Japanese Tea Gardens with Our Besties

Our dear Mrs. Hannah and Mr. John were visiting our fair Big City.  The kids and I were able to meet them at the Japanese Tea Gardens at Golden Gate Park.  We had not ever been and I was feeling brave.


(aren't they just stupid cute???)

The boys enjoyed it more than I would have thought, and I survived (a) driving into the city and (b) parking in the city.  All wins.





Then we all loaded up in the van, which means Hannah and John got to take turns sitting on the snack catcher seat between the big boys in the way back, and headed over the Golden Gate Bridge.  Because everyone needs that picture right?

Unfortunately, we had waited a bit too late into the afternoon and the fog had rolled in.



Promise the bridge is down there...under all that San Francisco fog.  This just means they have to come back for another try.

The Visit Our Hearts Needed

My very favorite MongoHQ business trip is the one that brings my dear friend Kristine to the West Coast. She was one of my favorite people long before she was running things behind the scenes for Jason. This time she was able to bring her two adorable sidekicks with her.  There are no words for how much the boys and I needed this week with "our people."

We made the most of our time together and basically turned the week into a mini vacation for ourselves.

We started out Sunday with a trip to our favorite family theme park Gilory Gardens.  Jason drove our crew solo and let me ride with Kristine, thus entitling me to an hour each way of chat catch up time. Such a gift, thanks again dear!

A few other of the work families joined us and our big group had a grand time.

The "boy table" at lunch.


And the girl table.


The ride attendant said Lydia could ride, but she had to sit beside me.


And she did, such a big girl.


And the boys rode all by themselves without falling out and mostly followed the rules.


It is nice to venture a bit southward where it is warm enough to enjoy the splash pad.


And of course sticky theme park snacks


Then, because there had to be some work to make this whole thing reasonable the Toone kiddos played with us while momma went and got some work done during the day.



The boys love making new friends, but there is nothing like picking right back up with familiar folks.


Sweet Analise made the boys beds, twice. Which means that is twice in the past month they have been made. Worth a picture.


She was also quite helpful in keeping Baby Lydia happy.  She is growing up so quickly; becoming quite the young lady. {gosh, time}

We ventured out to our favorite park at Coyote Point.  You can see planes landing at SFO and the bay, but we couldn't get anyone to leave the playground. :)



Another day we joined the Mackeys to visit the tide pools at Moss Beach.  This is something we have wanted to do for a while and I'm so glad we all got to go together.


It was gloriously sunny and warm, which is quite the exception at this particular local.



These three have been growing up together for so long...



Here is a quick flashback to touch our momma hearts (4.5 years ago).



For our final night we moved our regular Thursday night girls night out to Wednesday so Kristine could go with us.  We had a so much fun in Palo Alto with a fancy dinner and homemade ice cream sandwiches and hopefully enough conversation to hold us over for a few months.



I miss her already.  She makes me a better mom, friend, wife and always points me to Jesus. So thankful for this time we were given.