Visit from Grandma Cici

My mom flew out to see us (well, mostly Clara as she told me more than once) over the long Presidents' Day weekend.  She got here on Thursday evening, which was great because it meant she got an entire day of one-on-one time with Clara while Paul and I were at work on Friday.  They went for a walk, Clara took naps, and my mom read books to Clara. 

I had to do some work on Saturday morning, but we were able to spend the afternoon shopping.  Paul worked outside in the yard the whole time since the weather was so perfect and my mom and I helped with the weeding in the backyard too.  I despise weeding and felt bad that my mom was weeding our yard for us, but she said that she doesn't mind weeding so much and the weather was really beautiful. 

On Sunday after church, we drove over to Santa Cruz.  It was way breezier and colder than I had anticipated, but luckily Paul had brought an extra jacket for himself so after putting Clara in her own jacket we zipped her up in Paul's extra jacket then wrapped her in a blanket to keep her warm.  Only her little face poked out. 

We couldn't believe how many surfers were out on the water.  My  mom counted 80 surfers just out in the bigger swells, which didn't include the big groups closer in toward shore where the waves are smaller.

On Monday, we decided to go up to St. Helena in the Napa/Sonoma area.  Wine country is absolutely beautiful, even with the totally bare winter vines.  My mom had never been there before and we all felt like a drive would be nice, so we headed out after Clara's morning nap.  I had to send some emails on my blackberry for work later in the day but for the most part I was off the hook for the first time in a while, which was nice. 

We stopped at Gott's Roadside, in St. Helena, for lunch.  They have the most amazing food there and the line was crazy, but totally worth it.  We ordered burgers, onion rings, a California Club sandwich, and chocolate and strawberry milkshakes, which sounds greasy and heavy but Gott's has a surprisingly fresh and organic approach to burger-type places.  Incidentally, I know that Gott is just a family name for the restaurant, but I can't get over the idea that the german translation is "God's Roadside."

We actually backtracked to this field of mustard flowers where loads of people were taking photos.  Clara had fallen asleep at this point so she didn't make the family portrait, which my mom took of us.  The fragrance was a heady weedy/floral one and it was thick in the field.  I made Paul take a video of me "frolicking" but I'm not posting it here since it turned out kind of dumb.  In one take, I was attempting to twirl in the flowers but I kept tripping up on the plants and falling over.  Paul joked that it looked like I had imbibed too much on Napa's famous wine. 

It was so sad to drop my mom off at the airport on Tuesday morning so she could go back to Utah.  Clara kept looking around for her that evening and was really excited to see her again when we Skyped.  I can't wait for her to come back out again this summer with my sister and nieces!