SF & Lake Tahoe Vacation

We enjoyed a beautiful 13 days in wonderful SF and Lake Tahoe with both sides of the family. Long story short, my camera was dropped in a lake the second to last day, so I don't have many pictures. (sad, right?) We had the best time and even though we won't have pictures to look back on, we will have lots of good memories!

Airplane highlights:

• On the descent into SFO, Colin looked at me and said, "Mom, why did the pilots make our voices quieter?" (it took me a bit to figure this one out - his ears needed to be popped!)
• We were that family. Justin screamed for 20 minutes into SFO. Once we landed, we bought him a binkie. Since we're binkie-free at home, we called it his "vacation binkie."
• On the way back to CLE, both boys were exhausted: Colin slept 3 hours and Justin was calm for most of the flight. Yay!

Our itinerary:
First  4 nights: we all stayed in SF.
Next 2 nights: we all stayed in Tahoe with the Elwells.
Next 4 nights: Jack stayed in Tahoe while the boys and I drove back to SF to see my sister.
Last 2 nights: we all stayed in SF.

Crazy, but totally worth it. Every minute.


Highlights include:

• San Francisco: ferry ride to Larkspur + picnic, SF zoo, San Jose Children's Museum, Muir Woods, Stow Lake, Japantown bazaar, GG Park Children's Playground + carousel, daily runs in GG Park, playdates with friends, gardening time with Bachan, running the race track that Jichan set out in the backyard, wonderful food - homemade and restaurants, our favorite Moroccan food and dancing. Best times with family!
• Lake Tahoe: hiking, kayaking, fishing, hiking, running, relaxing, and beach/playground time. Best food by Evelyn, Grandma and Aunt Dorothy. Best times with family! Lake Tahoe Elwells were Grandma, Aunt Dorothy, Chris/Evelyn/Ben/Rylee/Mitch, Jack/Jamie/Colin/Justin, Matt/Elena/Elena's parents/Alex/Ana, Billy/Monica/Anthony/Chloe, Natalie. Are you keeping count? Yep, that's 22!
• The lost pictures capture the moments that are too big for words: all of the Elwell cousins playing together, 4 generations with the boys' great grandmas, moments with relatives and friends we don't get to see that often, beautiful Lake Tahoe scenery, amazing dinners in Tahoe and in SF, candid photos of us just having fun.

A few photos from our days in San Francisco:
Gardening time with Bachan. Who knew you could grow veggies in San Francisco foggy weather?!

 Moroccan food and belly dancing

 Colin & Justin time

Auntie Lori working her magic with the boys.

 And with me... she took me on a hilly SF run - I barely survived.

Colin moments:

• In Tahoe, he asked "Do you think Rylee will sit next to me?" Rylee is absolutely fabulous with all of the younger cousins, and Colin is no exception.
• Aunt Dorothy is amazing with the kids and took the boys down the road from our Tahoe vacation house to watch a digger truck build a rock wall. Highlight of the trip!
• After Lori ruined my memory card, I was visibly upset, so Colin marched over to Lori and said, "Auntie Lori, do not play with other people's things. You can break it and that's how you make people upset."
• When I was upset about my camera being in the lake, Colin told me to take a deep breath and think about what I could do. When I told him that I couldn't do anything, he said, "Well, think about it. Maybe you could ask Bachan and Bachan will buy you a new camera."
• On our ferry ride, "This is a beautiful day for a boat ride."
• While walking through Muir Woods, we kept stopping to look at how tall the trees were and pointed at all of the ones that had fallen. After about 15 minutes, Colin shouted, "I want to get out of here!" Surprised, we asked why. With great concern, he said, "The trees might fall on us!!!!"

Justin moments:

• On the airplane on the way home, Justin pointed to his diaper and said, "poop!" Jack & I looked at each other, "ugh!" Then moments later, when the plane happened to be a bit quieter, Colin blurted out, "Ewww, Justin, YOU POOPED!" All of our airplane neighbors let out a giggle and waited patiently for us to get off the plane.
• Justin definitely knows how to communicate what he wants and people can tell when he is upset. He may not speak in sentences yet, but his favorite things to ask for are: more milk, where's colin?, open this, close this, turn the tv on, and put my shoes on. 
• Justin knows exactly what he wants, and when he doesn't get it, you'll know it!
• Justin was pretty attached to Jack & me, but as each day went on, he went to everyone. 

Jamie highlights:

• Seeing the boys with family and friends we don't get to see that often, including their great-grandmas.
• Having Auntie Lori in town to have sister-time and for her to take full control of parenting responsibilities. I didn't change 1 diaper when she was in town! 
• Not worrying about cooking for 2 weeks! Thank you to Evelyn, Mom Elwell and my parents!

Jack highlights:

• I'm not sure, but I imagine he would say "4 nights of good sleep without children!"
• Spending time with family

And now that we are back to reality, we are all adjusting: cooking, house cleaning, tidying up, laundry. The boys are both getting used to time outs, eating their full dinners and sitting on their own again. It's tough to transition back, but it wouldn't be a vacation if we all didn't loosen up a bit, right?!