We just returned from a wonderful week in California, visiting my aunt and her family. We had a wonderful time, but we were exhausted when we got back. We took the red-eye flight home...need I say more. We did it for Olivia. We specifically planned both flights during the night so that she would sleep on the plane, and she did just that! She handled the trip very well and I think she had fun too. I will say that traveling with a toddler is not easy. We were limited to the types of activities that we could do. Olivia is not exactly into shopping and touring wineries at this time, so we sacrificed many of the adult activities so that Olivia could enjoy her trip. I am splitting our vacation into two separate blog posts. There is just too much to tell and show in one post, so here's Part 1.
Above is the beautiful view from my aunt's home in lovely Aptos, California. It is about one hour south of San Francisco. As you can tell she is very close to the ocean, which makes for an amazing view from her balcony. Since we were pretty tired on our first full day in California we took it easy. It was a nice sunny day so we decided to take a long walk by the beach. Olivia has had her little toes in the sand once before...last year when we were visiting. She wasn't walking yet so this was her first time to actually walk in sand. She stood still at first before finally taking some steps. I think it felt weird on her feet. She got comfortable very quickly and was even brave enough to walk down by the water.
Now it usually takes Olivia a little while to warm up to people that she does not know very well. Although she has seen her Great Aunt Sue Sue quite a few times, she does not get to see her very often since she lives in California. Well it never takes Olivia more than a second to warm up to her Aunt Sue Sue. By the time we got into the car at the airport they were best friends.
The following day we visited a cute little town called Los Gatos. We had lunch and attempted to visit a few shops. Olivia quickly let us know that shopping was not on the agenda so we had to move on. We were able to visit a few wineries in the area with the help of my trusty portable DVD player and my wonderful Cousin Justin who helped to keep Olivia occupied...Bless him!
He was not shy! In fact, he was a little too friendly and came a little too close for comfort. Check out my Mom trying to escape before the camel attempts to make out with her!
What I did not catch was my aunt trying to get away and almost falling into the ditch behind her. Needless to say that was all it took for Olivia to decide that she was not a fan of the camel. It was interesting to see a camel that close up though. The question I cannot answer is why someone would want one as a pet?
In the afternoon we visited the Santa Cruz pier. It is a fun little town that is only minutes from Aptos. It was a chilly day but the sun was shining and the sea lions were in action. The pier is known for all of the sea lions that like to hang out underneath. They lay on the wood planks and swim around playing with one another. We were lucky enough to see quite a few of them.
As we were walking the pier Olivia decided that she would rather get out and walk than sit in her stroller. The pier was very busy and I was worried about her falling off so I insisted that she stay in her stroller. She was not pleased and decided that she was done with the pier. We all witnessed one of a couple of different tantrums she had during the trip. Olivia is on a different schedule than everyone else and she tires of activities much faster. This is the face that we usually see when she is no longer happy doing what everyone else is doing.
As we were leaving we noticed a bunch of sea lions resting on a dock off the side of the pier. As we got closer we saw that there were babies resting with their parents. There was a ton of them but my attention went towards the sweetness of this sea lion napping with her three little babies. How cute is this?
So that is the first half of our trip. There are still a few fun things I want to share, but I am going to save that for my next post. Before I wrap things up I want to share a few family pictures. Since we were always so busy we would forget to stop and take some shots of us with Olivia. Olivia is still at the age where she prefers not to pose for pictures, so we tried our best.
Olivia and her Nana on the Santa Cruz pier
Our attempt at a family picture on the Santa Cruz pier 
These are Olivia's friends Hayden and Simon. They are brother's and they are the sons of my very close friend Korrie. (The older boy, Hayden, is our godson). Olivia has always taken a liking to these boys. She calls them "Haydee and Simy". She thinks that everything they do is hilarious and she loves nothing more than chasing after them and watching them do boy stuff. She had the best time at the cookout and even ate her dinner at an actual kids table. Afterwards they all enjoyed popsicles on a hot summer evening. So cute!
That weekend we also made another trip to the zoo, this time with our friend Jason and his daughter Emily. The girls had fun running around the zoo together. Emily is about a year and a half older than Olivia, but they still enjoy playing together. Most of Olivia's little friends are boys so it is good to have a nice girlfriend to play with too. Emily and her parents recently moved back to Fort Wayne from Colorado and we are so happy they are back. We look forward to watching the girls grow up together.
It has been pretty hot lately so we have been spending lots of time at Uncle VJ's pool. Olivia recently got a new swim vest and we had to try it out. She is quite brave when wearing the vest and does not hesitate at all to just jump right in. I am always there to catch her of course, but she sure is confident in the water. 
On the days when it is just too hot to be outside we enjoy some indoor time. Olivia loves watching Sesame Street and I caught her in the cutest position on the floor, enjoying her favorite show. Sometimes it is nice to take a break and have some quiet time. As you know it is a rare sight to see Olivia sitting still! Can you see her cute ponytail?
Well as I have mentioned before Olivia is growing at lightening speed. Not so much in weight and height but in so many other ways. She is putting many words together which makes it so easy to communicate. She also started jumping. She loves to try to march, jump and kick, but this week she started jumping with both feet coming off the ground at the same time. I know it is a strange milestone to report, but it is so darn cute when she does it. She has also started saying, "I love you". I will tell you there is nothing better than to hear those three wonderful words from your child. It just melts my heart!
My Mom, Todd and I spent about two hours scrubbing this house with bleach from top to bottom. (I cannot explain how dirty it was!). After we were done it looked like new! We were thrilled with our used, bargain play house that would give Olivia just as much pleasure as a brand new, expensive play house. She doesn't know the difference...she's just happy to have one to play with.
She loves going inside and closing the door behind her saying, "bye-bye mommy!". She then peeks her head out of the windows and says, "hi, mommy!" We put a little chair inside for her and she enjoys pretending to wash her hands in the sink. Her attention span with the house usually lasts about 5 minutes so I am even more grateful that we did not end up having to spend a fortune on one. We recently landscaped a corner of our backyard and made it into a little playground for Olivia's toys. Her house fits in the area perfectly and there is even space left for her slide. I think she likes having her own little play area. 
