Last day: flying home

Oliver and I had lots of fun on our mommy-son trip, but we were really missing Joe and the boys by the end. Oliver would squeal with delight on FaceTime calls or when watching videos of his brothers.

I found myself telling Madelynn about Stephen and Rockam, hoping she'd be as interested as me in the conversation topic :)

I think they missed us too. Rocky gave me a huge arms and legs hug and told me he liked my hair-- ha! And I could tell both older boys missed their baby bro. It's good to be back.

Days 5 & 6: Bartons

We visited the local park in Dublin. 

Ate some Taiwanese shaved ice: chocolate, black sesame and coconut flavored. This dessert brings me back to Taipei night market memories :)

Oliver and Carmen got along really well. They could be seen crawling down the hall together and playing with the same toys. I enjoyed getting to know the precocious and adorable children of my best friend from high school and college as well. I love reconnecting with Priscilla over yoga, kids, professional aspirations, Bible insights and yummy food. I'm blessed to have such an "easy" friendship even if she is two thousand miles and two time zones away.

Day four continued

Going for an assisted stroll before heading off to our next stop: Chris and Priscilla Barton's home in Dublin, CA, where Ollie and I spent the next two nights.

Meeting a new friend with similar interests. Carmen and Ollie seemed to genuinely enjoy each other's company.

Being a pirate. Priscilla's 3-year-old, Madelyn though Ollie might like playing dress up. He did.

Day Four: Science

We let Ollie sleep in a bit after our late night. Then it was off to one last hike in Bodega Bay.

This was supposed to be a coastal bird walk, but the only birds we really saw up close were a twittery little flock of goldfinches in their dull winter plumage. I still enjoyed it though. 

Before getting out of town, we hit Wildflour up for a rhubarb white peach lavender scone. Sorry I was too sticky to take photos of these goodies.

Back in San Fransisco, Oliver made friends with the African penguins at the Academy of Sciences.

He didn't really see this cool albino alligator.

But he enjoyed the tide pools and butterfly rainforest.

Evening wedding

Day Three: Bodega Bay & Armstrong Redwoods

We stayed at the Bodega Coast Inn with lovely views of the bay and wildlife.

About an hour away from our lodging, we walked an easy trail through the towering trunks of the Armstrong Redwood Forest.

After our walk in the woods, we drove to Wildflour bakery in Freestone to enjoy warm raspberry-nectarine-white chocolate scones - heavenly! Incidentally- everyone who works at this bakery was so happy, like they were high on carbs :)

There was also a great organic garden out back.

Day Two: culture & rehearsal dinner

While my dad sat with a napping Oliver in the car, my mom and I snuck off to the Japanese Garden to take selfies -- usies?

Then we were hungry for some dim sum...

They seated us by the fish tanks, but Oliver was more interested in playing with the chopsticks and munching on turnip cakes. "Yum!" he says.

The watercress dumpling and stuffed eggplant dim sum were delish!!

So... Then we had to burn off all those greasy calories with a walk across Golden Gate Bridge. It was a windy work out before another big meal:

We ate a multi-course Italian meal at the rehearsal dinner, which was packed out with John and Polly's out of town guests. 

It was a very fun evening, full of alternately humorous and tear jerking toasts from the wedding party.

First day in Frisco

I don't know what normal people do directly after disembarking from a plane, but we Tilsches go get some crab salad and oysters on the half shell from Swann's Oyster bar.

Bellies full of seafood, we went and did some touristy things:

Like posing at the bottom of Lombard Street... Which incidentally is two blocks from my cousin's and new wife Polly's pad.

Then off to Pier 39 for some sea lion action. 

Here Ollie is saying "oooh oooh ooh!" Trying to imitate the sea lions. 

Finally, after checking into our hotel, we had a cozy dinner at Le Cuisinet in San Carlos. Ollie ate French bread, pommes frittes, zucchini soup, Coq Au Vin, roasted broccoli and even some of my ratatouille crumble shown above :) 

We walked off our filling dinner by pursuing the town's awesome evening farmers market, which I failed to photograph. 

Ollie goes to Cali

We got up at 4:30 to catch our early morning flight to San Fransico out of Chicago's O'hare. Ready for my cousin John Tilsch's wedding and a visit to my best friend, Priscilla.

Oliver munched a pretzel rod as we took off. I was happy he didn't seem to have trouble with changes in pressure. He also like his new FAA-approved car seat courtesy of my mom's friend, Carol :)

He stayed awake almost the entire four-hour flight ... So no surprise he conked out the moment we got into our rental car.

Tennessee Aquarium with Ollie

Oliver was in awe of seahorses, and the number of aquarium windows to which he was given banging access!

A leafy sea dragon for rocky -- he likes seahorses and sea dragons.

Oliver in the butterfly garden.

A Blue Morpho flies by Ollie's foot :)

Watching penguins.

Moon jellies.