Yay! She’s back!
My good friend Ranee and her family have moved back to California from NYC! We met up on Labor Day to do some catching up and to watch Sophie and Kumquat play. I must say it was really entertaining to watch and exciting to see my little girl interact with another baby. I’m also amazed at how much Sophie’s changed since I first met her 5 months ago.
Ranee’s not going back to work just yet and it makes me wish I was still at home. Ah…that would be so fun. We’d have play dates and lunch dates every week!
Welcome back, Ranee!
This weekend we met up at Sly Park Recreational Area for our annual camping trip. Jes had already set-up the campsite on Friday with the boys and then everyone else arrived later that day. I left the house around 8:30 am on Saturday with the dog and baby in the car along with a trunk filled with camping gear. It’s just outside of South Tahoe and it took me only about 2.5 hours to get to the campsite. It was a balmy 90 degrees by noon but the mosquitoes were under control with the help of two citronella lamps. Kumquat and the dog did great on the drive up and Kumquat was in a really good mood the whole afternoon.
We spent the early afternoon hanging out in the shade and Kumquat seemed to enjoy her new surroundings. We then walked over to the “beach” area to check out the “lake”. The reason for all the quotations marks is that it was actually a dried up wetland covered in goose poop and a muddy reservoir. Jack and Tessa seemed to enjoy the water but we chose to hang out under the canopy to enjoy the breeze and mosquito-free area.
Kumquat even managed to take a nap while we were out there.
I didn’t sleep very well since I was overtired from my first week of work with a baby who wasn’t sleeping through the night. We managed to get all three of us in the tent rather comfortably considering it was a tiny two-man tent barely big enough for the two of us and a duffel. Kumquat slept in our portable bassinet for most of the night but at 2 am she woke up crying and her hands were freezing. I moved her into my sleeping bag and she slept so peacefully for the rest of the night.
After breakfast, we hung out and it was fun watching the kids play. We left the campsite around 11:30 am and stopped at In N Out on our way home. Despite Kumquat’s great mood throughout the past 24 hours, she was super grouchy once we got home and needed a lot of attention to help calm her down for the night.
Here is this year’s group photo, which shows that the number of children is catching up with the number of adults. Camping is never going to be the same as it used to with our carefree days and late nights. We probably won’t be burning as much stuff and the boys probably won’t be taking the same ridiculous number of shotgun beers. It’s a little sad but pretty cool to see our families growing too.
This morning, Kumquat and I made an impromptu trip down to San Jose to see the Chammys. Pish and the family flew up for July 4th and Ishya and Billy came over too. I was also there in time for lunch, which was my aunt’s home cooking. Awesome.
Ishya and Billy didn’t bring the twins but Katie and Kyle got to hang out with Kumquat for a bit.
It was nice to just hang out in my uncle’s house for the afternoon and catch up with the family. Wish I could do it more often.
On July 4th, we went to the Bangs’ for a BBQ. When we arrived, it was swimming with kids. On the grassy area, there was a blanket laid out with 3 babies seated with their respective parent and there were at least 3 toddlers (including our host, Rowan) wandering around the patio area. Then there was Jack, the leader of the bunch playing bocce with his dad. I was so overwhelmed and still felt a little out of place even-though we had an infant there too.
Kumquat hung out on our laps and watched the kids around her.
It was also fun to watch Jack and Reese playing and Jes was even involved in some of the rowdiness.
After we left, we realized that we actually had enough time to pack up the baby and head out to Aquatic Park for some fireworks. We caught the shuttle bus at the Caltrain station and then walked about a mile to the viewing area.
Made it with about 10 minutes to spare and got a pretty decent view. Kumquat hung out in the front carrier and slept through the whole journey over and the fireworks show. 
On our way home, we stopped for pizza. Despite all the activity and noise, our little chubbawub slept through it all. She’s definitely my child.
Ryan invited us over for dinner last night and it was just like old times…except we had a new family member to bring along. The last time we had dinner with them was in 
Reese was off the hook last night and it was fun to see her running, playing, and talking. She was also pretty interested in Kumquat that night. She would sit next to me and Kumquat and say “baby” over and over again. It was also pretty funny to see her get a bit jealous when Michelle or Ryan were holding or even near her.
Jack was his usual rowdy self but it’s so amazing how much a boy he is now. He helped set the dinner table and by the end of the night he was sitting quietly in the corner drawing.
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