Staycation

Ted and me, photobombing Maya, Chloe, and Justin after the cable car ride.

This was a lovely week in our humble abode.  My sister, Maya, and her two children came and stayed with us for 4 days.  They live in Portland, and decided to fly down and play tourist in the Bay Area, and spend some quality time with us.  YAY!

One of the attractions at the Musee Mecanique, which is always good for some morbid fun.

They were interested in riding cable cars, going to Fisherman’s Wharf, and walking the Golden Gate Bridge.  All of that is West of us, in my favorite city, San Francisco.  We had thought perhaps we’d fit it all into one day, but as anyone who has, or remembers having, small children (they’re 5 and 8), there comes a time in the day when it’s best to just go home, have dinner, and get ready for bed.   Wednesday we went into the city, rode the Cable Car down to the wharf, had a fancy lunch, visited the Musee Mecanique, then the Jeremiah O’Brien, finally meandering our way over to Pier 39 and the Aquarium of the Bay.  It was an action packed day, and all plans of the GG Bridge, coming home and cooking something celebratory, etc. went out the window. We came home and ordered pizza. Maya et al. don’t have TV at home, so they found our Netflix kids shows to be just the ticket…they watched Aristocats twice, part of Fox and the Hound (before it got too scary), and several episodes of Magic School Bus.  Between the Netflix and the swimming pool, I think they were pretty easy to please.

Thursday, we decided to go East rather than West, and drove out to Brentwood to pick nectarines and apricots. We picked fruit, had a picnic, came back to Walnut Creek for ice cream, and then had tacos for dinner out by the pool. It was a relaxing end to another busy day. One thing I forget, as the parent of a 17 year old, is how much ENERGY little ones have, and how they get cranky when they’re tired, and how much FUN they are to watch and enjoy, but how tired you can be by the time they go to bed.  Even a simple day of fruit picking and ice cream, and I was worn out.  Dinner was tacos out by the pool, which felt like a vacation in its own way.

Wait a minute, does this mean Maya is TALLER than me?
Not sure I knew this…will have to investigate later this summer.

Friday we started slowly, packing up their things for the trip home, then lunch downtown (I had a really yummy grilled cheese sandwich, with mozzarella, Swiss, and blue cheeses. DELICIOUS.) We then drove into San Francisco and out to the Golden Gate Bridge, which was VERY windy. Then the sad and a tiny bit frazzled drive to the airport, as we hit the beginnings of the evening commute, but in the end we made it there in time. Whew.

Maya, keeping Chloe in step with the rest of us.
I was so proud of how she took care of her little cousins.

On Ted’s side of the family, Maya is generally the youngest cousin, with the ones she sees the most often being 5 and 6 years older than she is.  On my side of the family, she is the oldest cousin, with her oldest being almost 8 years younger than her, and the youngest being 11 1/2 years younger.  I think she really enjoyed spending time with her younger cousins, and it was REALLY helpful to have her holding Chloe’s hand on the busy streets of San Francisco. Chloe is similar to me as a child, as I was often curious about things around me, and often was somewhat lost in my head, and would fail to notice that my mom was 1/2 block ahead of me, usually trying to get Richard to slow down (as he was 1/2 block ahead of her), and me to speed up.  So with her little brother, Justin, speeding along, it was great to have Maya to help Chloe keep with the group.  We haven’t spent as much time with these cousins as we would like to…Ted’s family lives here, and my family lives in Portland and Juneau. So spending time, and getting to know my little niece and nephew a bit more…and of course spending quality time with my wonderful sister…it was fabulous.  I’m SO glad they came to visit, and glad that we’ll see them again in August when we go up to Portland for my dad’s 70th birthday party. 🙂