Our trip to California had 2 sides – it was wonderful to see old friends again, refeshing to hike and walk in moderate weather, and Leilani enjoyed the walkable neighborhood in Santa Cruz so close to the beach.
The other side was that the houseswap did not work out as planned. When house swapping with a baby it is extremely important to have privacy, private space, and the ability to spread out, and that’s just not compatible with roommates…. but that’s a different post. At least the people seemed nice enough, and they left our house clean and as they found it.
The rest was great. Leilani was really good on the flight to California, napped for a while, played, looked at books and magazines. At the house, she adored the little boy who lived there, and didn’t seem to mind that it was a one-sided affair :-) There were new toys and books for her to play with. One of the two sisters there was actually very nice (the one whose boyfriend does not have gang tatoos all over the visible parts of his body). The days we stayed in Santa Cruz we walked right out the door after breakfast and saw the Monarch butterflies arriving day by day at Natural Bridges State Park:
Hiking and playing at Natural Bridges State Park
Leilani learned to do grafitti on rock at the beach with charcoal, enjoyed the many dogs on the coastal path, and the many large birds to watch at the beaches. We got to see Lisa several times, not her dog Buddy.
I took it very easy the first few days, mostly walking around, to Wilder Ranch, the Lighthouse, Natural Bridges parks and helping Leilani adjust to the climate. We were very happy to keep her on Kauai time, so she stayed up later and we could go out for dinner.
Birds at Ano Nuevo
Birdwatcher at Ano Nuevo
Raghbir, Bhupinder, and their 8 month-old Amelia visited us on Thursday, unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the adults:
Ray drove up from Ojai near LA on Friday, and we had several nice walks: Natural Bridges again, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and in the evening at the Neary Lagoons.
Saturday we had a potluck picnick at the rosegarden in San Jose, and met many of our old friends there. I hope very much Anant or someone else took photos and will email them to me so I can post them.
We spend the rest of the weekend in San Francisco with Ruwan, meting Thelan and his new girlfriend Moira too. Monday I stayed in town to visit the Austrian Consulate in the financial district for Leilani’s Austrian citizenship. Leilani was very astounished abouth the high buildings and seemed fascinated in general.
Leilani rides a lion at Sutro Heights Park
Cypresses in San Francisco, near Seal Rock
Meeting Thelan in San Francisco
We got a very nice carrier for Leilani, and Andy took Tuesday off, and we went hiking in Ano Nuevo
Thursday we visited Andy at work, Leilani even had a guest badge
On the last weekend we went backpacking (hiking and camping) in Castle Rock State Park with our friends, and I’ll post the whole article as soon as I am done with the photos.
Sunday we went to Fry’s electronics store with Ruwan, had dinner with Connie and Michelle, and a late-night visit with Kit and Odem. Leilani went to bed past 11pm, and had to get up at 5:30 for the flight back home.
With Connie and Michelle:
Mirror, Mirror on the wall…
Odem, the cat
