What We Did in California

• Had a picnic dinner in Oakland right on the bay in a park nestled amidst the docks there
• Sent Grace on the last Easter egg hunt of the season
• Spent time with Rob's aunt and uncle, whose visit overlapped ours a bit
• Tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to explain social networking sites to them
• Grew hungry and tired too early due to the time difference between Texas and California
• Celebrated Rob's dad's 70th birthday
• Got motion-sick every time Rob's dad drove us up the winding road to their house perched on the side of a mountain
• Drank plenty of wine, it being Sonoma County and all
• Tried to deduce the source of a crazy rash on Grace's face that got worse every time she slept overnight or took a nap (it's getting much better now that we're home)
• Left Grace with Rob's parents one evening while we drove down into the little town they live outside of (Violet in tow) for a wonderful dinner at a fancy restaurant
• Ate lots of animal products, including homemade bratwurst (a tradition for Rob's family, which is very in touch with its German roots) and some delicious escargot and duck at the aforementioned restaurant
• Also ate at a fantastic vegan, mostly-raw restaurant where I had what may be my new favorite rice: Bhutanese red rice
• Gave Grace and Violet lots of opportunity for sweet grandparent time

And now we have returned home.  I am SO GLAD that this trip went so much more smoothly than our last one to visit them, with none of the toddler sleep traumas or plane-missing disasters of that memorable trip.  I think that Grace has finally turned the corner on travel difficulty.  From her birth until this trip, every time I traveled with her it was worse than the trip before-- more stressful, more effort, more misery all around.  This time was easier, though, and hopefully it will only continue to get easier.  Now we just have to wait out Violet turning that corner, and then any other children we may birth/adopt...  Hmmmm, travel isn't going to be easy for a long time, is it?

Also now I sit facing the task of getting us re-settled here at home.  So much LAUNDRY, such interminable piles of laundry...  And for some reason I have been overwhelmingly tired since we returned.  Perhaps it is the relief after the stress of travel, or maybe it is that I keep a tenuous balance of being marginally well-rested during my normal life with a baby and the sleep disruptions of travel pushed me off balance.  Whatever the cause, this week will find me trying to do enough household stuff and sleeping to get back to normal life as we bask in the glow of our balmy California week.