A Complete Blast

To say that the three of us had fun in California would be a gross understatement. We had a blast! The entire trip- from the happy start to the busy end, was amazing! When the plane touched down in San Francisco, I cried tears of joy. The Bay Area will always hold a special place in my heart. It was my first move after college, my first job, the beginning of my adult life. It was where I met my husband, fell in love and where we got married. Memories of those places come to me often so it is no surprise that I loved being back.

It had been three years since we had visited. And in that time, we moved to Wisconsin, I went to graduate school,we had a baby and I finished my degree. Then we moved to PA and I began to work in NJ. So a lot of "life" had happened since we had been back.

Seren was amazing on the trip. I have to say that I was very worried that the terrible twos would continue to challenge us. But she had so much fun being the center of attention, that it wasn't a problem at all. And I was proud of myself: we just went with it all! She surprised us and reset her clock to Pacific Standard Time as soon as we arrived. She took her normal nap and went to bed on time. It was as if we hadn't just flown 3000 miles and three time zones away! She got up once a bit early and got confused as to where she was but she settled herself down. I can't complain at all. She skipped one nap and missed about 5 tubbies because we were having too much fun. All in all- a great switch to our schedule/routine.

Man, did she love California! We went hiking one afternoon and she got to ride in our friend's back pack. We had to cut our hike short and wanted to start on a better trail. So, we had to take her out of the pack and drive in the car a short while. The entire time, she yelled from the back seat, "HIKING! HIKING! SEREN IN BACKPACK!"

That's my child.

We visited the ocean, we hiked in Berkeley, we smelled the CA air. We ate Thai Food. But most of all, we saw our friends. We saw our community. We visited with people who already KNOW us. They knew us before we were "Sam and Megan" when we were just "Sam" and "Megan". Friends like that are amazing people. And there were spontanous dinner parties- three of them! We felt so loved! Seren was so loved!

I learned a lot about myself out there. I learned that we can DO more. We don't have to be home as much as we are. Seren is more flexible than we give her credit for. New place for dinner? Ok! New bed time? She was good with that too! I also learned that I love spending time with my family. (I already knew this) Vacations are great reminders to just slow down, breathe deep, enjoy life. I also learned that not only can we do more, but we SHOULD do more. And we should seek out a community here in PA. Not that we haven't tried. But being there was a great reminder that building community takes time. When I arrived in CA, I only knew one person. Three years later, we gathered with over 30 friends in one week. We can make that happen here too. It just takes time.

Fresh food. Fresh air. Sunshine. Sunburned noses. Horses on the trail (Momma! Two neigh-neighs!). And friends. Lots of friends. We missed it all. We can't wait to go back.

Because let me tell you, the "vibe" in Levittown ain't the same "vibe" as in Oakland.

Pictures soon.