The Power of Love and 24 lbs

On our two week trip, although my parents were away, we got to spend time with other family. One of my favorite moments of the trip was seeing my 83 year old Gramma pick up Micah. This is the same woman that my father calls Pokey and pesters her to walk more and get heart heathier. While my Aunt and cousin were in town, the six of us headed across the street from my Gramma's to one of the most preserved parks on the Peninsula, Central Park. We walked through the Japanese Tea Garden. Micah loved the koi fish. As if it wasn't symbolic enough that my grandparents often took my brother and I to the same little bridge, while on the bridge Micah reached up to my Gramma. Each previous visit with my Gramma there was either someone else always hogging Micah's attention or he was not at his finest. So imagine all of our surprise when he reached his little arms up to his Great Grandmother implying "up...up!" My heart had already melted a little. Then came my Gramma's graceful bend and before you know it she had lifted Micah's 24 pounds right up to the sky and the two of them remained snuggling and eyeing the koi from above for quiet some time. If I didn't believe in the power of love before to pull off amazing feets, I do now!

As I mentioned, Micah also got to spend time with my Aunt Leigh and Katelyn who were visiting from San Diego. It was so sweet watching them all play at the park together. While he wasn't on the same big red curly slide that used to be a favorite of mine, Micah was playing in sand that I played on as a little kid, which was pretty cool. Phil and I soaked up the sunshine on a beautiful San Mateo day and before a stop at the "coolest toy store ever" according to my hubby, we all walked through the rose garden smelling the same flowers that Micah Howard's namesake, my Papa Howard, had smelled twelve plus years ago.

Since we spent all of Christmas with Phil's family, we made another short drive up to Mill Valley the day after Christmas to see my cousin's family. Lulu is four and Ellie is two and it was so much fun seeing all three kiddos interacting. Micah did pretty well considering it was a bad teething day and he was so sick of being in the car. It was fun to see Micah at my Aunt and Uncles house since there place was completely magical to me as a kid. I basically idolized my cousin Elizabeth (fun that we now have kids around the same age!). We spent so many hours drawing, building castles, playing dress up, and of course swimming there. I can only hope Micah will find one of his relatives houses as full of kindling to his creativity as I did in Mill Valley.

Back in San Carlos, Micah's Auntie Jen and Uncle Alan spoiled him with Christmas presents as well, making Christmas a week long event for our little guy. By the time he got to open their gifts, he was quite the pro! We got to spend New Years Eve with Jen and Alan as well, which was so relaxing that I did not even take one photo! My how the tables have turned. If you had told Jen ten years ago that I would be the one pooping out of a NYE party at 10:30, she never would have believed it (neither would I have for that matter!). Jen and Alan followed up our New Years Eve gathering with an amazingly generous New Years night of babysitting. It was a much appreciated night and one of our favorite Christmas presents. Jen and Alan are expecting my little baby niece to arrive in early April and I cannot wait!!!

It's a good thing Micah loves his Aunties and Uncles so much since he got to see a lot of them this trip! Cassie and Andrew were so gracious as to trek across the bay to give Phil and I one more date opportunity. While we had an amazing lunch at Piacere (thanks to my parents free to us groupon!) and ventured out to a movie, Micah had a blast making another trip to the park, exploring my parents woodsy backyard, squirrel and bird watching, and of course playing with one of his best buds, Uncle Andrew.

We did a lot more playing on the little kids playground and sandbox at Burton Park in The City of Good Living (a.k.a. Suburbia U.S.A. a.k.a. my hometown). Micah's favorite thing to do is to make funny faces in the peek a boo window near the slide. That and stare at the other children.

There was definitely so much more to this amazing vacation, but the bottom line is that being with family was just the refresher we needed.