April Phone Pics

Just a couple random pics of my busy girl from this month.  She certainly keeps me hopping!

I was eating an apple, and she came and stole it from me

After visiting Annie at work and eating a sugar cookie

Got this as a present for Jason, but it ended up fitting her.  So cute!

San Francisco

I know I just got back from a marvelous vacation to New York, but anyone who knows me knows that I am ALWAYS up for vacation.  So, when Jason had the opportunity to go to a conference in San Francisco for work, we decided to extend the trip by a few days.  My mom was kind enough to watch Leila for us and I tagged along with him to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary a few weeks early.

We flew out after Jason got off work Friday night and, after many delays, got to our hotel 11 hours later at 2am California time.  Pretty much the same amount of time it would have taken us to drive.  Sighs.  At least we made it.

Needless to say, we didn't exactly get an early start on our day Saturday.  Once we did, we made our way to Cafe Mason, a small cafe just around the corner from our hotel.  I had a yummy Croque Madame (ham and cheese sandwich on french toast, topped with fried eggs) and some fresh squeezed OJ.  Fed, and somewhat rested, we headed south to Silicon Valley so that Jason could visit the headquarters of the tech companies he adores.  He called it his journey to the Mecca of Tech.  We started off at Intel, where they had a neat, free, museum detailing their company history and the progression of the computer processor.  We also made sure to hit up the Apple and Google campuses, even though they were closed to the public.

We sent virtual postcards

"Dressed up" like fab workers

Apple Headquarters

Google Android Building 44

Google Bikes for the employees to get between buildings

From here, we decided to take a drive north of the city and drive around Muir Woods and the Golden Gate Bridge.  Along the way, we stopped for lunch at Ono Hawaiian Luau for a quick bite to tide us over.  The area surrounding Muir Woods is gorgeous and, surprisingly, remote.  The entrance road was one of the windiest we've seen.  Since it was Saturday, and a beautiful day, we were far from alone.  So we opted not to walk into the park but rather took the scenic loop before heading back into the city.  

We made sure to stop at a scenic overlook and take in the beauty of a clear day overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco.  We walked around a little bit up there and found a place constructed during WWII for the intended use of housing the biggest, most powerful guns ever used by the United States military--16-inch caliber weapons that fired 2,100 pound shells and could hit ships 26 miles out to sea.  Because the war turned in favor of the allies, the construction was never completed but it was still neat to walk around.  And the hole where the gun would have been housed was ginormous!

Next up on our list was Ghiradelli Square and the waterfront.  We made sure to get our free samples as well as a bag full of chocolates to get us parking validation.  Then we made our way along the waterfront until we hit Boudin's at Fisherman's Wharf for dinner.  Then we called it a night.

On Sunday, we got up and going a little earlier and made our way over to the Presidio.  Breakfast that morning was found at this charming French bistro called Baker Street Bistro.  The chef is French and the entire atmosphere had me reminiscing my trip to France.  I had some of the best french toast with creme fraiche and strawberry coulis!  Mmm...

We spent the rest of our morning at The Walt Disney Family Museum.  I had hear good things about this museum and yet I still wasn't prepared for what we found inside.  It was such an amazing and large collection of photographs, letters, videos, sound clips, drawings, etc. that detailed every stage of Walt Disney's life.  We spent 2+ hours there and easily could have spent more.  One of my favorite things was the large model of Disneyland as it looked during Walt's lifetime.  It made me want to go back to Disneyland even more!

We once again found ourselves needing to eat and made our way back towards Pier 39 where we ate at Players Sports Bar & Grill on their heated outdoor patio.  I enjoyed soaking up the sunshine and getting out of the wind for a bit.  We walked around the pier which overlooks Alcatraz and the famous gathering of the sea lions.  We kept walking and made our way out onto Hyde St. Pier and its corresponding visitor center.  We didn't go on any of the boats but rather just took in the scenery and watched some daring swimmers in the bay.

Then we headed out of the city via the Bay Bridge so that we could go and walk around the Oakland temple and visitor center for a while.  It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful the temples are and what prime locations they are built in.  The Oakland Temple is set high up on the hill and has a gorgeous, unobstructed view of the Bay.  We relaxed here until it was time to go and return our rental car at the airport.  We rode BART back near our hotel and stopped back by Cafe Mason for some fettuccine alfredo before calling it a night.

The result of asking a teenager to take our picture...

A selfie it is then!

We love to see the temple!

Monday and Tuesday were the "boring" days of our trip.  Jason went to his conference and I stayed in the hotel room, working.  

Still, it was relaxing and I missed out on the small snow storm they had back home.  Plus, I was a lot more productive without Leila running around, climbing on my desk every two seconds.  I missed that goober but I'm glad I took advantage of the time to have some quality time with my hubby!  We even went to Cheesecake Factory in Union Square for our "anniversary dinner" and the view was incredible!

We flew home this morning and I think I'm good to stick around home for a while...maybe!

My Pregnancy: Week 8

Baby's now the size of a raspberry!

Baby is growing like mad, putting on about a millimeter every day and continuing to straighten out in the trunk.  Though you can't feel it yet, baby is moving those little arms, legs, and (now only slightly) webbed fingers and toes like crazy.

Fridays always seem to be the worst day of the week for me, physically at least.  I have felt nauseous/sick for the last 3 Fridays, and today is no exception.  Its weird that it happens every week, like clockwork.  It is like my body is telling me that another week has passed.  Thankfully it doesn't last much longer than the day, but still.  I don't remember getting nauseous for entire days when I was pregnant with Leila.

I can't let the nausea get to me too much today though because Jason and I are off to San Francisco tonight to celebrate our five-year anniversary.  It sure doesn't feel like its been five years, but I guess when I look back at all that's happened (not to mention the fact that I have a 2 1/2 year old and another kid on the way), its pretty remarkable that it has only been five years.

So be nice to me this weekend, little baby raspberry! :)

Easter 2014

We started our Easter celebrations by going over to Mom's to dye eggs Monday night.  Leila was just as interested in cracking the eggs open as she was in dying them.  But she definitely didn't like the taste of hard boiled eggs (her exact reaction was "yick" followed by a raspberry).  She also liked putting stickers on them--and then taking the stickers off.  Whatever keeps her entertained, I guess.

Saturday morning we took Leila to our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt.  Basically there were hundreds of little kids running around after the 4,000 eggs and prizes that were scattered around the park.  It lasted about 5 minutes and Leila loved it!

Of course, she would have been just as happy playing on the playground the entire time.

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day and I managed to snap a few pictures of my darling princess in her pretty Easter dress.  Getting her to sit still outside was not happening though, so I had to take what I could while she proceeded to run around the backyard.

That afternoon, we went over to Mom's for Easter dinner and an egg hunt.  Leila was carting around this big old basket full of eggs and would throw a fit anytime someone would try to take some out so that it would be easier for her to carry.  She likes her Easter eggs!

My Pregnancy: Week 7

Baby's now the size of a blueberry!

Baby's brain--both hemispheres!--is growing fast, generating about one hundred new cells every minute.  Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place.

Another week down!  The "highlight" of this week was going to the doctor on Tuesday to get started on all of my bloodwork/paperwork.  The appointment went fairly smoothly considering I had to take Leila along with me.  Taking that girl anywhere is always a risk these days.  Thankfully she did fairly well, other than trying to run through the entire building whenever we were walking somewhere.  They confirmed that my due date is December 5.  Just under a month until my first official appointment.

Symptoms this week continue to be exhaustion, exhaustion, and more exhaustion.  I fall asleep around 10 every night and just can't get enough sleep.  I usually try to lay down for an hour or so during the day while Leila is napping too.  Still not enough.  I guess that providing an environment for that fast-growing baby brain is tiring work!

I've also had a couple days of pretty bad nausea, more so than I remember having with Leila.  During my last pregnancy, I tended to only get nauseous when I hadn't eaten for a while.  These nauseous bouts have been a little more persistent and don't always go away with food.  Still, I know so many women who have it worse.

My gag reflex is also more sensitive and my sense of smell is extremely heightened.  This makes dirty dishes and changing diapers particularly challenging these days.

The Big Apple

My sister Annie will be graduating from high school this year and for her senior trip, she really wanted to go to New York.  Mom wanted some additional helping hands to make travel plans, do things with, etc., so she invited Ashley, Jori, and I to come along too.  Taylor was able to work it out so that his training in New York would coincide with our trip and we could crash at his hotel.

With everyone's different schedules, the three of us girls had to divide and conquer so we weren't ever there all at the same time.  Mama and Papa Z were gracious enough to drive up from California to help watch Leila while I was gone.  It was my first time ever being away from her for more than a day and I have to say it was a good break.  I flew out on Monday and then came back with Mom and Annie early (EARLY) this morning.  Here's a breakdown of our amazing trip!

Tuesday
Tuesday morning we got up and made our way to the Donut Plant for breakfast.  They had a wide variety of doughnuts and their specialty were fresh fruit and cream donuts.  I chose to try lemon poppyseed cake and vanilla bean.  They were tasty, but at $3 a doughnut, I wouldn't make it a regular habit!

After breakfast, Annie got to do her favorite thing: shop!  Every time we asked her what she wanted to do in New York, she would respond that she wanted to shop.  We stopped at a sample sale for Elizabeth and James and then wandered through more reasonably priced shops like Gap and Forever 21.

After getting our discount play tickets for that night, we went back by our hotel where we ate lunch (burgers and fries) at the Shake Shack.  Then we went to the hotel room to chill for a bit and send Jori on her way home.  We made our way back out that night to go to Newsies.  We had amazing seats (like 9th row) and I LOVED it!  I watched the movie over and over again growing up and even though it deviates from that a bit, it still made the little girl in me very, very happy.  Plus, we were able to meet up with the Thaynes and Annie, Josh, and Zack provided us with entertainment during the intermission.

After the play, we ate a late dinner at Olive Garden at Times Square and then went back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Wednesday
We tried to get up and going Wednesday morning in time to have breakfast at a diner near Times Square that the others had gone to for dinner earlier in the trip.  Unfortunately by the time we made it there after getting our discount play tickets for a matinee, they were no longer serving breakfast and were closing down while they made the transition to lunch.  We missed it by minutes!  So, we set off for Rockefeller Center instead and grabbed some bagels and pastries at Starbucks to tide us over.

We wandered all around Rockefeller Plaza, but our timing was still off and the earliest tickets we could have gotten to go to the Top of the Rock wouldn't allow us enough time to do that and get to our matinee in time.  So we wandered through the NBC shop and Nintendo World where Annie crossed paths with one of her friends.  Then we walked over to Sak's on Fifth Avenue, where it felt expensive just to breathe the air.

Spring was in the air

Our matinee that afternoon was Matilda.  Between the three of us, it got mixed reviews.  Annie would later tell us it was her favorite play we saw.  I thought it was cute but had a hard time understanding some of the kids' "British" accents, especially when they were singing some pretty complex songs.  And Mom had a hard time following it and staying awake.  It probably didn't help that we hadn't eaten anything since our Starbucks stop earlier that morning.

And food would remain a lower priority because after the play we had to rush back to the hotel so that Mom and Annie could change and we could make our way to the Manhattan Temple.  Unfortunately I'd forgotten my recommend, so I sat across the street at the Lincoln Center while I waited for them to do baptisms.  Its pretty remarkable that a place like the temple can exist in the middle of bustling Manhattan!

Taylor came and met up with us after they were done and we made our way to dinner (finally)!  I found a Mexican place that had good reviews on Yelp and the food turned out to be pretty tasty.  Only trouble was it was more of a take-out/delivery place than a sit down restaurant but we made do with the few stools they had and stuffed our faces before going back to the hotel.

Thursday
This was our last day and we wanted to make sure we made the most of it.  Learning from our mistake of not eating enough the day before and started the day off going to Pick a Bagel, right by our hotel.  I had a delicious, and very filling, ham, egg, and cheese sandwich on a toasted sourdough bagel.  We ate while we walked to the subway station and made our way back to Times Square.  We had some time to kill before our next scheduled event, so Annie did some more shopping in the area.  That girl does like to shop!

Mom was brave and hailed a taxi for us (we took the subway or walked everywhere else, except to/from the airport) and we made our way towards the river where we went on a sightseeing boat tour around Manhattan Island.  From the boat we were able to see the Statue of Liberty, famous buildings, bridges (including the Brooklyn Bridge), Yankee Stadium, etc.  It was a really neat tour, but lasted about an hour too long.  If we were going to do it again, we'd just do the half-island tour instead of the full one.

Once we were back on dry land, we grabbed another taxi and made our way back to Times Square so that we could pick up discount tickets for one last play that night.  While we were there, we stopped in the little Times Square museum where they have one of the old New Years Eve balls.  They also have a bunch of confetti that you can write a wish on.  All of this confetti will be put into the 2015 NYE ball.  Pretty neat!

Then we took off for a quick run through of the FAO Schwartz toy store, Chanel, and Hollister so that Annie could do yes, more shopping.  Along the way, we passed the entrance for this Apple store that is actually underground.

Annie wrapped up her shopping and we tried to get tickets on our phones to go see the 911 memorial.  But the system was down!  We made our way there anyway but knew we didn't have time to wait in line.  So, we stopped for a bit across from the One World Tower and a guy told my Mom all about the memorial and sold her a couple of picture books.  Even though we didn't go to the actual memorial, it was still a somber moment filled with reflection and reverence for the events of September 11, 2001.

We went back to the hotel to dump our shopping bags and freshen up for our last Broadway play: Phantom of the Opera.  As Broadway's longest running show (25 years now), I knew it was going to be good and I wasn't disappointed.

After the play, we grabbed a few more souvenirs, hit up McDonald's for some late dinner, and went back to the hotel to pack and sleep for maybe 2 hours before we had to get up and head out for the airport.

Needless to say, I am exhausted, but I wouldn't have traded this experience for anything.  I am so glad that Annie let me crash her trip.  And Mom spoiled me like crazy (I mean, who gets to go the THREE Broadway plays?).  Not to mention the fact that the Ziebarths were so kind to come and watch Leila for me.  It was truly a remarkable experience!