I'm writing all of this down almost four weeks after-the-fact, so it's going to be VERY brief. Bullet points for the win! I will also summarize the trip to say: traveling with kids is so freaking HARD. But overall, I got to catch up with some good friends, so it was all worth it.
Friday, May 5:
- Spontaneously crazily decided RIGHT before kids' naptime to head north instead of driving Sat
- Stopped in LA to see Adrienne and her beautiful twinnies
- Dinner @ Carl's Jr, then kids' bedtime in car. Ada had a terrible time falling asleep and was awake til 9pm+
- Got in to Justin's/Atascadero around 10pm. Ryan transferred just fine. Ada prob took awhile to fall back asleep. I was so nervous about this whole thing! First time we'd done something like this. But it was fine. Kids slept til 5, which I was impressed with. (Sad!)
Saturday, May 6:
- Justin made waffles for brekky
- While Ry napped, I went to visit Bre/Kendall and meet their 6-week-old baby in the hospital (he was hosp'd for meningitis)
- Lunch at suuuper tasty BBQ join in downtown A-town
- Drove to SJ during kids' naptime. Great theory, but driving during kids' sleep is just not as magical as it sounds. Older kids aren't comfy in car seat; both kids, if not falling asleep and waking at EXACTLY the same time, make noises that disturb the other one.
- Checked into Arena Hotel. Some parts are renovated, some are weirdly stuck in the 60s. Bare bones, but trying. The best part of this hotel is it's smack-dab between CVS and Whole Foods. Annnnnd super great cute coffee shop across the street with delicious food.
- Dinner at Chipotle. Stocked up on stuff at Whole Foods. Chocolate and wine was a nightly tradition in the hotel bed for me.
Sunday, May 7:
- This was a lonnnng day. Breakfast at Bill's with Steve & Chris + Jake + Nicole's fam. Eleven of us in a crowded busy restaurant and Ryan had a terrible short nap.
- Jen's shower. The other 'maids did such a great job. It was a long time to be away from the nursing babe, and I had to jet out right when it ended since Ryan was apparently melting down. Good to see all the Jenns though.
- Dinner with Navdeep and Ramen. Talked baby stuff, since R is prego.
- Cliff checked in for the conf
Monday, May 8:
- Breakfast at the hotel. Pretty dang bad. Got Hannah's (cafe across the street). Delicioussss. And they gave us mini cupcakes with the sandwiches.
- Cliff went off to the conf; ran into Tim & Amanda at CVS.
- Spent some time at the nearby park before naps
- After naps, went to library for (what else?) books
- Met up with Colleen for dinner at Whole Foods (brewery attached)
- Triva Night with Jen at Trials Pub. Loved the old Londony vibe, and it was so good to catch up with Jen since I didn't get to talk to her much at her bridal shower. We did not win trivia.
Tuesday, May 9:
- Spent allll day at the Children's Discover Museum. Jenna and her kids came; it was great to catch up with her! Staying all day and skipping naps......... Oh man. The repercussions lasted basically all week. Every so often, Ada skips a nap on her own, so I thought it'd be no big deal. But it was a big deal. As for Ryan, he napped for half an hour in the stroller. Which was not enough.
- San Pedro market for dinner with Cliff's friend Andrew. Ada fell asleep on the way to dinner. Poor girl. Konjoe Burger. Yucky dessert place.
Wednesday, May 10:
- Breakfast then coffee with Amanda/Xander at Hannah's.
- Fire alarm fiasco. Someone set the alarm off multiple times in our hotel. During freaking NAPS. After a day where I made the kids skip naps!! Both kids woke up and would not go back to sleep. UGH. And the fire alarm made it so the elevator wouldn't work, so to get out of the hotel with the kids, I had to carry the double stroller down the narrow staircase while holding Ryan.
- Park with Amanda; Mom and Uncle Steven met us there. Then we had din at Falafel Drive-in. Ryan was fussy during din and cried the whole drive back.
- Colleen, bless her heart, came and hung out with me on the hotel bed while Cliff was at his GPU party. We had such a good time catching up!
Thursday, May 11:
- I'm not actually sure what happened on this day other than a lot of crying. There aren't many pictures. I think we did bath time. The kids melted down. I briefly considered asking the housekeeping workers for help when Ryan was hysterical and Ada was having a terrible horrible no good tantrum.
- Beer with Amanda at the Whole Foods brewery place while the guys took the kids to the park.
- Dinner with Tim & Amanda at San Pedro Market. Decided last-minute to drive home that night.
- The drive was okay but freaking LA had traffic (due to construction) at midnight:30. Like, what the crap? And Ada stayed awake til at least 9 and kept waking up from all the stopping. Got in just before 2am. Ada was sleepily excited to see her kitty cats.
For pics, see Google Photos. I'm too lazy to add them here.
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