CA & CO

In the middle of Oma's visit, Noa and I jetted off to California to attend a wedding sans Ruby.  This was a big step.  I wasn't worried about leaving her with Oma, but it was the first time I was leaving her overnight.  She didn't seem to mind.  I, on the other hand, begged mom for photos.

Our time in California was brief, but really nice.   We attended the wedding of one of Noa's good college buddies, Brian and his now-wife, Mickey.  The wedding was held in Riverside, CA (about an hour from LA) and was held at the Riverside Art Museum.  I, being a stickler for details, loved the citrus theme they used in homage to the city's citrus industry.  When we entered the venue, there was a table with a guest book (a photo book, actually), flowers, and all these little clementines with individual tags (leaves) as place cards for guests.  Cute, right?

The wedding ceremony was held in the atrium part of the museum, so it felt like we were outside the whole time.  It was a small, personalized ceremony, with the bride's friend officiating. You can kind of get an idea of what the atrium looked like in the photo below (it was the couple's first dance).  After the ceremony, all the chairs were moved and this was the dance floor.  It was nice because it cooled down considerably once the sun went down.

Once of the great things about going to this wedding was the opportunity for Noa to reconnect with some of his college buddies (including the groom).  It was fun to hear them swapping stories and hearing about their lives and adventures since college.

Oh, and the other perk of attending the wedding was getting all dolled up.  I think we clean up well, wouldn't you agree?

Oh, and all the fancy clothes, dancing, and all the other frivolty involved in a celebration mean one thing: self portraits.  There were several throughout the night.

The camera loves us.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that while we were there, we stayed at the Mission Inn, which was a pretty fun, historic hotel.  Apparently, the guy who built up the Mission Inn collected bells from all over the world, so there are bells all over the property (which, if you haven't guessed, looks like an old California mission).

The morning after the wedding, we packed up our things and headed to the airport.  We then jumped on a flight headed to Colorado.  My birthday present this year was to go visit Mike, Jess, and Brady.  Unfortunately, we probably got the worst seats on the plane.  Thankfully, Noa was able to see the humor in it.  I tried to mask my face with my scarf.

We arrived in Colorado tired, but so excited to be with the Apostles again.  It always seems like it's been so long since the last time we were together.  Brady has grown so big and seems less like a baby and more like a little boy!  He had just celebrated his first birthday and it was fun to see him in action; climbing, toddling, and cruising pretty much everywhere.

For my birthday, Hampostle went out to Chimney Park, a nice little resturant in downtown Windsor, CO. 

It was a lovely, perfect evening, spent with some of my most favorite people.  I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

The rest of our time there (we were only there for about 2 1/2 days total) were simply spent hanging out  and spending time together.  The Apostles were actually getting ready for a trip of their own and we were headed back to Washington, so there were lots of preparations taking place for travel.  Still, we were able to spend time just hanging out and enjoying each the time together.  The boys even got in a couple of rounds of golf, which is always something they enjoy.

I'm so glad we got to spend the time with all of them, but especially Brady, since he doesn't really know us.  He is just so much fun and just the cutest little guy.  His little round face makes me melt.

It was really hard to say goodbye to the Apostles (as always), but it was nice to come home to this sweet face, because I really missed her.

Oma's Visit

We were so fortunate to have my mom come and visit for two whole weeks!  The two weeks flew by, of course, but it was such a great opportunity for Ruby to have some quality time with her Oma.  She doesn't really get to see either set of grandparents very often since we live on the opposite side of the country.  I was a little nervous that she would take awhile to warm up to Oma, but she surprised me and went to her pretty quickly.

It was probably because Oma had tea parties with her.

I love this blurry photo of them.  They both look so happy.

We had a beautiful day to explore the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma.  It was the perfect little zoo and seemed to keep her interest for the majority of the trip.  She really loved the walruses, tigers, and birds.

She kept these sunglasses on for about 2 seconds.  

A couple of peacocks were walking around near the entrance and by the cafe.  We had the pleasure of having this guy near our table looking for scraps. 

We tried a self portrait with the iPhone and failed.  At least the elephant was cooperating.

Ruby loves to give kisses now.  It's adorable.

Speaking of adorable...the sleeping tiger cub was probably the highlight of the trip. 

Ruby and I enjoyed some down time playing on this statue.  Look how gorgeous it was outside!

Ruby also had some true one-on-one time with Oma since Noa and I jetted off for a few days (will post about that later).  I insisted that she text me photos since I was curious as to how things were going.  Thankfully my mom is not one to shy away from taking photos.  There were plenty.  

The kiddo obviously had a blast with Oma who did all her favorite activities: going outside, reading books, playing music, and playing with her "babies" (all her stuffed animals).

When we got back from our short trip, we all went out as a family to Bainbridge Island to spend one more day together before Oma had to head back to New Hampshire.  We lucked out again with the weather - it was another beautiful day!

We were so sad to see Oma leave, but we know that we'll see her again this year and even sooner over Skype!   Much love to you, Oma!

Farm Kitchen

Last weekend, we met up with Franchi, Justin, and little Valentina for brunch at Farm Kitchen.  I've been wanting to go to their 1st Saturday breakfasts for quite some time.  Using fresh ingredients, they only offer these monthly breakfasts on the 1st Saturday of every month of the year.  Other than that, they will open for weddings or special events, so there aren't a whole lot of opportunities to eat here.  

We picked a BEAUTIFUL Saturday to go - it was nice and warm, sunny, and green, green, green!  All the flowers were in bloom and the sky was bright blue with very few clouds.  We ate under the white canopy on the left.  Sitting there, chatting with friends, sipping coffee and looking out around the grounds was simply blissful.

This little princess decided that the best way to start our meal was to dump coffee all over the table.  Thankfully it missed our laps and our food hadn't arrived yet.  She didn't seem to notice the few minutes of pandamonium while we cleaned it up and rearranged the table to get every other drink away from her go-go-Gadget arms.  Or, maybe she did notice and was completely amused.

We had a great time visiting with Franchi, Justin, and Valentina over brunch.  Franchi, unfortunately discovered she wasn't a big fan of sausage and gravy on biscuits, which was, of course, the main menu item.  Good thing there were other items like eggs and homemade pastries.  I, on the other hand, was a big fan of the main course.  It's not something I'd usually make for breakfast so that was kind of fun.

Very soon, Valentina will be walking on her own and she and Ruby will want to explore together.  Right now, though, Ruby is more of an independent explorer and prefers to march to the beat of her own bench... er, drum.

There are several animals on the property and on this morning the horses were out visiting with people.  They were huge!  The poor things didn't seem to mind the flies that circled their faces.  I think they were too distracted by all the people who were coming to see them to even bother with the flies.  Ruby was quiet while looking at them, but she seemed to enjoy watching such big animals.

Hope we can make it to the Farm Kitchen a few more times this year!