California Girls

I already miss sunny California. Plus, coming home to single digit temperatures isn't exactly easy. Our long weekend getaway to Fremont, CA was the perfect escape. 

The weekend officially started Friday morning, but a little too early for my taste. Harper thought waking up at 4:30am was a great way to start the trip. Since my alarm was going off in 30 minutes anyway I opted to get her up and dressed ready for our busy day. After mentally checking items off my list, we were ready to rumble when Deb picked us up at 6am. We made a quick pitstop in Hopkins to pick up Jennie and then we were airport bound. 

We arrived with plenty of extra time since I've learned to give yourself more than enough time when traveling with a infant. After checking the Pack-N-Play, we made it through security without any issues. Airport food was on the menu for breakfast as we patiently waited to board the plane. Harper did pretty good on the flight there, but I didn't realize quite how long it was. Three plus hours on the plane with a 14 month old can be challenging, but luckily Deb and Jennie were there to save the day. We finally touched down in San Jose 40 minutes ahead of schedule, and I could sense the warmer weather and sunshine. We loaded the rental car, and headed to Jen's apartment to see her and meet Harley! 

We were greeted with smiles and licks, and were happy we made it! Harper immediately took a liking to Harley's kennel, it was just her size. Harls and Harps were excited to meet, and Harley loved giving her kisses. I'm sure the animal cracker and goldfish crumbs on her hands and face made it even more tempting for the pup. Friday night was pretty low key since we were all exhausted from the day. We did have to make a trip to Target to buy a new carseat (since the rental was "unsafe" to say the least), and some groceries for the weekend. After a quick bite to eat at Panera, we headed home and called it an early night.

 

We all woke up early Saturday morning ready to take on San Francisco. The five of us and Harley jumped into the car and headed on our journey for the day. According to Jen we had a picture perfect day for San Fran - there were barely any clouds, and it was in the high 60's. The crisp fresh air was heavenly, it was one of those moments you just stop and take it all in. We did a little shopping at the street fair, ogled the beautiful flowers and fresh foods at the Farmer's Market, had a wonderful lunch outside and took in all the surrounding scenes. Harper refused to nap in her stroller, even after Jennie and Deb made a special trip to Walgreens for a bottle and milk. After a while I realized there is no way a nap was going to happen so we cut out trip a little short and headed back to the car. Even after seeing just a small portion of the city, I loved every second of it.

Saturday night Deb offered to watch Harper and Harley while the girlies went out to dinner. We got ready and all put on our best shade of lipstick for "GNO" California style. We had a great dinner at Elephant Bar, and a few foofoo drinks. Living so far away can be difficult, so being able to spend the night out together was extra special. We had plenty of laughs, and caught up on stories... it was a perfect night out with my sister's.

Sunday the boys ended their trip in Vegas, so Jen and Harley were scheduled to pick up Matt that afternoon. Deb, Jennie, Harper and I decided a little retail therapy in Palo Alto would be a great way to spend the day. I was hoping that Harper would fall asleep on the way there, but unfortunately her eyes finally shut just minutes before we reached our destination. Because of this, we took at little detour after seeing the signs for Stanford up ahead. Deb was generous enough to drive around with the sleeping girlie while Jennie and I moseyed around the enormous campus. To say Stanford is stunning is a complete understatement. We got to see this beautiful church with insane tile detail. I thought the outside was incredible until we walked inside. The rest of the campus didn't disappoint either, I was so glad we made this impromptu stop. After a self guided mini tour, Harper waking up from her nap we did a little shopping got some lunch and headed back to Matt & Jen's. We had excellent grilled burgers courtesy of Matt, and spent the rest of the night lounging and packing up.

We had such a wonderful trip, and I can't thank Matt & Jen enough for letting us into their home and taking over for the long weekend. I did learn on this trip, 1. nothing ever goes according to plan, like ever and 2. traveling with your baby across the country without your significant other can be challenging. With the help of Deb, Jennie, Jen, Matt & Harley - they made things go as smooth as possible and I certainly couldn't have done it without them. Harper and I were sad to leave sunny California but were looking forward to getting home to Minnesota to see Mitch.

Before Mitch left I mentioned to him that boys are terrible about taking photos. His reply, "yep, we are." It boggles my mind that you can go on a vacation and not want to capture every single moment on your camera. I guess boys will be boys, and what happens in Vegas will not have photographic evidence to back it up. Thank you Nick for tweeting this one photo of the 4 of you! Sounds like the Helleen boys had a great vacation as well.

It's back to reality for all of us. Oh, and back to winter. Boo!

Until next time...
The Helleen's