We knew it was time for a summary blog since we haven't posted in a long time and the holidays are here. Man were we busy this summer. The thing that ate up most of it was weddings, but we'll get to that later.
Kauai, Hawaii Friberg Invasion
About 9 months prior to this trip I emailed the family 'we are going to Hawaii, who is in?' Within a few days, dates were picked and tickets were bought. It was a trip that was a long time coming - I hadn't been back to the island I was born on since I left when I was 6 years old. I've been wanting to go back for a while, and I was extremely happy that the rest of the family wanted to come to. They were able to show us around all the spots we used to frequent.
Let's be clear. Vacationing with a child is not like vacationing without one. We took turns waking up earlier than the rest of the house to hang out with and feed Emerson. The time difference kind of threw him off, but so did the vacation 'anything goes' attitude too. That being said, the fun from vacationing was really watching Emerson experience new things and watch his curious expressions. It was pretty awesome watching Emerson at the beach. At first he didn't know what to think of the sand. But after a while he was getting wet and dirty. He loves the water so much, we had to be careful that he didn't dive in.
The highlight of the trip was swimming with sea turtles at Poipu beach. It was amazing. Snorkeling is so fun, and to see so many colorful fish up close was very relaxing.
East Coast trip
When one of Kataneh's best friends, Mari, announced her wedding in New York, we knew we couldn't miss it and immediately started planning a larger family trip out of the time we'd have to take off for the wedding. We decided to fly to Nashville, drive to Blacksburg, VA to visit our friends Megan and Darrin, and then fly up to NY for the wedding.
Nashville is a lot of fun. It's full of music, nice people and things to see. We visited Jack Daniel's distillery and hit up lots of Honky Tonks on Broadway. Kataneh's friend Laura came out the day after we did and remained with us on the rest of our trip. It was great to spend time with her and she was a huge help with Emerson - he even started calling her 'LaLa'.
Blacksburg was really cool too. We were among the first friends from the West to visit Megan and Darrin. The highlight of the trip, apart from staying in their awesome house, was hitting the lake on Darrin's aunt's pontoon. Dogs, beers, sun, taking dips, it couldn't have been better.
NY was awesome. We rented a huge house outside of Hudson, NY. You'd think we were trying to recreate 'The Real World' with all 12 or so of us that stayed at the house. The best feature was the pool which we used every day.
Mari and Andrew's wedding was nothing short of spectacular. From the atmoshpere to the food and music, everything was what a wedding should be. Morgan was fortunate enough to have a no-dancing partner in crime to drink whiskey with while Kataneh was tearing it up on the dance floor.
A note on weddings
We are pros at attending weddings. We attended 8 this season!
Every wedding has a highlight. Some have great food, others have awesome music, while some have great venues, and others have cooler guests. None is any better than the other. There are so many factors that go into a good wedding. So many decisions and details which reflect the couple shine through.
Of all the weddings we went to, here are things that stood out:
- Mari and Andrew's first dance - The live version of 'Patience' by Guns n Roses.
- Kristel and Macdara's wedding rain - It was a magical moment when it started raining the moment the ceremony started. The guests all gathered in the house and watched K+M exchange vows while the wind and rain rattled the windows. It was romantic, memorable, and intimate.
- Denise and Jack's book worm theme - The back drop was an array of books and their guest book were library cards everyone signed and placed in a book!
- Nicole and Jeff's food - I still think about this food and crave it. There was a rotisserie chicken truck and amazing sides.
- Jessica and Jason's New Orleans theme - The brass band was spectacular and so was the southern food.
- Kelly and Aaron throw an amazing party - I danced all night and all of our closest friends were gathered in the intimate barn setting. You can see Kelly's unique style touches in every corner.
- Brooke and Nick's black tie affair - This wedding was very classy and I met a Taylor Swift look alike. Ettie, Dave, and Dean traveled to the wedding so it was awesome hanging out with them.
4th wedding anniversary
For our 4th year as a married couple, we decided to go camping with Emerson for the first time. It was fun, but hard. We wanted to go to Samuel Taylor, but because they were full, we ended up at Olema. We got in late, had no firewood, Kataneh's headlamp died and it kind of sucked. Emerson did OK though, he slept through the night. He loved running around and checking out the campground.
The next day, we woke up, made a great breakfast and headed to Pt. Reyes Station. We walked around and took our time. Next, we went to get some oysters and lunch on Tomales Bay. This is something we like to do every year. We also went on a hike with the baby hiking backpack. After heading back to the campsite, we were sure to have batteries and firewood, ready for the night.
The night was good. We had an awesome dinner (grilled chicken and veggies), relaxed, hung out with Emerson, and he even went to bed at his normal time. The issue for night #2 was when he decided to wake up in the middle of the night as if it were 8am looking to play, sing, cry and carry on. We didn't get much sleep this night and we both wanted to poke our eyes out. At one point Kataneh wanted to just leave the tent and all of our belongings and drive home!
Would we go again? We would, but we'd be more prepared the next time around. Since this camping season is winding down, we probably won't go until next year when Emerson is older and will probably have a whole new set of tricks up his sleeve.
Giants Game
The Giants won the world series! When Morgan's family was in town for Brooke and Nick's wedding, we knew it was a once in a lifetime chance to all watch them play against the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T park. This game was essential for them to win so that they could advance to the World Series against the Detroit Tigers. Dave treated us and got us tickets down the third base line.
It was Emerson's first Giants game! He enjoyed watching all the fans chant and get crazy when the Giants made a good play. After the game, Caltrain broke down and we were asked to get off the train and take the elevator to the new train's platform. We thought it was a complete joke when the elevator got stuck. We finally made it home while cursing at government run services and inefficiencies.
Halloween
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| Emerson decorating his pumpkin at Palcare's Halloween party |
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