Grandma Carol visits!

Pam's mom (Makena's Grandma Carol) came to visit us from Texas, and she left today. What a fun week we had!!

On Saturday the 2nd we picked her up at the airport. We had been showing Makena photos of her and getting her excited that she was coming. When we saw her by the baggage claim she ran up and gave her a hug and it was so sweet! We played at home for a bit then went to dinner and met up with my mom. That was the first time our moms met, so crazy! After dinner we dropped off Carol at the house where she was staying for the week.

On Sunday we went to Rinconada Pool in Palo Alto. It was SO MUCH FUN! We packed a picnic lunch and got a great shady spot to lay our our blanket. There is a huge shallow pool with fountains and it was really awesome. I'm so glad I found out about it, and apparently I used to go as a kid but have no memory of that! Makena loved the slide the best, and it was scary to let her go down by herself!! She went on it more than a handful of times. I can't believe how big she is...big enough to go down slides into a pool?!

Then it was a couple hours past her nap time, and she was getting cranky so we waited for the car while Pam brought it closer. And she fell asleep while I sat and nursed her. I was able to get her into her car seat and she woke briefly as I buckled her in, but slept for the ride home! We killed some time stopping for ice cream, man it was hot out. In the 90's and miserable in our car with the broken a/c!
Grandma Carol had wrapped gifts for Makena each day, mostly outfits (like the green striped dress) and books. Makena spent a lot of time on her Granny's lap getting stories read to her!

After dinner Makena was about to take a bath and was having some air out time. She said "a poo a poo" and was patting her butt, and sure enough she was starting to poop. So I sat her on her potty...
and she pooped! She turned around to take a look like she always does (but there isn't ever anything in it) and when she saw the poop she got SO excited! Started clapping her hands, so proud of herself! It was awesome!

How fun that Grandma Carol was here for such a milestone! lol.

On Monday, the 4th of July, we decided to go to Happy Hollow. We also signed up for a year long membership, which we had really been wanting to get and are thrilled about! We've only ever gone to HH when they have a BYGO promotion, or on Mother's day when mom's got in free. But Grandma Carol paid for us to get in, and then we applied the price of our admission towards the membership, which is normally only $35 per person but we paid $46 for both! And Makena is free until she turns 2! Awesome.

When the puppet show ended Makena burst into tears. Personally, I was bored by The Elves And The Shoemaker, but clearly Makena loved it! Then we stopped at this little play house on the way out, and Makena had some raisins. They kept falling on the floor and you know what? I let her eat a few. I'm pretty much ok with floor food, to an extent. lol.

Then, since Makena took such a late nap, we thought we'd try the fireworks. I wasn't planning on making Makena stay up so late, but the whole week was a crazy schedule. My parents met us at Shoreline (well, actually in front of a Google building, but with a great view of Shoreline!) and we waited a few hours until the show started.

Makena loved it! She said "Boom!" and pointed to the fireworks. They were almost an hour late to start, which meant we didn't get home until 11:45pm!!!! Makena was a trooper, we parked about a 15 minute walk away, and when we got to the car I nursed her and then she fell asleep as we drove to drop off Grandma Carol. When we got home I took her out of the car seat and she slumped into me and stayed asleep! Then I carried her up to our apartment and we laid her in bed, took off her pants and changed her diaper... and she stayed asleep! Donte jumped up on the bed and meowed and she didn't even flinch. Baby girl was exhausted! I left the room and didn't have to nurse her to sleep!
On Tuesday July 5th we had planned to go to the Monterey Aquarium, but we also wanted to go to the beach and it was too expensive to try and rush through the aquarium for only a couple hours. So we went to Carmel instead, and had brunch at The Tuck Box, our favorite little scone place! Makena is pretty much a disaster to try and eat out with nowadays. She wants to get up and play and has little interest in eating and only ends up driving us crazy. Good thing we don't normally eat at restaurants, it's better for our wallets this way.

After our delicious meal we went to walk around a few shops but Makena needed to nap so I sat in the car and nursed her and she slept for almost an hour. Then we went down to the beach, and although it was oddly overcast (and so much cooler than the 90's we had been having at home!) we had a great time. Pam dug a deep hole...

And Makena stood in it.
She and I made tiny little baby sand castles, and we also used a sandy foot kit and made an impression of her foot in some sand, poured the plaster mix in (that was made with the powder in the kit and some ocean water!) and then let it harden. It came out really awesome! We even had some left over and made a star for Grandma Carol. My phone battery died by that time so I don't have any photos.
Then we went to the water and although it was freezing, Makena loved it! I gotta say, it's a bit terrifying to see her standing in the ocean. Water can be so dangerous, it freaks me out to think of how quickly a wave could wash her away. :( I don't know when I'll feel comfortable with her playing by the water's edge by herself. Thankfully, for now, she seems a little nervous about the waves, and wants to hold our hands.

On Wenesday I had work and Pam took her mom and Makena to Sears to take a portrait of their 3 generations. When i was off work they picked me up and we went to my parents for dinner for some delicious Pasta Primavera!

On Thursday we went to San Francisco and had lunch at The Rainforest Cafe. Stupidly expensive not-very-special food, but they have my favorite- Rasta Pasta! Yum. It's like my mom's pasta primavera, but with only broccoli and walnut pesto added in! And you basically pay for the show that comes along with your meal. We were seated next to the gorillas. Every 20 minutes or so there is a pretend thunder storm, the lights flicker and the animals start moving and making noises.
Makena was half fascinated and half scared. She just didn't like when the monkey shook the trees and leaned forward. lol.
But then of course the second it was over she asked for more. :)

Then we walked to Fisherman's Wharf and back to Ghirardelli Square for some amazingly scrumptious ice cream sundaes!! Makena had only previously had small bites of ice cream before, but this time we let her have her own spoon and she attacked the Warm Cookie Fudge Sundae with me! Man it was good. I want more!

On the drive home Makena was getting fussy and annoyed. We left SF right around 6, peak rush hour time. So it took more than double the usual 45 minute drive.

See? She was super sad and it is SO HARD to listen to a crying baby when you are in the car and can't do anything to help! Treats, books, toys, music, her DVDs playing... all she wanted was to get out of her seat. :(

On Friday we took it easy, it was Grandma Carol's last day and we just hung out at home and went to the mall to play at the new play space.

We finished the day with dinner at Mio Vicino our favorite Italian place down the street.

The next day we drove Grandma Carol to the airport and said our goodbyes. It was very sad to see her go, we had a great week!! I just finished making an awesome photo book, a copy for her and a copy for us. We can't wait for the next visit, but I think we'll have to go to TX next time. We're due a trip there, and we'd be able to see more family that way. :)