Summer Vaca - Destination: CALI

Before I head back to work, Jeff and I were able to squeeze in a summer vacation back home in California. Jeff's brother Nick was getting married and so we packed up the car, the baby, and the dog and headed out for a long, overnight drive back to the bay.

We spent the first day just decompressing and getting the baby adjusted at Jeff's parents house in Pleasanton. On Friday, we reloaded the car and headed down the Santa Cruz to set up for the wedding and have a little fun. Jeff's parents rented a house about 2 blocks from the beach for all of us to stay in so we wouldn't have to commute back and forth to Pleasanton over the next 3 days. The house was awesome (unfortunately I have no pictures of it) with all windows looking into a courtyard. All but one of the bedrooms opened up with a sliding glass door to the backyard. It was beautiful. This was the beach - just a two minute walk from the house.

 

On Friday night, we decided to head down to the Santa Cruz Board Walk. It was a little chilly, but very VERY fun!

 

Saturday was the day of the wedding celebration and it was so busy. The wedding was beautiful!

 Aria enjoyed being the center of attention for  most of the night. People couldn't believe how good she was - she didn't cry at all during the night. (But let me tell you, when we got in the car to go home she let out a tantrum to the proportion that I had never seen before!!!)

The day after the wedding I convinced the family to go to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. I had never been before and I thought it would be super fun to take Aria.

The aquarium is located in the old Monterrey Cannery. Jeff got to pulled the whistle that used to sound through the town to call the workers to the cannery when a large load of fish came in. The sign said the whistle would sound night or day at any time and each cannery along the row had a different whistle.

Aria LOVES to rock her stunner shades.

There were lots of cool things to see:

 If you can't tell, the seahorses were my favorite thing. They had this special exhibit called, "The Secret Life of Seahorses." It was sooooooo cool.

Aria had her first taste of people food...ice cream of course and she was ALL ABOUT IT.

On Monday, we headed back to Pleasanton to see some friends before I headed off to Arizona for school. Its sooo funny to have friends with babies. It is such a wonder to me that we are moms now.

The last thing we packed in was a trip to the A's game. Jeff's family had sent Aria all of these little A's onesies and I know she had to show them off at a game. Jeff was so proud! I had to add the headband so she didn't look like a boy.

It was a little cold so I had to bundle her up. My mom joined us Tuesday night because she was coming with me to Arizona to watch the little one while I start my Master's program. More on that to come.