A visit from Emily and Grandma!

We had so much fun having my mom and Emily come for a visit! It was nice to be able to show them around and do a few fun things before the baby comes! We went with Grandma to explore a nearby mall and ran into this amazing French bakery. After looking at all the amazing desserts in the window, we just couldn't walk away without trying some!



We got a chocolate cake/mousse roll and bread pudding with fruit on top. They were both delicious!

After some re-routing of Emily's plane trip to get here, we were able to pick her up in Oakland on Friday. When Calvin got off of work, we headed out to Santa Clara for some hot dog and marshmallow roasting! It was nice to be near the ocean and enjoy some time together. Camden was much too busy digging in the sand to notice the hot dogs or marshmallows-right until we decided to pack up to go, haha.

Our s'mores were awesome! We used chocolate chip cookies and also mint Milanos, along with our chocolate bars and marshmallows....yum!

On Saturday, we headed to San Francisco to take a ferry ride across the bay over to Sausalito. I loved being out on the water.

Unfortunately, this guy taking his jacket off totally ruined this cute picture of Emily and Mom! Even more unfortunate, Emily had her eyes closed in the one I took after it to get a better shot. Oh well!

Here's a view looking back at the ferry terminal where we left from.

We were able to see the bridges going across the bay and got a nice view of Alcatraz! We also saw some dolphins and a seal.

In Sausalito, we just explored some of the shops in the little town and had some very good ice cream! My favorite part was walking along the boardwalk in the yacht harbor, picking out our future yacht :)

When we got back to San Francisco, we walked (and walked and walked) down to Pier 39 for some sourdough bread bowls, clam chowder, sourdough sandwiches, and sourdough pizza. It was all very good!

We went and showed Grandma and Emily our favorite sea lions on the pier!

Camden had found a dollar when we were buying our ferry tickets and chose to use it for a ride on the carousel! He was pretty excited about it!

And Emily was excited to spend her dollars on a churro :)

Probably the best adventure of the day was driving over to Chinatown and driving up and down the steepest roads I have ever been on! It was absolutely crazy!! We were going up one very steep road, the one these cable cars will take you up, and as we were going up, we had to stop mid-hill!! I don't know if it was a stop sign or a stop light, or if the people in front of us were just crazy, but they were getting out of their cars and taking pictures, which meant we had to stop too! It was a little bit scary. The steepest road was the one we went down, it was insane. You couldn't see where the road was going to go until you got right up to the edge, then it seemed like it went straight down. In the end, I thought it was actually pretty fun :)

We had quite the day in San Francisco and everyone was very tired by the time we got home! It was nice to have Sunday to relax and celebrate Father's Day with Calvin. I love you Calvin! Thank you for being such a wonderful father. I was sad to miss out on celebrating Father's Day with my own dad, I love you too dad! I couldn't ask for a better Father. And one more father I am grateful for, my father-in-law! How many girls have a father-in-law who calls them to chat and check in on them? I am lucky to have so many wonderful fathers in my life! I love you all!

Big Basin Redwoods State Park & Santa Cruz

We had a lot of fun driving through Big Basin Redwoods State Park about a week ago on our way out to Santa Cruz for our ward beach party! We left early and took the scenic route through the forest. It was beautiful and the trees were amazing!

After our scenic drive, we arrived at the beach in Santa Cruz. Our ward had built some bonfires, so we had fun roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. Camden and Calvin braved the cold ocean and pretty big waves and had a lot of fun in the water. After Camden was pretty much frozen, he finally decided to come and get dry and eat a hot dog. He was pretty excited about getting buried in the sand!

Probably my favorite part of the day was buying a big box of strawberries on the way home from this guy standing on the corner selling fresh fruit just a few blocks from the beach. They have many fruit farms out near Santa Cruz and these strawberries were beautiful! They were delicious too! We ate a lot of them on our way home :) It was fun day spending time together!

Trips to San Francisco

We've been able to take a couple fun trips into San Francisco. Both times we road Caltrain. Camden really enjoyed riding the train! It was also nice that we didn't have to worry about traffic or parking.

The day after Camden's birthday, we took him to a San Francisco Giants game. Camden loves baseball! The ballpark was awesome! It was right on the bay and you could see all of the sailboats and yachts out on the water. They had a "splash counter" that counts all of the home runs hit out into the water.


Here's a video of Camden cheering on the Giants! We had a lot of fun at the game, and the Giants won!

On our Saturday trip into San Francisco, we saw this hotel. I just had to take a picture :)

We ventured into Chinatown and enjoyed some of our favorite treats from Hong Kong in a delicious bakery! Calvin enjoyed hearing all of the Cantonese being spoken and surprising people with his language skills. It was fun to be around all of the Chinese people and walking through the stores, remembering the sites, smells, and sounds of Hong Kong.

Mmmm, my hot dog bun.

Yum!

Here are couple of pictures from the famous, steep streets of San Francisco.

We also went to Fisherman's Wharf to see the Sea Lions. We also took a ride on a trolley, and by that time, Camden was worn out! So we headed back to the station and took Caltrain home! We enjoyed our trips to San Francisco and still have a lot more to see!

Happy Birthday Camden!

Happy third Birthday to Camden! We had a fun day with him. In the morning, Camden went on a bike ride. Then for lunch, Camden and I went to McDonalds where Camden had a lot of fun playing at the playplace. When Calvin got home from work-the party began! We celebrated with a Kung Fu Panda cake before heading out to see Kung Fu Panda 2.

What do you think? I have never been confident in my creative/artistic abilities, so I was pretty excited with how the cake turned out!

Here's Camden blowing out the candles...with a little help.

We had a great dinner with some of Camden's favorite things, hot dogs, watermelon, corn, and cheetos!

Camden had fun opening his presents. Here he is opening his new bug house.

We had so much fun celebrating this special day with our little boy! We love him so much and are so grateful to be his parents. Happy Birthday Camden!

Mountain View, California

Well, we have been here just about two and a half weeks now! We're enjoying our new surroundings and having fun exploring. Calvin is doing well at his internship and we're excited for what the rest of the summer will bring! Here are some pictures of what Camden and I have been doing while Calvin is at work.

The pool doesn't open here for another couple weeks, so we got this pool for Camden and set it up on the back patio. He loves going out there and playing in his pool and digging in the dirt. He also loves his new sandals.



Sometimes we eat our lunch outside.



There are so many nice parks around here! This morning, Camden rode his bike to this park just down the street from us. We go to a park almost every day! Camden loves to be outside. One morning, I told him it was kind of cloudy outside, and he said, no mom, it's warmy outside!



Camden wanted to take his bat and balls to the park one day. When he got there, all he wanted to do was play in the sand!



We drove out to this place called Shoreline Park. They have this lake where you can go sailing, kayaking, paddle-boating (?), etc. Look for this place again as I want to include renting a little sailboat as one of our summer activities! Camden just had fun chasing the geese. We miss our geese back home!

And here are a couple more of the nice parks we've visited...

Camden went and stood in front of this tree and said, take a picture of me mom!

For Family Night one Monday, we took Calvin and Camden to get hair cuts. This was Camden's first hair cut from someone other than mom and dad. He was so cute! He did a great job at holding still! When he got done, he said to me, that lady cut my hair mom!

Summer in California is going to be a lot fun! Tomorrow we celebrate Camden's 3rd Birthday! I love him so much and can't believe he is going to be 3. He is growing up so quickly! We are so lucky to have him as part of our family. He is going to be such a wonderful brother. Love you Camden!