San Francisco!

We explored San Francisco with our friends on Saturday. I have been to the city for work before but I have never really been a tourist there. What a fun afternoon - we had a wonderful time with Laura, Dimitris and baby Marina.

Check out this view! We had a picnic at Alamo Square - the park that over looks the city and has a great view of the houses featured at the beginning of Full House. Haha! Blast form the past - it was so fun to see the Full House house.

Marina lounged on our blankets as we had a picnic.

As you can see from Roman's face - he was getting antsy for some watermelon. This kid loves melon of any kind!

Here they are - the 'Painted Ladies'. What beautiful houses! 

Look at this sweet family of three!

A Vardoulakis family pic - plus Roman. :)

Baby Marina enjoyed a quick nap...

Mama and Roman at the Painted Ladies.

After lunch we drove from our picnic spot to the ocean. Dimitris sat in back with the two babes. :)

Meanwhile, back in Rhinelander, Lucy Bear was playing some ball with her Dad!

Later on Saturday afternoon, we visited the Pacific Ocean. :) I felt like I was back in my old life traveling for Epic, visiting 2 coasts on America in one week! Haha! 

Roman is my first baby to visit the Pacific Ocean. 

The babies both loved the sound of the ocean. It put them right to sleep. :)

We saw beautiful views!

Roman listened to the sounds of the waves and drank his bottle. 

When we left for Cali - Roman had his bottom two teeth and just some nubs on the top. Well, his front teeth just popped right in while we were in San Francisco. Here is our little man sporting his new teeth.

Roman l-o-v-e-d meeting Marina so much. He was very interested in her and was always trying to touch her and pet her little face/head. Here are the kids!

On Sunday morning we went to the Palo Alto Farmers Market. Wow - what an awesome market! 

Roman was snoozing in Marina's stroller as we wove our way through the stands selling fruits, vegetables, and food.

He was very excited to try the fruits when we returned to Laura and Dimitris' house. :)

Back in Wisconsin Lucy and Dan flew a kite!

They had a wonderful time together on the Nicolet College field.

More fun outside with rain boots, the beach ball and, apparently no pants! Haha!

After a weekend of catching up with friends, delicious food, and sightseeing Mama and Roman headed home.

Again, Roman was a total champ - he napped pretty much the whole way from SanFrancisco to Minneapolis.

Once we arrived in Minneapolis/St.Paul, he was ready to play! :)

Good thing that the airport has a play area filled with fun equipment. 

Thank you for the wonderful visit, Laura, Dimitris, and Marina! We love you! We can't wait to come and see you again! :)

Our Vacay to California - Roman's First Plane Ride

In late August Roman and I paid a visit to our dear friends Laura, Dimitris, and their sweet baby girl Marina! Marina was born in May and we were so excited to meet her. We left Rhinelander on a Thursday afternoon flight bound for San Francisco. 

Roman was a happy camper as we waited in the security line at Rhinelander - the airport here reminds me of the years of traveling I used to do when I flew to Grand Forks, ND for work. Haha! You have to love an airport where the same workers check everyone in, load up luggage, and then transition over to become TSA agents. 

Roman was a pretty smiley guy, as long as he had snacks. 

Our flight from Minneapolis to San Fran departed at 830 central time - it was past Roman's usual bedtime

So he was very giggly and goofy! He fussed for a bit and then fell asleep for the rest of our journey. He was such a good boy.

When we arrived in California, he was so tired that he slept through the transition from the airplane to his stroller to the carseat in Laura's car to Marina's crib!! He did however wake up on his usual schedule, around 430 in the morning. Boo. He wouldn't settle down again - so we got up in the wee hours so he could eat some puffs in Marina's high chair.

On Friday morning we went on a field trip to visit Laura and Dimitris' workplace - Google! What a neat campus! We had a delicious lunch and had some great people watching. Doesn't Roman look cute with his little name badge? Maybe he'll work at Google someday...

Look at this sweetheart! How fun to finally meet Marina! Here she is sporting a Twins t-shirt. Can't forget those midwest roots! :)

We spent the afternoon lounging in the California sun. 

Did I mention that one of Roman's favorite hobbies is picking blades of grass? :) Roman is approximately 9 months older than Miss Marina so he provided some little glimpses of future life in the Vardoulakis household. Haha! His favorite items as he was cruising around the house = all of Dimitris' electronics, liquor bottles, and the fireplace. :)

Meanwhile back at the ranch - Lucy and her Daddy were having a great weekend. After daycare on Friday, they went to the park. Gotta love those sunglasses!

They went out for pizza (and lemonade!)

After dinner they got ice cream. Holy cats - check out this cone!! What a lucky girl. :)

Here are a few pics from Saturday morning in California - we lounged around before visiting the city. This guy loved exploring.

I was able to snuggle for a bit with little Marina. How fun to hold a tiny baby again! Here is a selfie. :)

Consignment Sale

Not going to lie - one of the things that I miss about having kids in Madison is that they have awesome biannual consignment sales for all kids of children's clothes, toys, etc. I have found some nice treasures at these sales over the past few years. I thought that I might never get back to one of those consignments but luckily I happened to find out about a Fall sale in Wausau! Woohoo - just an hour away! It turned out to be a great success and I got lots of cute stuff such as this:

Who can resist heart elbow pads? 

Lucy loves leggings these days….

Sorry that these pictures are upside down - had to get the obligatory UW shirt...

And Halloween gear!

Let's not forget that we live in Rhinelander so we had to buy some winter hats too! 

After spending a little bit too much time and money - I raced back to Rhinelander because Roman and I had a flight to catch - watch for an upcoming blog post on our trip to California!