Two Babies, Two Red Eyes, Too Foolish?
Returning from Penn State we had to prepare for our biggest trip this summer - a week in Northern California for Amrita's (Aunt Devi's sister) wedding. Paul, on his quest to make this his most traveled summer yet, managed to squeeze in a one day trip to Texas, but Susan and the kids stayed in sweltering Virginia and got packing.Because we used frequent flier miles to buy our tickets, we didn't have a lot of choice about flight times and ended up taking a chance by booking red eyes for both flights. When we talked about it, it seemed like it might work really well. The kids would be tired and would sleep, so we wouldn't have to work so hard to entertain them. But talk is cheap, and there was no guarantee that just because they were tired they would sleep. Quite a risk.
Using what we had learned from past trips, we brought along Lux's carseat, knowing that even though it is a definite trial to drag through airports, she is very comfortable in it on the plane and more likely to sleep. We had a specially designed backpack this time which made carrying it a bit easier than strapping it to "wheelies", although getting the seat in and out of the bag definitely was a struggle. So, this time Susan pushed both kids in the new side by side stroller that she bought after Nick's dragging incident. The stroller folds very quickly, the kids seemed comfortable in it and it worked pretty darn well. Susan also carried the diaper bag/backpack as a carry on. Paul was more heavily laden, with the car seat on his back, his own briefcase and both suitcases. But we had no problem getting from the parking lot onto the shuttle bus (although it always took several trips to get our things on and off) and from there to the airport where we checked the suitcases. Getting through security is always a little tough (take off backpack, take off jacket, take off shoes, put all in bins, take laptop out of briefcase, take D-Doll away from Lux, add to bins, take kids out of stroller, breakdown stroller, stop "helpful" people who are trying to do this for you and are about to break stroller, heave stroller onto conveyer belt, discover that car seat doesn't fit through X-ray machine, go through metal detector, put clothes and shoes back on and reclaim personal items, wait while they hand inspect car seat, spend forever trying to get car seat back into its bag) but once that was taken care of, everything was fine.
And red eye flight number one went without a hitch! The only real difficulty was the time change, which meant that we arrived in Oakland at 1 am, a strange time. Lux and Nick were wonderfully patient as we got our rental car and installed the car seats. Then we drove straight to the hotel and checked in. We had two queen beds and a crib, but the room was big enough, and it was a real crib, which was nice for Nick. We all went to sleep for a few hours before the kids decided that they weren't sure they understood the concept of time changes and woke up around 5:30.
This was actually great because we were staying at the Claremont, and they have an amazing workout facility that opens very early in the morning. So for the next many days Paul and Susan took turns working out in the mornings while the kids went through their morning routines of watching bad TV, eating and waking up. Paul got to lift weights and go to yoga, Susan got to try out the newest cardio machines and both of them could sip herbal tea and feel child-free for a while in the mornings.
The Claremont also had a great heated pool with a nice little shallow kids area and we spent a big chunk of most every day there. Lux was reticent in the beginning, always preferring to "watch pool" for a while before committing to actually swimming. But she became quite the swimmer during our trip, losing almost all of the fear that she had been exhibiting in swimming lessons. And Nick took to it like a fish, impressing everyone who saw him.
Nana Jane and Aunt Karen had also flown in for the wedding, and stayed at the Claremont, so we got to spend time with them, and of course Uncle Mike, Aunt Devi and Hera live in Berkeley now, so the cousins were able to play together once more. Plus Aunt Danielle and Gina also live in Berkeley, just a mile away from Mike and Devi's new place, so there were lots of relatives to visit.
One afternoon, Hera and Lux competed to show Nana Jane how many words they could recognize out of Lux's picture books. Then Lux taught Hera how to play her game of Hide (like Hide and Seek, but Lux never gives anyone any time to actually seek her out). Hera hid in the closet and if anyone ever said something like "Where is Hera? Is she under the bed?" Hera would fling open the closet door and yell "No, in the closet!". Then the two of them hid together between the wall and one of the beds, with lots of little whispering. It was deeply cute.
Amrita's wedding was about an hour away in wine country, and it was a lovely Buddhist ceremony. But because it was outdoors on the patio at a winery, the sun was very hot. To keep the children out of the sun (and to keep their noisiness from interfering with the ceremony) we watched from a covered deck. The highlight for Lux was that she got to watch the florist deliver a pair of enormous papier mache elephants.
The food and wine was delicious (Lux especially enjoyed the cake) and Lux and Nick were wonderfully behaved. Lux and Hera enjoyed throwing rocks down the hillside and Lux got to see hawks flying about, which she believed were eagles (or, as she says Eee-Oohs).
On Sunday we enjoyed an elaborate brunch. The whole concept of brunch was enjoyable to Lux, who had been taking advantage of the buffet breakfasts at the hotel. Choose food? she would ask. Instant gratification of a "big muffin", what more could a two year old want? After eating we lazed around at the pool and said our goodbyes to Nana Jane and Aunt Karen, who were heading home.
On Monday we got an early start, yet again, and went into the city and to Fisherman's Wharf. We went to the aquarium at Pier 39, which Lux loved. There were lots of sharks, rays and star fish for her to see up close in addition to the fish, and the best part was the tanks where you could touch a ray, shark or starfish. Lux wasn't up to touching them herself, but was amazed that Paul did it.
Then we showed Nick and Lux the seals (or is it sea lions?) that have taken up residence at the pier. We had been talking about it for a while, but Lux didn't seem too impressed, but took in all in quietly. Funny because ever since she has been talking about them and making their "Arrh, Arrh, Arrh" sound. Lots of food treats after we left the seals - a pretzel for Lux, chili in a sourdough bowl, fresh crab cocktail, then Irish coffees at the Buena Vista for Paul and Susan as Lux had her new favorite - cheese toast (grilled cheese) and Nick took a nap in his stroller. We ended with a chocolate sundae at Ghiridelli, then headed home for nap time.
On Tuesday Paul and Susan took advantage of the hotel spa - Paul for a massage and Susan for a $100 pedicure. Lux and Nick took advantage of the hotel Kid's club - coloring and playing. After the spa experience Paul and Susan had just enough time to enjoy a snack and a couple of drinks on the terrace before receiving a phone call that told us that Lux had reached the end of her patience with the Kid's club and had been asking for Mama and Dada in tears for the past 15 minutes. We hurried to their rescue, but Lux wasn't as upset as we had feared, just ready to get back to her parents.
Other highlights of the trip - hanging out with Mike, Devi and Hera at their new house; Lux liked watching all the tennis players at the hotel's courts; hanging out with Aunt Danielle and watching the deer who virtually live in her back yard; getting great sashimi and simply hanging out all day by the pool. It was the most relaxing vacation we've had in years. Lowlights - Lux falling off the high hotel bed (she was more surprised than hurt, but now at home is overly cautious getting down from Paul and Susan's bed); Lux and Nick having back to back meltdowns on the way home from Uncle Mike's (it was so bad we had to pull over, breastfeed Nick, walk down the street to buy a carton of milk for Lux then try to focus her thoughts elsewhere when she got overwhelmed by homesickness).
Everything she did Lux wanted to share with her friend Juliana, and as she grew more and more homesick, she really wanted to go to Juliana's pool party, which we had told her would happen after we came home. It was really rather sweet. (No big hotel. Go home. Juliana pool party).
Our last day in town we hung out at the pool, went out to eat and got Lux to order something besides cheese toast by getting sauceless cheese pizza (wood grilled and gourmet). Then we headed to the airport and managed our second red eye without a single problem. Once home we took a morning nap as a family, and felt pretty good, considering.
And Juliana's pool party was a blast. All that practice at the hotel paid off and Lux spent practically the entire party in the water.
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