It's Official!

I'm a student! Not like a real student though. I'm taking a personal enrichment course through PCC online beginning July 16th. It's a photography course and I'm really excited about it. Over the past year, I've been getting more and more interested in photography and how I can capture things. I've experimented a bit, mostly with nature shots. When I do end up getting a really good shot, there's something so calming about it. To enjoy the world and what's out there naturally is just an amazing thing to experience. So I'm really looking forward to learning how to get those great shots more often and what things I can do digitally do the photos that I have already taken or will take. Hopefully I'll be able to share my findings with you all as I progress with the course. In the meantime though, I'd like to show you just a few photos that I've taken. These are definitely my favorites so far. Hopefully you all enjoy them as much as I do.

Click on any photo to enlarge and get the full effect. :^)

Sunset on the Oregon coast.

A look down the beach at sunset.

A look at Mt. Shasta coming back from California. This one was taken going 70 miles an hour down the freeway (I wasn't the one driving!). I think the blurry grass at the bottom adds a cool effect to the scene.

Cook Park in Tigard, Oregon. Not an overly special place, but the water was so still and I couldn't pass up the reflection in the water.

Teeth, weddings, classes....oh my!

Note: There is another photo album linked to the title of this post. Feel free to look through - there are some pretty cute photos of the boys.

Nathan has a tooth! It popped through last week and another one should be coming through any time. It's just through the surface, so it's not quite in view enough to get a picture just yet. He's also been working on crawling. I've posted a picture below of him getting up on his hands and feet. He can move a little bit forward if he puts his head to the floor, but he's much better at moving backwards. This is throwing me off a little bit because Aiden didn't crawl until he was 9 months old. But he didn't seem to have too much interest in moving very much, whereas Nathan wants to get places and he wants to get there now! So he's only about 4 months ahead of Aiden on crawling and 2 months ahead with the first tooth. They are turning out to be very different children.

Aiden popped in for this picture at the last minute. I love the "Hey!" look on Nathan's face!

Aiden has been showing us that he has a fantastic memory for a 2 1/2 year old. He can repeat basically every word of any Thomas the Tank Engine DVD, Nemo, Winnie the Pooh, and all of the books that we read on a regular basis. He will also launch into telling us an entire Thomas story while he's coloring by himself or just riding in the car. He has a very good grasp of what things are. Things that we didn't even know he knew. John and I were watching the Discovery Channel's When We Left Earth and Aiden points to the space shuttle and says, "Space ship with rockets!". He has also been very good about asking for things that he wants or needs. Yesterday around lunchtime, he asked me for a grilled cheese sandwich. When he gets tired in the evening, he'll come to either me or John and say, "I'm tired. Can I go to bed?" I'm really loving watching him develop.

After 5 months of being siblings, they finally played together.

I guess it's the summer of watching friends begin new chapters of their lives. We had Candy and Caleb's wedding in June and just in the last two days, I've gotten two invitations to friends' weddings this summer. A friend that I've known since I was 4 and grew up with (Liz Sugden) is getting married at the end of July. She's been off in Russia doing her missionary work, so we haven't really spoken much lately, but it's so great to be invited to be a part of her wedding day. I was planning on attending her bridal shower on Sunday in Vancouver, but now I don't think I'm going to be able to make it.

My best friend from high school (Haley Thornburg) is also getting married this summer. About a week after Liz actually! It's going on five years since I've seen her and we've definitely gone different ways with our lives, but I am so excited to see her again. Her bridal shower is on Friday and I am so anxious for it! The moment I got the phone call from her mom inviting me, I went straight out to go shopping for her gift! I know she'll be a little preoccupied with everything on Friday, but I hope that we can get a few minutes to chat and maybe set up a time to meet for coffee or something. I already know that I'm going to have to pack quite a lot of tissues away in my purse for her wedding.

Attempting to crawl!

John is taking four classes this summer. He'll only be gone one night a week and every other Saturday because two of the classes are online, but he'll still have lots of homework. I know that he won't be in school forever and that the more classes he takes, the faster he'll be done, so I try to not let it get to me too much. I am a little hesitant to have him graduate though. He's continually spoken about how Oregon doesn't really offer the sort of mechanical work he's interested in, so we're probably going to have to move once he's graduated. I don't like that at all. I like being close to family. I like being able to call someone up if I need help or need a break from the kids. It really makes me sad to think of leaving.

Nathan and daddy having a moment...

I was looking into taking a ballet class for the summer and once I found out that John didn't have classes on Mondays, it looked like it was going to work out. But once I really thought about it, something didn't feel quite right. I can't put my finger on what it is though. Maybe it's just not what I'd like to do right now, maybe it's not the right time for me, maybe my back just wouldn't be able to handle it yet. I don't know. I might look into taking a photography class or brushing up on my French or German. I'll wait until something feels just right for me. I definitely still want to take a dance class at some point, but maybe I'll wait until the fall. I hate feeling lost...

Well, I have a hungry little toddler on my hands and lots of laundry that has my name on it. Back to being a mom!

Our Day at the Coast

On Saturday, we took a trip down to Lincoln City to meet up with John's parents for a day at the beach. It was a wonderful day and we had so much fun. We did have a few adventures though....

We overslept and it was my fault. I ended up turning my alarm off when I meant to hit the snooze button. So we woke up when I really wanted us to be leaving. But we got up and ready and hit the drive-thru at McDonalds four minutes before they stopped serving breakfast! We got on the road and basically as soon as we got around George Fox University in Newberg, Aiden vomited all over himself and his carseat. Juice and McD's hash brown. Yum. So we quickly pulled into an empty bank parking lot and spent about 10 minutes cleaning everything up. Luckily, I am a mom who plans ahead and I had a full change of clothes for Aiden, plus some antibacterial wet wipes. John wanted to turn around and go home, but Aiden was acting just fine, so I talked John into keeping our plans. I think the hash brown just didn't set well with his tummy. He was perfectly fine for the rest of the day.

As we were passing through Dundee, John got mad at me because I began laughing hysterically over some road kill. I couldn't help it - it was a dead badger and it had it's arms and legs sticking straight up in the air! It looked like someone had stuffed it! John thought I was being a little insensitive to the poor dead badger. It was the one that ran out in the road....not my fault.

Anyway, we got into Lincoln City between 12:30 and 1. Dwight and Karla were staying at the D Sands, so we went up to their room and had some lunch before heading down to the beach. Karla had picked up a bucket and shovel for Aiden and also had two kites for us to use. Aiden had so much fun filling that bucket up with sand over and over and over. John and I flew the two-string kite for a little while and then John and Dwight put together the one-string shark kite while Karla took Aiden down to the water. Aiden wanted to walk right up to the water instead of letting it come to him, so Karla had to pick him up and run when a wave came at them!


Once they got the shark kite put together, John helped Aiden fly it for a few minutes before Aiden got bored with it. And then....the shark escaped. It was quite windy down on the beach and John didn't have a good handle on the kite. So we had a good laugh watching John and Dwight chase this shark down the beach! Other people were laughing too - it was quite funny. If the string hadn't gotten caught on some guy's chair, it would have been gone forever. There was no way they were catching up to that thing. At one point, we thought some 10 year old kid was going to attempt to catch it, but instead he went diving out of the way to avoid being hit. I really wish I would have had the video camera!

The shark was promptly put away once we got it back and since we'd been down on the beach for about 2 hours, we decided to go back up to the hotel room. John and I took Aiden to the hotel pool while Dwight and Karla watched Nathan. We had so much fun. Aiden was little scared at first, but we held onto him the whole time and played with the beach balls that they had in the pool. Aiden also spent some time in the hot tub with us. He kept calling it "the big bath" and then asking if it was time to go to bed! We got back in the pool for a little while and we set Aiden on top of a boogie board that was there. He had tons of fun sitting on that thing while I pushed him around on it like a boat. We were in there for a good hour before we decided to head back up to the room.

We got everything together for a fire on the beach and sent John and Dwight down to set it up. Once it was ready, I bundled the kids all up and we had a good time roasting hot dogs by the fire. Nathan loved the fire and kept squealing and growling at it. Aiden acted afraid of it for a few minutes and then, for some unknown reason, ran around and stood right downwind of it, so the smoke and everything blew in his face! He stood there, frozen in place, and Karla ran around to grab him while we all laughed at him doing such a strange thing.
After a while, Nathan kept trying to get out of my arms and Aiden was beginning to shiver, so Dwight took both boys back up to the room. Karla, John and I finished up our smores and then got things together. John poured water on the fire and it was interesting to watch the sand boil.

Once we got back up to the room, we walked in to discover Aiden completely passed out on the couch! Poor little guy had such a big day and had worn himself out. It was too cute.
We got all our stuff loaded up in the car and said goodbye. It was nearly midnight and we contemplated finding a room for the night, but we hadn't brought any toothbrushes or stuff for John's contacts, so we decided against it. After a stop at McDonald's for some coffee and french fries, we started on towards home. We finally got home and in bed around 2am. It took only seconds after my head hit the pillow before I was sound asleep! I guess our day at the beach wore me out too....

Remember: You can click on any photo to enlarge and if you click on the title to this post, it will take you to an online photo album with all of our pictures from the beach day.

What's been happening with us

It took me so long to write all about our trip that I haven't had any chance to let you all know what's been going on in our lives lately. Sadly, nothing too exciting.

Nathan has been teething, which means lots of drool, lots of being crabby, and no sleep for me. On the bad nights, he'll wake up around 10 times. He did actually sleep through the night Tuesday night (by the medical definition, which is 5 or more hours) and that was great. But it was a one time thing, I guess. He was back to waking up every 2-3 hours last night. I can feel a little bit of a tooth beginning to poke through, but it certainly is sharp enough to cause me great pain when he decides to take a nibble while nursing.
He's rolling like crazy and has begun his attempt at crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees, puts his forehead to the floor, then goes about a foot or two before falling to his tummy. It wears him out quickly, but I have to imagine that it won't be too much longer before he's going all over the place with no trouble at all.

The boys were sick about 2 weeks ago and that was a complete nightmare. There were 3 nights where I got about 8 hours of sleep - total. Aiden had a fever one night and Nathan had a fever the next night. It was just a cold that they both caught at the same time, but with the teething on top of it....it wasn't fun.

Aiden has begun trying to distract me whenever he gets scolded for something. I'll tell him no and he'll respond with a big smile, then say, "Hi mommy!". Little stinker. He's been dancing and singing lately. It's quite cute and he's got some pretty impressive moves for a kid his age. He's got a little hip sway and he'll even add some arm work into it. He likes to dance to the BeeGee's Stayin' Alive while in the bathtub. I want so badly to get it on video. Just so I can show his girlfriends (yes, I think my son will be hot stuff) when he gets older!

John had his one year review at work right before we left for California. They said they couldn't find anything bad to say about him and gave him a raise! It will definitely make a big difference for us. It's enough that we're looking into how much we can save to finally buy a 2nd car. We were going to wait until we could buy a minivan, but we both feel pretty done having kids, so a minivan isn't really neccesary. Work has been pretty insane for John for the past few weeks. Aiden hasn't seen John in two days and it looks like today will make it three. He seems to handle it pretty well, but I start to feel like I'm running out of ways to entertain him on my own.

My back problems have been getting better. I'm not in constant pain, but I do still have times when it's aching quite a bit. I bought an exercise/balance ball and have been using that to stretch and tone my back whenever it begins to bother me. It's really helped. But because my back has been feeling better, I've been down on the floor playing with the boys more often, which is taking a huge toll on my knees. I don't need to see a doctor for that though - I know exactly what's wrong and it's not really fixable. I've had multiple knee injuries over the years, just from being an adventurous kid and from damaging dance training. Also, my knees developed oddly while I was growing and so I have a slight point to the bone, which slowly grates away at the cartiledge behind my kneecap. Gross, I know.

Well, I've got two hungry boys on my hands, so it's off to make lunch. We're taking a day trip to the coast on Saturday, so hopefully I'll have plenty of pictures and fun things to tell you about.

May 26...to sum it all up

We got our wakeup call from the front desk at 5am, dragged ourselves out of bed, and got everything together in record time. We grabbed some bagels from the continental breakfast and then headed off to the airport in San Jose. We returned the rental car, but only after getting stuck behind someone who probably didn't drive all that often. She was returning her car to the same place as we were and she stopped at the entrance and wouldn't go any further. The employees who wave you into a spot were waving her in, but she still wouldn't move. After a few minutes, John honked at her (she had caused a backup of about 5-6 cars at this point) and she just shrugged her shoulders and still didn't move! I have no idea why she wasn't going in, but after a while she finally followed the employee's waving and parked her car - very slowly.

We hopped the shuttle to take us to the airport, got all checked in (the desk agent had to coo and giggle at Nathan), and made it through security rather quickly. We still had nearly an hour and half before boarding, so we grabbed some Starbucks and browsed one of the airport stores. I found a really cute onesie that I really should have gotten for Nathan. It had prison stripes and said 'Alcatraz Reject: Too Cute'.

We made it to the gate and waited for an hour to board. I really like the fact that airlines allow people with babies to board first. It makes it so much easier to not have to rush to get out of other people's way. We got settled on the plane in the exact same seats we had on the way down there. A grandma was seated next to us, but they again moved her to give us more room. It must be airline policy if there's extra seating available. Since it worked so well on our flight down, I nursed Nathan right before takeoff and he again fell promptly asleep. We thought we needed a photo of his first experience (technically 2nd, I guess) on a plane, so John took one of him asleep in my arms. Please ignore how tired I look.

Nathan was awesome the whole way home (slept, again) and we received compliments from the airline staff on how quiet he was. Then Grandma Karla picked us up from the airport and took us back to her house so we could retrieve Aiden and our car. Aiden was happy to see us for the first 20 minutes or so, and then screamed for the remainder of the day. Actually, he screamed for the next week. He really punished us for leaving him!

But besides that, it was a great trip. It was the perfect length and we had just the right amount of busy-ness. The weather was perfect practically the whole time (except for that stinking fog that ruined my photo!) and we had such a good time seeing so many friends.

If you'd like to see full albums of all the photos we took during our trip, here are the links:
The Rehearsal: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118069&l=6aa39&id=609455116
The Wedding: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118224&l=7c94f&id=609455116
The Reception: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118232&l=214be&id=609455116
The Brunch: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118242&l=05373&id=609455116
California Randoms: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=118245&l=92adc&id=609455116

May 25 (part 2)

After saying goodbye to everyone at the brunch, we headed towards San Francisco. We had to turn around a few times because John seems to have trouble following my directions - he kept putting us on the freeway going the opposite way. It took us about an hour and a half to get to SF, but once we got there, it took us another hour and a half to get to Golden Gate Park. Apparently, everyone decided to spend their Memorial Day Sunday in that area. We finally got into the park and found a bathroom for John (which he reported to be disgusting). We drove around a little bit and then attempted to find our way to the beach next to the bridge.

Once we got there, I had the misfortune of needing to use the port-o-potty. Not only was it absolutely rancid in there, the door didn't close (or lock) properly, so I had to use every bit of coordination I had to hold the door closed while hovering over the toilet (there were no seat covers either). We put Nathan in the stroller and headed down to the beach, but the sand was very deep, so the stroller wasn't faring very well. John sent me back up to the car to grab the Snugli. Here's where my day went downhill: I was gone to the car maybe two minutes. By the time I came back, a dense fog had socked in the entire beach, completely covering any view we had of the Golden Gate Bridge. The only thing I wanted the entire trip was to get a photo of Nathan and I with the bridge behind us. I was so unbelievably mad! So, below is my picture of Nathan and I in front of the bridge. Yes, it really is there.

The wind had picked up and was a little stinging, so Nathan had started to cry. I had him in the Snugli and tried to cover him as best as I could, but he really needed to get out of the wind. I began to head back to the car as quickly as possible, but the sand was so thick and deep, I was having trouble. By the time I got back to the car, I was having a full-blown asthma attack. I leaned myself up against the car so John could take Nathan out of the Snugli for me and then I nearly collapsed inside in the car. Now, I haven't had an actual full attack in a few years and hadn't needed my inhaler in a little over a year. My inhaler had expired a few months ago and I never renewed it. Perfect. So, without any albuterol and really wanting to avoid completely passing out and John having to call 911, I had to alternate taking slow breaths and little sips of water. Attacks really stink. I turn grey, go all clammy, and generally feel like I'm about to suffocate. Luckily, I was able to get my breathing regulated on my own and we headed out to find some food.

We didn't have any particular place in mind, but passed by a 50's diner that looked pretty good, so we stopped there. The food was great - I had onion rings, a huge cheeseburger with ham (!), fries, coke, and pumpkin pie. Yes, I really can put all of that away. The restaurant was very cute and had the little jukeboxes at the tables. I had a ton of change on me, so we picked a couple of songs (Love Potion Number 9, Beyond The Sea, and one of Elvis' hits....I can't remember which one). The booth we were in was a little crowded, so we went back out to the car so I could feed Nathan. Then we decided to find Lombard Street (that really twisty street where one of the Herbie movies was filmed) for some sightseeing.

Nathan looking very pleased after his feeding!

Mommy and Nathan in front of Lombard Street.

The traffic waiting to drive down Lombard was horrendous, so we drove around, parked, and just walked up. Once we got to the top, the view was fantastic....even with the dense fog that was socking the place in. We also saw a trolley while at the top of Lombard! That was the only other thing I wanted to see while in SF, besides the bridge. I made John take a picture and then this group of guys on the trolley wanted to pose for us, so the trolley operator actually waited so that John could take a posed photo!

We then decided to head back to Sunnyvale, but drove around by the wharf and the Bay Bridge on our way. We could see the TransAmerica Pyramid while waiting at a traffic light, so I got a picture of it shrouded in fog (below). It was unbelievable how quickly this fog moved in and took over the whole city. It went from perfectly clear and sunny to that in about 20 minutes.

We got back to our hotel around 9pm or so and tried to get as much stuff together as possible. We had to be up at 5am to return the rental car and for our flight back to Portland and I wanted everything to go as smoothly as it could.

May 25 (part 1)

Caleb's parents were putting on a brunch the morning after the wedding and we were invited. Caleb and Candy weren't heading off to their honeymoon (Ireland and Spain!) until the next morning, so it was a nice time for everyone involved in the wedding to relax a little together after the rush of the wedding weekend.

The food was fantastic and we were, yet again, VERY well fed. After eating, Caleb took a group of us out to his parents' orchard and we spent some time chatting amongst the cherry trees. I got a picture of the guys with the house and orchard in the background. Caleb's parents live in a gorgeous neighborhood in Los Gatos and I believe they built the house themselves. You can only really see the top story in the picture, but I think it still gives you a good idea of what the house looks like.

Candy and Caleb opened their gifts after the brunch and it was fun to see everything that they received. Here we have them being a little silly with their new oven mitts from Crate and Barrel.
Nathan continued to get plenty of attention throughout the brunch and we were told many more times how amazingly well-behaved he was the night before. He just never ran out of smiles for people!
In the end, it was time to say goodbye to everyone. There were many people there from John's time in Philadelphia and even though I'd met some of them just once many years ago, it was still fun to see them again. We headed off to find a Walgreens (out of baby wipes and batteries for the camera) and then off for our afternoon trip to San Francisco!
Nathan and I in front of Caleb's parents' house. That's our rental car next to us.

May 24

Because John got some "guy time" at the bachelor party, we had made an agreement that I would get some "girl time" the morning of the wedding day. So before John and Nathan woke up, I went over to a salon about a block away from our hotel and got a manicure. As I was waiting for the manicurist, I asked if they also did eyebrow waxing. I had forgotten to bring my tweezers on the trip and there were some stray hairs bothering me, so I thought it might be a good idea. I'd never gotten anything waxed before, so I had no idea what it was like. Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. It made my eyes water a bit when she waxed the bottom of my eyebrows - I assume because you're getting onto the thinner skin of the eyelid, so it's going to be a little more sensitive. Except for making the skin a little red and puffy where the hair was ripped out, they looked great. After I was done, I stopped by the grocery store and got some donuts to take back to the hotel for breakfast.

We met the guys at the church between 2:30 and 3 and went off in search of some food, as John and I hadn't gotten lunch. Then it was photo time for Caleb and the groomsmen with the photographer. Nathan and I just sat to the side and watched, but John did take some pictures of
Nathan and I. After a while, Candy and the bridesmaids came out from the powder room and more pictures were taken. Candy seemed very calm! John thinks it's because she's used to stress, being a grad student.


Nathan was beginning to get a little sleepy and cranky, so I took him in to the church to find a seat. I sat a little ways off to the side, so I could take Nathan out easily if he got fussy. But I nursed him before the ceremony started and he slept through the whole thing (again!). Everyone gathered outside for a group photo and then we all headed out for the reception.

John has trouble following direction when I'm telling him where to go, so we drove around the hotel about 3 times before I finally convinced him to use the valet parking. The wedding gift we had bought was extremely heavy anyway and I didn't want to have to attempt crossing the street with it. The valet was free for wedding guests; something that Robbie (the other groomsman) forgot about. He decided to park in the parking garage, tried to fit into a spot that was too small, and ended up scraping the end and side panel of a Mercedes-Benz with the front of his rental car. Ouch.

There was a cocktail hour before the dinner with an open bar and very yummy appetizers. After all the guests were seated, the wedding party was introduced (Candy had included Nathan and I in the introductions, which was very sweet of her to do!). We all sat at the same table and had the most wonderful dinner. Salad, filet mignon, champagne, wine, and then a fabulous cake (I have no clue how that frosting was so fantastic).

The speech by Yu (the best man) was hilarious. He had the whole room in hysterics. And then, Candy's sister Cindy (the maid of honor) had everyone crying when she gave her speech. She barely got the first word out before she started crying. Candy also cried when she thanked everyone and I ended up all teary again because of it. Caleb's dad gave a great toast - he said that he hoped they would approach their marriage as him and his wife had, by making God the center of it. It was very sweet. Caleb's parents are definitely an amazing couple and I enjoyed watching them interact. They have a great relationship.

There was plenty of dancing and Nathan loved it! We danced the chicken dance and Nathan laughed hysterically through the whole thing. I was next to Caleb's mom and she thought it was the funniest thing she'd seen. The bridesmaids were practically obsessed with Nathan, so they watched him while John and I took part in the couples dance. Nathan cried just once, and was the perfect baby during the whole reception. Everyone kept telling us how amazing he was. I agree!

It was definitely a party and it just went and went. Everything seemed flawless and so well put-together. Candy was just as calm as could be throughout the entire thing! We had the most amazing time and it was hard to leave. We were very definitely worn out by the time we got back to the hotel, but it was that good sort of worn out. Nathan kept surprising us with his great attitude and was still all smiles when we arrived back at our hotel around midnight. He had barely slept all day; I have no clue how he was so darn happy. Everything was such a blast and I'm so pleased that we were able to make the trip to be a part of their wedding day.

May 23

The best man (Yu) and the other groomsman (Robbie) were flying into San Jose that morning, so we decided to meet up with them for lunch. They were also John's roommates in college, so it was fun to see them. We all went out for authentic Japanese ramen. I'd never had it before, but it was very good. It came with seaweed, but John and I aren't huge fans of seaweed, so we didn't eat that part.
When we got to the restaurant, we were slightly confused by a sign that said, "Please realize that it is difficult to accept credit cards". Did they mean that they would take them, but it was hard for them? Or did they not take them at all? Turns out they didn't take them at all. We all thought it was a bit of a strange way to say that they didn't take them.
John ordered a traditional Japanese soda with his lunch and on the bottle, it actually warned the drinker to not swallow the cap!
After lunch, we headed over to Caleb's place to lounge for a while before we all had to be at the church for the rehearsal.

Once we got to the church, we had to wait for about 15 minutes while another wedding rehearsal finished up. During this time, Nathan became a fun photo op for quite a few tourists! He looked a little confused as to who these people were. I guess I should be honored that there will be many pictures of my baby being shown around China!

The rehearsal went well and Nathan slept through the whole thing. Everyone had a good laugh when Candy (the bride) was to repeat "For richer, for poorer...". She said, "For richer...." and then trailed off. Well, Caleb IS a lawyer! It was pretty funny.

After the rehearsal, Caleb drove John and I back to the hotel to get our car. We had all gone to lunch and the rehearsal in Robbie's car and John was going to be leaving straight from the rehearsal dinner to go to the bachelor party, so I needed a way to get Nathan and I back to the hotel. We quickly changed clothes, got our car, and headed to dinner.

It was a 12 (?) course Chinese dinner! I could only eat about half of what I was given, there was so much! It was absolutely delicious and we had a great time. They served half of a pig...with the head still intact. The photo below is of Yu (the best man) with the pig head. He tried to eat it, but quickly realized that the pig's teeth were still there and I think that made it a little unappetizing for him.

One of the guests at the dinner was a boy from England. I think he was Candy's cousin. He sat at our table (with most of the bridal party) and we all spent a good part of the evening making him say "Harry Potter". John said he felt bad for the kid, but I think he enjoyed the attention.

Nathan was beginning to crash, so I decided to leave with him a little early. I was a nervous wreck - I had to figure out how to drive a completely different car than I was used to, in a different state. If I got lost, I would be gone forever! Luckily for me, the restaurant was only 5-10 minutes away from our hotel, straight down the street. Even though I was full from so much food, I picked up some Wendy's on the way. I knew I'd be getting hungry in a little while (that's what nursing does to you!), but also knew that I wasn't going to feel like going out again. Nathan and I spent a very relaxing evening watching TV and snoozing in the big king-size bed. John came back from the bachelor party (they went to a club in San Francisco) around 2am and we all had a good sleep. The wedding was the next day and we knew we would need to be well-rested.

May 22

After having basically two non-stop days, we had a great night's sleep. We had no commitments or plans for Thursday, so we slept in and then laid in bed with the baby, watching The Astronaut Farmer on HBO (an ok movie; I thought it was bit silly though). Not getting out of bed for a while was great for me. For some reason, I always end up with extremely sore legs the day after a flight. It gave me the opportunity to give them a rest.
Once the bacon and bagels that John had brought back from the continental breakfast had worn off, we decided to find some lunch and something to do for the afternoon. The tourist book in our room mentioned a flea market in San Jose that featured 800 vendors, so we decided to check that out.

We got there around 1pm and quickly found a food vendor. I had a HUGE chili dog. It was very sunny, but very windy and we had trouble keeping Nathan covered from the sun. He was a great sport though. The sun was in his face at point and he began to cry. We were passing by these two hispanic ladies and one said, "Oh, don't cry baby. You'll make my milk come in."! John thought that was a little strange. I guess it is an odd thing to say out loud, but all I could think was that maybe she was having a little time away from her baby and Nathan was about to make her need to run home and nurse.

Nathan being very cute at the flea market.

Because it wasn't a weekend, only about half the vendors were there and most of them consisted of clothes and toys. I was a little disappointed for John - I was hoping he would find something cool and nerdy for himself. I, however, found a $65 pair of jeans for $10. We noticed that the toy vendors had a lot of Disney things.....or so we thought. As we got closer, we realized that the Winnie the Pooh backpack we thought Aiden would like was not Winnie the Pooh. It was "Hunny Bear". And the Finding Nemo fishing game was just "Fish Game". Hmmm....no copyright violations there....

We stayed for a little over an hour and then decided to find a Macy's so we could finally purchase Caleb and Candy's wedding gift. We headed towards Palo Alto for the Stanford Shopping Center. As we were leaving San Jose, John noticed a McDonalds and made a very quick U-Turn. You see, we both became slightly addicted to their new Sweet Tea. We hadn't seen it advertised here in Oregon, so we when got down to California, we had to try it out. It's a little too good.

Anyway, we got to the Stanford Shopping Center and realized that this was a shopping center geared towards the....let's say, "wallet heavy". The stores consisted of Cartier, Tiffany's, Burberry, Coach, Armani, BCBG, Godiva, Louis Vuitton....you get the idea. We had a lot of fun browsing and even had a security guard following us around while browsing in Cartier! We bought Candy and Caleb's gift (a very nice stainless steel microwave), had some pastries at La Baguette, and then loaded up on chocolates at See's Candies. We also bought Aiden and Nathan matching Stanford t-shirts (I'll post some photos of them together soon).

We finally decided to head back to the hotel. Caleb and Candy had some obligations that evening, so they weren't able to meet up with us. So we grabbed some Subway for dinner and then spent the rest of the evening lounging around, watching more TV. It was nice to have a slow day. The remainder of the trip would prove to be very full.