Thanksgiving Part II

In my rush to publish the last post, I realized that I may have sugarcoated one part of our trip back home: how HARD it is to travel with 2 kids.  Don't get me wrong, the plane trip went fine with minimal crying and tantrums, but there was a lot that I failed to mention.  Like how 3 hours of jet lag can make you hate life, especially when an energetic toddler is waking up at 3:30AM rearing to go.  Or how you have to pack everything under the sun and live in paranoia everywhere you go because you know most people aren't all that familiar with baby proofing.  Or how introducing a toddler to 30 or so new faces can turn him bipolar.... The list goes on and on, but I just wanted to acknowledge that no matter how "well" a long distance trip goes, it's still hard as hell.

OK, that said I'll move on to more of the fun stuff we did.  After our trip to the Mission we decided to try something new: make Linus take a nap someplace completely foreign.  We were tired of getting home before Linus naps at noon, so we packed his crib and favorite blanket and head down to Brisbane to visit the Schmooks (a.k.a Ken and Ingrid) in their new house, and their new baby Blake.  After some introductions and eating burritos, we plopped Linus down for his nap.  Which to our surprise, he took to easily and slept for 3 hours!

 Linus sleeping for 3 hours gave us time to catch up, reflect on the Schmooks' new parenthood, and get some pretty cute baby pictures. 











 Here's a shot of our families together for the first time.  We are excited about moving back because we know that these 3 boys will be best buds.

The following day was rainy so we went to the Childrens Discovery Museum in San Jose.  Lucky us, there was a "Bob the Builder" exhibit!  Linus loves to say, "Can we do it?  YES we can!"

The museum has a great water play area for toddlers, as well as a real firetruck to climb on.  Firefighter Linus on the right is spraying Mattias with the hose.

 The next day was sunny, a perfect day to visit the revamped Happy Hollow Park in San Jose.  This place has a huge playground, a small, well kept zoo, rides, and puppet show all geared for kids age 2-7.  Linus rode the triceratops on the carousel.

He also got his first face painting-- a dragon mask. 

It magically transformed him into a scary monster, who roared at random people in the park! 

 All of a sudden he could do anything, like climb mountains of rock.












By far his favorite was the firetruck ride that went around in circles.  He went on a total of 4 times (refusing to board a police car) and never tired of the clanging of the bells.

 

 A memorable day, we will be sure to go back the next time we are in town. 

 

We did have some downtime, like when Mattias took Linus to Ed Levin Park in Milpitas.   He enjoyed climbing the "big mountain" as he called it.

On another day we trekked into Oakland to see Aunties Amy and Jade.  First we checked out Lake Merritt for some playtime and snacks.

After visiting at Amy's house, we stopped by a Bay Area favorite-- Fenton's Ice cream.  It was warm enough to sit and eat outside.

Of course Linus chose the obnoxious blue ice cream with the gumballs in it.  When Mattias fished out all of the nasty choking hazards, Linus exclaimed "Pappa loves balls!"

As you can see, it was a very busy but fun trip.  Toddlers have a way of making you get up and leave the house!  As we flew away we were saddened by the fact that it may be more than a year before we get to come back.

In the end, there is nothing like sleeping in your own bed and settling back in to your old routines.