with them.  Rachel and I went on a walk and got to talk and then I had to head to the airport!  I was not going to chance it like I did on my way to Oakland and barely make it.  It was nice and I got to actually relax and have a beer before I got on the plane returned back to home.

View of the City from our run

Beautiful views from our run

Sister shot with baby Jasper

Another shot with baby Jasper at Tory and Tom's place

Tory snuggling baby Jasper

Koala hug from baby Jasper

Charlie got loves from me

Photo with my Aunt Lael and Cousins with baby Jasper

Home Sweet Home Mt. Hood

The kiddos were very excited to see me.  I was happy to see that they did fine without me for a weekend.  It was refreshing to see that they are finally growing up and maybe not quite so relient on mommy any more .