San Francisco: Day 1 - Wandering the City

Happy Birthday to me!

What a great birthday weekend. As all good vacations do, it flew by way too fast, and we wish we could have spent a week in San Francisco. We're already dreaming of coming back. But next time we'll fly, because driving in the city in rush hour is nail-bitingly awful. They definitely have Los Angeles beat on worst place to drive.

I wasn't sure if I'd blog while we're out of town, but we covered so much ground that I don't think I'll remember all the details in a week. We'll start with Thursday night, when Joe decided to see if there was a cancellation fee for the rental car by clicking "cancel" on our registration. Instead of asking if we were sure we wanted to cancel, the site got rid of our car - no questions asked. So we were without a rental car the night before our trip and decided to just drive up in Joe's truck. That actually worked out better because all of our stuff comfortably fit, and we could leave earlier. We drove about 7 hours (including stops) and wound up in San Francisco by 3:00. Ezzy was a champ in that long car ride. I think he cried like ten minutes total, took two mini naps, and spent a long time playing with empty water bottles. Success!

We rented a studio apartment through Airbnb and that worked out really well with us. Other than a towel shortage, I loved the place. As soon as we put our stuff in the apartment we put on some walking shoes and went down to the piers to explore. I told Joe that all I wanted for my birthday were some margaritas and cake. As you can see from the above picture, my birthday was a success. Throw in some clam chowder + a bread bowl and I had one happy tummy. Birthday Bonus: a Johnny Depp wax statue was just chillin' in the entrance at the Madame Tussaud Museum. 

After exploring Fisherman's Wharf, we headed back home - unknowingly taking the looong way. On the way to the piers, the ground was flat and it took under an hour at a meandering pace. On the way back we were hiking up steep hills and eventually wound up at Coit Tower at the top of Telegraph Hill. Gorgeous sunset/dusk views, but still 1.8 miles from our apartment - the exact same distance as when we'd set out for home an hour earlier. Not exactly the most efficient path home, but that's how we like to vacation. We get a little lost, explore at leisure, and just see where our feet take us. On the way back we walked through Little Italy, which I'm sure we wouldn't have gone to on purpose, but it had such great character that I'm glad we discovered it. There were colorful lights strung up across the streets, tons of cute restaurants, and a bustling night life. 

One of the most beautiful cities in the world with my favorite people in the world - what a perfect way to ring in my 31st year.

Countdown!

• 1 day until... my birthday! (31st birthday, in case you're wondering. So far getting older hasn't been sad, scary, or traumatic for me, so I don't mind stating my age. Ask me again in 10 years and I may change my mind.)
• 3 days until... Joe's birthday! All I'll say is that he's older than me. And I like to remind him that he always will be ;)
• 1 day until... San Francisco, here we come! Throw in a few birthday margaritas, and that'll cross 7 items off my Summer Bucket List. Expect lots of photos in the near future.
• 3 days until... Ezzy and I visit family and friends in Modesto! (Another item on my bucket list.) We'll be there for 5 days, and my mom and I are already having fun trying to create a suitable schedule for the dozens of people involved so that everyone gets to visit with Ezzy. Trips home are always a whirlwind and never feel long enough. Ezzy is one popular boy.
• 24 days until... we completely move into our new place!! (Sorry for all the exclamation points in this post. I'm just really excited about a lot of stuff coming up in the next few days/weeks. I think I'm allowed a few extraneous exclamation points, since it's my bday and all...) So far this move has included: 2 trips to Ikea (we made out like bandits in the "As Is" section last night), 2 trips to Home Depot, 3 truck loads of stuff to the new house, 1 failed attempt to unload a truck load of stuff because we forgot the keys at the old place, 2 days meeting with various people who are working on and giving estimates for the new place, 367 visits to various gardening websites, 1,489 hours on Pinterest for inspiration. 

Not sure if I'll be blogging for the next week or so. We'll see what the internet situation, and my free time looks like. Have a great weekend, everyone! We're starting ours a day early :)

It's the Little Things: Hummingbirds & Moving Boxes

1. A giant hummingbird: I love hummingbirds. And I've never seen one on a carousel, so of course I made Ez ride it. He doesn't love or hate carousels. Well, actually, he loves to watch them from the sidelines, but he never looks impressed once he's actually on one (note him glancing at Joe in the picture below, signaling with his eyes that he wants to be rescued). That didn't stop me though. He's my ticket to doing little kid stuff, and we weren't missing out on this opportunity, even if we did have to race a 4 year old girl to get first dibs on the hummingbird. Sorry girl, better luck next time!

2. Strawberry shortcake on Summer nights: Ez is a huge fan, as you can tell by the adoring look on his face, and the fact that he's sitting and snuggling with me at all while he's awake. Normally if he's up, he's on the go, so that had to be some good stuff to get him to slow down for a few minutes.

3. Family park dates: Ezzy is just getting to the age where he likes climbing and crawling all over everything. He's also at the age where he's intrigued by other kids. He'll watch older kids running around and decide he can do that too, then take off after them, and then promptly fall. It's so cute to watch.

4. Ezzy exploring our new house: It melts mine and Joe's hearts to watch Ezzy running up and down the halls of our new house like he owns the place. Thankfully, he kinda does. Also, we've been slowly taking a few boxes at a time over to the new place (the perks of only moving a few miles away), and Ezzy saw his daddy carrying boxes so he picked up his empty diaper box and carried it out to the living room. Cutest.thing.ever. 

5. Scoping out patio furniture: because we have so much yard space, guys! I want hammocks and porch swings, and a tree house... Can you tell we are excited that Ezzy will grow up with a big yard to run around in?

Linking up with Ashley and Jess for their Little Things series!

Snails & Puppy Dog Tails...

That's what boys are made of! Or, in Ezzy's case: cars and balls and destroying baby dolls (sorry for my attempt at rhyming). Yesterday marked 14 months of me being a boy mom and I'm slowly learning what boys like as we go along. Growing up I was the epitome of girly girl, so cars and sports are completely new territory for me. Today I'm talking about my thoughts on being a boy mom over on Elizabeth's blog, Chasin' Mason.

14 months with this guy - what a lucky lady I am!

Big News...

We are homeowners!!

After looking at dozens of houses (some just for fun), dealing with three realtors, and signing hundreds of papers (that was all Joe), we are now in possession of keys to what is the perfect home for our family. I am most excited about all the yard Ezzy will have to run around in. There's so much space, and it's completely fenced in. Right now the yard needs a lot of work, but there will be before & after pictures in the future. Also, the master closet. It's huge and L-shaped, and basically my dream closet. Can't wait to fill it up!

Happy Friday everyone :)

The Little Things: Cars & Shoulder Time

With all the heat lately, being outdoors between 10 am and 6 pm is pretty much off limits. I remember not minding the heat when I was little, and I'm pretty sure I would run around bare foot in 100 degree weather and have a great time. Sometime during my pregnancy my thinking shifted and I decided heat was awful, and it's one of those things that didn't go away post partum.

Now that Ezzy is walking, staying in the house all day is also not an option. So that leaves us searching for indoor spots with enough space for a toddler to run around. Our new go to spot? The mall. And Ezzy's favorite mall "attraction"? An Acura SUV on display in the food court (as part of a giveaway). From his perspective, a car indoors that he can touch is basically the same as spending a day at Disneyland. Here's a little video of him making his way round the car (once out of about a dozen times before we dragged him away):

Once the weather cools off enough in the evening, we've been taking nightly family walks. Our favorite route is to stop by Starbucks (about a mile away), then continue on to the park (probably another mile), and then, once Ezzy is sufficiently worn out, Joe carries him back home on his shoulders (aka - "shoulder time"). Here's a little video of an (apparently) hilarious Daddy/Ezzy convo on our way home last night. I especially love the end when Ezzy cracks up so hard he falls off Joe's shoulders. 

Linking up with Jess & Ashley for their Little Things series!

Teething or Terrible Twos?

Ezzy has been acting a little wonky lately. There are a lot of teething symptoms. Drooling. Chewing on his hands. And his toys. Basically, everything. Sleeping poorly. Rubbing his ears. However, we're still missing the main telltale symptom: new teeth. And this has been going on awhile. There's also been a ton more tears than usual. I've been finding myself asking how soon the terrible twos starts. I think someone mentioned to me that their son started their terrible twos at like 14 months, and ever since then Ezzy has been bursting into tears and throwing mini tantrums over the tiniest things.

#reasonsmysoniscrying:

• I told him he can't push my glass of water off the table. (Well, he can. And he has. But I told him not to.)
• He drank all his milk and I had to go to the fridge to get more.
• I wouldn't let him play in the trash can.
• I picked up all his snacks that he'd scattered on the floor.

So basically any time I tell him no he flails his arms and throws his head back and starts crying. Sigh. Are we really here already? I know he's just communicating the best way he knows how, and learning boundaries and all that, but I thought the tantrums wouldn't really start for a few more months. Or maybe terrible twos is much worse and one day I'll look back at this and laugh at my rookie mistake?

I don't want to paint a picture like Ezzy is just crying all day long. He usually gets over his tantrums quickly, and he's pretty smiley and happy most of the time. But this is definitely new territory for us.

Does this sound like terrible twos to anybody else? When did you kids start (and stop) the terrible twos?

See? Already back to my sweet, smiling Ez.