Back to Stanford

Our trip to Stanford was so much fun, but too short. I could have easily spent another 4 or 5 more days.
The children had a blast. I had a blast. We all had a blast.

We went to places. We played with friends. I had a girls' night, which I haven't had one in a super long time.

I had a chance to catch up with old friends.
Our friend Larisa and her family were so nice to let us stay over at their place.

They didn't even kick us out after we got them sick. What good friends!

Some of the fun things we did was visit the San Francisco zoo.
It was our first time there. The following day, we went to Pillar Point to see the tide pools.

It started out a bit rocky. Besides Arden, the other children were not into observing sea life.

They were more interested in collecting shells, trying to jump in the water, and playing in the sand.


However, Larisa made a really fun discovery...crabs in the rocks. We all had so much fun finding all kinds of crabs and rock climbing. Then, the children were interested in sea stars and other creatures. Over all, it was a blast!

We also enjoyed lovely afternoons playing in the park and knocking over toys.

After so much playing we were all tired.

I had so much fun staying up with Larisa talking until very late at night. By the end of the week I was super tired, but it was so worth it to me.
We also went to the California Science Museum at the Golden Gate Park.

It was way cool. It had a huge aquarium, planetarium, tropical rain forest, and so much more.
Arden gave it a try at photography. The photo of Mayita and I was taken by Arden.

One of Arden's very favorite things was touching the butterflies at the rain forest.

It was absolutely amazing. The butterflies were not scared at all.

We were able to get so close to them.

Really close to them. Arden's other favorite experience at the museum...the 3D-Bug film. Really fun!

Finally, Friday morning came and we rushed to the airport to pick up Newel. I didn't realize how much Maya missed her daddy. She hugged Newel so tight and would not let him go for a while.
That same day we had a lunch play date over our friend Rachel's house.

There was yummy food, but the best part was seeing our wonderful friends.

After naps and quiet time, we headed to the GSB for a little get together.

It was really hectic. It was also raining so the kids got super wet in the rain, but once again, they had so much fun. Also, we got to see other friends we hadn't seen since last year.

The event was getting to be too crazy for us, so my friend Abbey and I headed out to a pizza place in downtown Palo Alto to catch up. It was nice.

The following day was the Carnival. It was awesome! We were too busy having so much fun that I barely took any photos.

My favorite memory of those last two days was watching Arden and Ellie. It was like time didn't pass by and they picked up where they left off...super good friends.

That night, our friends, the Cuffs, were once again, super nice and watched our children while we went out to the GBS dinner and dance. It was great. I was so tired, I could barely keep my eyes open, but it was really nice to see more friends.