Our trip

We just got back from our week long trip to Riverside, CA to see Doug and Carmen, Randy's parents and, more importantly, Trey's grandparents.  We had a great time at their house, had homecooked meals three times a day, and got a lot of relaxing accomplished.  It was quite toasty down in Riverside getting into the low to mid 90's every day.  Carmen took time off from work to be with us, so Trey got a lot of Grandma Time.

This is where I spent every morning while Trey napped.  It was gorgeous out and so perfect.  Unfortunately, it got pretty hot in the direct sun after about 30 minutes, so I usually moved into the shade (but kept on reading!).  My poor pale skin got a sun rash from this minimal amount of sun exposure!

This picture is symbolic of Trey's time at his grandparents' house.  He was often shirtless and moving around on the floor.  He is making some good progress in the motor department.  Carmen helped him to crawl on all fours and he got better at that; however, whenever he wants to get somewhere he quickly drops to his stomach and crawls that way.  He has also learned to pull himself to standing which is a great step for his motor skills.  

He showed an interest in walking around with help from one of us.  His steps looked like high kicks and he was pretty unstable at first, but he improved over the week by leaps and bounds.  

Playing with Grandpa Doug 

Getting ready for our trip to San Diego

On Friday we drove to San Diego to visit with our friends Kim and Shane.  They had their baby at the end of April, and we were looking forward to meeting Baby Kaili.  We went to lunch in Del Mar at an oceanside restaurant.  It was a little cloudy when we arrived, but the sun quickly came out and we had a gorgeous day by the ocean. 

This picture doesn't really illustrate how hard it was to please Trey during lunch.  He was Wiggle Worm Extraordinaire (in this picture he is trying to crawl out of my arms) and also quite cranky and tired.  The ocean, the company, the food, the wine...they were all wonderful, but my pleasure was slightly dampened by the fussiness of my sweet boy.

Randy and Shane with their strollers

This isn't quite how they looked together in Beijing.

This is what Trey looked like after lunch while he was on the swings.  The other pictures we took were worse (or better depending on how you see it).  He was so tired that we had to call our day trip short and head back to Riverside.  Trey was asleep in the car within five minutes.

On Friday night, Melissa (Randy's cousin's wife) came over for dinner with her son Kainoa (he's the one on the right if you can't tell - the boys were dressed the same by chance and they also look quite similar).  Last year at the family campout, I had fun watching Kainoa who is about a year older than Trey thinking about all of the things Trey would be doing when he was Kainoa's age.  I had a similar experience this time since Kainoa is about to turn two.

On Saturday we went on a hike near Big Bear.  Here is Randy and Trey using Kainoa's backpack.  We definitely need one of these:

Randy teaching Trey some important fishing points

I love this picture because Trey has this expression on his face that says something like "What do you want now, Mom?" or "Stop disturbing me while I'm eating," or "You talkin' to me?"

This was Trey's reaction to his first taste of orange.  He makes this face yet he opens up wide for more.

 Trey had so much fun with his Grandma.

Cozy time with Grandma Carmen

I love this picture.

On Sunday we went to Doug's archaeology lab at La Sierra.  He was working with some colleagues to get things ready for his trip to Jordan on Tuesday.  The pieces you can see in these pictures are from their dig site in Jordan and the giant pot/vase thing is from the Iron Age in 1200 B.C.  The guy told me the official name for it, but I already forgot.  

Trey did better on the flights than I expected. I got some tips from friends which I used (take some new toys, take some favorite toys, make sure he's hungry when you take off so he will suck on the bottle in order to help his ears).  I was pleased that his amount of crying was minimal and also happy that we only had to deal with one poopy diaper in those tiny airplane bathrooms.  Trey was satisfied by the snacks we had in our bag and the free cookies from the flight attendant, and Randy and I were happy with the free booze (although I will say that the 6am flight was a little too early for both of us...the man across the aisle had three beers...sort of gross to me first thing in the morning).

Overall, we had a great time and our goal of Trey bonding with Grandma and Grandpa Clark was achieved.  He will see them again in August for the Clark Family Campout.  It is good to be home and now I can dive into summer vacation with my boy!