Over the past few weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas, Brooklynn has visited 3 great-grandparents, 4 grandparents, three aunts, two uncles, four cousins, and a whole slew of additional extended family. And I think if it were up to her, she would do it all agin starting next week. That would be nice if it worked that way.
Of course, she’d also want us all to just play blocks and sleep in one big room, so we’re really not soliciting firm ideas from her at the moment.
You don’t want to peek, just in case Santa might be lurking about.
Santa in this photo played oh so well by Brooklynn’s new cousin, Kolton.
This past weekend, we visited some friends out in Oakland, California. It was our first time in that area and the first time we’ve vacationed with Brooklynn. Up to this point in her life, she has lived in a world of the midwestern plains with very infrequent trips to the nearby mountains sprinkled in. So, of course we added in tons of kid-centered activities, right?
Of course we did. Things such as
And to be honest, she did really well, considering the fact that she’s two.
While we were busy wine tasting and driving around Napa Valley, Brooklynn found activities like putting fallen leaves in a fountain and watching them float and “going to work” by carrying Rhiannon’s purse up and down some stairs1
When we drove around San Francisco, Brooklynn got it in to her head that she wanted to go swimming in the water she saw. And when we stopped at the beach, it was cold, sandy, and dirty. She wanted nothing to do with the water.
When we stopped to look at the Golden Gate Bridge, she occupied herself searching for bugs in the grass and mud.
And when we walked more than a few blocks from our restaurant to Ghiradelli Square for some dessert, she marched right along with us. Her biggest concern was not that we were traveling on foot across a strange city after dark. Rather, it was the fact that at certain places, she had three shadows from the various street lights. Three! More than one! Which one of them should she choose to walk on and what direction should she go?!?!
She participated in the chocolate and ice cream at the end of walk. See, we did do something she would enjoy.
At the Denver airport, she rode on a bus and train and an airplane. She saw the ocean and stood on the beach. And she won’t remember any of it.
The joys of being little.
Last weekend, we drove up to South Dakota to watch Sarah run in a cross country race. For anyone who has not personally attended one of these, they are typically on a golf course with the finish near the start line. Spectators can cut across the middle of the loop (in this case, two loops) and watch the runners go by a couple times.
Start, cheer, watch the runners go. You run or walk quickly to the next place and wait for them to come by.
Wait, cheer, watch, walk. Rinse, repeat.
Brooklynn was very excited to see Sarah and a little confused as to why we weren’t going with her. Sarah was running away and we should go find her!
So, to pass the time until she came back around, we helped Brooklynn learn how to cheer. The best (or worst) part of this – right after stopped recording, she started yelling, “Go Sarah!” as loud as she could all by herself.
Rhiannon and I have been to beaches in southern California, the north east coastline, and the Mexican Gulf coast, (and I’ve even been on the Mediterranean more than a few years ago,) and of all of those places, Hawaii has to have some of the nicest beaches and ocean we’ve seen. The weather was basically perfect every day – in the mid 80s, not too humid. Never too hot to be outside, but never cold, even when the wind was blowing a little.
After being back at work for a full week and then some, I understand that if we actually lived down there, we would still have to work and do normal household things. Not every day would just be a day on the beach. However, if I ever happened to win the lottery, I think I might have an idea where you might find me.
We have had some excellent weather here at home recently, so I really can’t complain all that much. We laid a blanket down both days this past weekend and basked out in our own backyard. It was just missing the sound of the ocean (and maybe the actual ocean itself). Rhiannon and I discussed getting one of those nighttime ambient noise makers with the crashing wave sounds to play during the afternoon. It seems like a great idea – the sounds of the beach without getting sand all over the place – until you look up and recall that you are much closer to snow on the mountains than anything resembling an island in the Pacific.
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