Olivia goes to California
I took a break. It was in some ways, the first break I have had in quite a while. It was nice.
Olivia and I went out to San Francisco to visit my cousin Chad and his wife Shawna. I turned off the blackberry, ignored email and basically left my phone in the bag. Despite some pretty bad weather (especially for May in San Francisco) we had an incredible time. Here are a few anecdotes:
FLIGHT
The flight out was Olivia’s first flight. She did great for the whole first 5 hours and 35 minutes. The last 20 minutes had her a little upset with the normal ear pressure issues. “Daddy, I have to get out of here before my ears pop!”
RAIN
It rained everyday we were there, which from what I’m told is very unlikely for this time of year. Strangely enough though, it seemed that the rain just worked out perfectly, we did mostly everything we would have wanted to do….EXCEPT, take great pictures of the city (i occasionally moonlight as a photographer…haha). And to be honest, that was probably a blessing as well. Instead of my incessant shooting, I actually did a bit of relaxing. We also got to visit some great places, like the Bay Area Discovery Museum and the new Academy of Sciences. The rain broke long enough each day for aus to visit a park, or take a nice hike as well.
FRIEND #1
Olivia’s first friend of the trip was definitely baxter (the dog). She is in love with animals and took to him pretty quickly since he is markedly less moody than our dear marmalade (the cat). The highlight of most days was getting to walk “baxtah”.
JAPANESE TEA GARDEN
The rain broke just long enough for us to walk through the Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park. We had Jasmine tea and hot chocolate together. Well, my little girl decides to pick up the tea pot and pour a glass of tea while I was taking this first picture. Then as I was cleaning it up, she managed to spill the hot chocolate all over herself. After the delectable cocoa when down her front we actually just looked at each other and laughed.
Napa Valley
After the tea incident, we got in the car and just drove. She napped in her car seat while I toured the american wine county….or at least drove its roads. Here is one I snapped from the car while my little lady was snoring (she does that often in car seats).
FRIEND #2
When we got to the airport we were greeted with a lovely 3 hour delay. Well, thank God that we ran into this lovely family from CT that was on our flight. Their little 4 year old and Olivia became best friends and played for hours in the airport. Then they couldn’t stop visiting each other on the plan. It was quite cute.
Anyway, I’m back now….but kinda wishing I could “vacate” for a little longer. You could tell my brain was still on vacation today… I’m not sure I have ever had such an unproductive day at work :)
Thanks so much to my cousins, Chad and Shawna!
Chad works for Apple by day, and is a time lapse photographer and a wine maker by night. Shawna is a respected Life coach and a beautiful expectant mother!
By the way, you can visit the full gallery HERE. I added captions so it all makes sense. But in case you don’t feel like loading another page, here are a couple more pictures…
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Sounds like a great time, and Olivia looks like she did very well! Your photos are FANTASTIC; I may be a little biased as I lived in No. California for most of my life, and the last 10 years I was there in the Bay Area.
Your trip inspired me to finish scrapbooking my San Francisco trip from four years ago. ::sigh:: Gotta love procrastinating. P.S. Make sure she keeps those clothes that have the tea/hot chocolate concoction! It adds character & makes for a great story. ;)
Amazing and breath taking photos!
Absolutely beautiful! I adore the pic of Olivia and the dog…that’s one to frame on a wall! :)
well done, my friend. thanks for sharing. i know we just talked last night, but miss you already. :) looking forward to traveling with you. too bad livi can’t come. ;( she could see some VERY cool animals.
Breathtaking pictures, Darren!
Can’t wait to peruse the gallery when I have a free minute here at work :)
Darren and Olivia
I’m thrilled you had a chance to visit Shawna & Chad, and Baxter in San Francisco. Thank you for sharing those precious pictures .
Love
Coreen & Phil
the photo from Napa is outrageously breathtaking!
Cody and I lived an hour north of there.. and i find myself really missing the beautiful wine country.
Hey man,
Love the photos, was very eager to see them, especially Olivia and Baxter. I’m glad you had a good trip, and some much needed rest. Don’t forget to look us up in the much less picturesque South Jersey at some point. You know all the pine trees start to look the same after a while.
I saved and named the last one “Misty path” for obvious reasons. It’s beautiful…
Aawww Darren! I am so glad that you and Olivia took some time off. That was great! It looks as though you both had a wonderful time. I absolutly love all the pictures. We have got to do a lesson one day. I love them so much. Have an amazing week.
Love Lavenia
Amazing pictures! I love Olivia’s beautiful blue eyes in the tea garden one… The path is beautiful.
Just wanted y’all to know we are thinking of you today.
: )
That last picture on this post is beautiful Darren!! I may have to ask for a print!!
thanks for taking me on vacation with you. what a sweet time to share with your cousins and with your precious olivia. she is a beautiful, sweet girl.
Like I’ve said before – it’s such a special treat to view your pictures – especially ones of that little angel :):) you are very gifted.
real cute pics. Baxter looks like a pretty cool guy. Handsome, too :P
Great post! Just wanted to let you know you have a new subscriber- me!