We just got back from our trip to CA on Monday. It was such a great trip! The kids did better on the plane and sharing a room/bed than I expected and they time shifted quickly so they weren't even waking up early! #winning.
We started off the trip flying into Sacramento where my mom picked us up and we drove up to Nevada City where we were joined by my dad and Katie and Kendall. After the kids were in bed that first night, Eric and I got to go for a little walk around the neighborhood. It was so nice to get some one-on-one time together- our only chance to do that for the whole rest of the trip! We even found a little pop up farmstand selling fresh flowers and got a bouquet for Oma. It was very nostalgic for me to be back in Nevada City in the summertime. It just made me think of being there during the summer as a kid: going boating with cousins, swimming in the river, running around on their land playing tag and building rockets and shooting them off. It was very hot but thankfully our AirBNB hosts brought us a little AC unit for our room that worked fine.
The next day was probably my favorite day of the whole trip! We got to go out to breakfast with Oma and my parents and Katie and Kendall which was delicious. Then, we went to the farmers market and got to look at some cool gemstones and bought some tasty pluots. Then we went back to the AirBNB and Emery actually lay down and took a nap with me which was very sweet. Then in the evening we went over to Lyne and Jon's new house and had a BBQ and got to go swimming with them and Oma and Michelle and Jamie and their boys and Joey and Emily and their girls! It was so fun and relaxing and everyone had a great time. The kids loved swimming and playing with Michelle and Jamie's boys and I had a good time catching up with my family. The yard was all shady and the food was delicious and it was pretty much just perfect.
Sunday, we went to church in Nevada City and then headed to Sacramento and hung out with Katie and Kendall for a while and got to see their cute little apartment before heading on to Mom and Dad's house. It was funny at church I could just glance at a kiddo and tell they were DeMartinis. They've just got a very distinct look: white blond hair, super tan, energetic, and rough and tumble haha.
The next day, Mom and I took the kids to Howarth park and we rode the train and the carousel and played on the playground. I don't remember ever going on the train or the carousel as a kid although they've been around for a long time. Levi really loved it, Emery was a little nervous about the carousel and wanted to just sit on a bench with me rather than on one of the horses that went up and down. I was fine with the extra snuggles haha. I love Howarth park and the natural beauty of Northern CA. It's so different from where we live now! It's drier than I remember (#climatechange) but I had kind of forgotten the slightly magical feel of the big oak trees dripping lichen and the huge boulders everywhere and the golden grasses. And it's kind of nice that the land actually has some texture to it. I don't mind the flatness of Texas while I am here but it definitely makes driving around NorCal more interesting than driving here! Haha.
Monday night we went to get frozen yogurt and I think Levi's had something bad in it because that night he came down with a horrible stomach bug! Right before Eric and I were heading to bed around 11pm, we heard Levi crying and throwing up. Poor kid threw up all over his bed, down the stairs of the bunk bed, and on the carpet in his room before Eric got him to the bathroom. Then, as Eric and I were cleaning him and everything else up while trying not to wake up Emery (who miraculously was sleeping through all of this), he threw up on the carpet again! Thankfully after that, he got a hang of using a bowl because he ended up throwing up 10 times between then and 9:30 am. Poor kid! I was super paranoid that we were all going to get it and it would ruin our trip so I made him stay in his room all day Tuesday and till mid-day on Wednesday (because the last time he threw up was 1 pm on Tuesday) and kept Emery away from him and fanatically sanitized EVERYTHING. My hands even started to crack from being washed so many times. And anytime anyone went in the room with Levi I made them wash their hands afterwards. It may have been a bit extreme but it worked! He got better quickly and thanks I think to my efforts and many prayers everyone else in the family was spared and no one else got sick! By Wednesday morning Levi's fever was gone (it had gotten up to 101.2 poor kid!) and he really wanted to go to the beach. So after he had gone 24 hours without throwing up, I let him out of his quarantine and Mom and I took the kids to the beach. It was cloudy/foggy but thankfully not too windy or too cold! I was fine in just a light sweatshirt. And Emery especially LOVED the beach. She was all about the sand and the waves even though the water was FREEZING she kept wanting to go deeper into it! It so cute. And it just made me remember all the times of going there as a kid and running through the freezing waves and imagining what it would be like if I were a mermaid. And on the way back we even picked up some pints of delicious Screamin' Mimis to complete the beach experience of my childhood haha.
The next day, Thursday, Mom and I took the kids to the children's museum in Santa Rosa, which they enjoyed and then later in the afternoon, our family left Mom and Dad's house and drove down to San Francisco and met up with my friend Caitlin Nichols from college in a park and had sandwiches. It was soooo cold I was shivering in my shorts and light sweatshirt but it was still so nice to get to catch up with her a little bit. Hopefully, I can see her again the next time I am out that way.
Friday, we got to spend pretty much the whole day with Matt and Greta and their kiddos. They are renting this super funky house in Palo Alto which was only an 8-minute drive from the hotel we were staying at. The kids had fun playing together and it was so great to get to catch up with Matt and Greta. Rachel has gotten so big! In the evening, the kids watched a movie while Matt and Greta and Eric and I got to play a game together. That was really nice. I'm really glad we get to see them again soon for the Martino family reunion in August because one day together was definitely not enough!
Saturday, Eric braved the cold and took the kids swimming at the hotel pool because they were begging to even though it was only like 67 degrees outside! They didn't last long haha. Then we went and hung out at a park with my parents and Katie and Kendall and Eric and Natachia and we got to meet baby Patrick for the first time. He is soooo cute! And doing so great! You would never guess he was a preemie. He's adorable. Emery was fascinated by him and even finally got to hold him, although he wasn't too keen on that idea.
Sunday was Patrick's baby blessing and then we spent most of the rest of the day hanging out together as a family at Mom and Dad's AirBNB. We got to play some jackbox games and then later took the kids to a park to run around for a while before driving back up to Santa Rosa. It was just so great to get to just relax and spend time together as a family. Makes me wish that we lived closer to each other, although we have no interest in moving to CA.
Then on Monday, we flew home! Thankfully the kids were great on the plane again (thank you tablets with headphones haha) and the trip went smoothly. We had to get an Uber to take us from DFW to Lovefield because we accidentally booked our flight out and our flight back in different airports. Ooops. But it was fine. We got home Monday night pretty exhausted and excited to sleep in our own beds.
Since our trip it's been jump back into the deep end of stressful, busy life! I had to play catch up on laundry and at work and I had activity days on Wednesday and two OB appointments last week (I had to do an ultrasound because I was measuring big and they were worried I may have too much amniotic fluid but I don't and baby girl is measuring right on track and looks good thank goodness). Thankfully, on Friday the kids and I had a chance to relax again a little bit and went to Little Elm beach with Karem and her kids. The water there is so gross to me but the kids loved and it and I loved getting to just sit in the shade and chat for a few hours! Haha.
Friday night, we had Eric's old mission companion Christian Carter, and his kids over for dinner and watched some of the opening ceremony of the Olympics. I am so glad the Olympics are happening this year even though there are no spectators and a lot of COVID precautions. The Olympics are just so amazing to watch! Last night we got to see beach volleyball, men's gymnastics and skateboarding and it really is just so incredible what top athletes are capable of. Very impressive.
Then yesterday, Eric and I were just very busy getting the rest of the materials to build our pergola and rabbit-proofing our yard! It was much more of a task than I anticipated but it actually went really smoothly and has been successful so far! I took chicken wire and cut it and staple gunned it to our fence and buried the ends of it and then sprayed it with liquid fence to discourage the rabbits from digging under. It was very hot and I sweated sooooo much but it did feel good to be taking a stand and kind of creating a little fortress oasis of our backyard that hopefully once the rabbits are kept out will be able to finally be freed from chiggers! Haha. I did feel bad though that the whole thing took sooo long and I didn't spend much time with the kids. They were both very emotional and had had way too much screentime by the end of the day. And I definitely was more short-tempered with them than I ought to have been. Definitely had to do some repenting last night. But thankfully, today is Sunday and we get to spend some good quality time together as a family and not have to do any house/yard work!
So yeah, that's a very long recap of our trip and life lately. I do feel more ready now to face everything we have coming up soon and to dive back into productivity after taking 10 days to not worry about the house or work or any of my many projects haha. I've scheduled our newborn photographer and ordered all our outfits for our family/newborn pictures we will take after the baby is born. She's coming so soon now! Just two months away! And Levi starts kindergarten in just 2 weeks! I can barely believe it. I took the kids on Friday afternoon and we picked out all his school supplies and he's got meet the teacher night coming up. I feel like he is definitely ready for kindergarten but I am going to miss him on Mondays and Fridays and I know it's going to be a BIG adjustment for Emery! She isn't going to have anyone to play with on those days anymore! I was talking to Karem about it and realizing I will just have to do a lot of playdates because otherwise, I don't think she will know what to do with herself!
