Cool in California

For my birthday this year Zach and I decided we could be cool. We could just plan a trip to California with the kids and it would be just like the good old days of carefree eating and exploring.  We were so confident that we could rediscover our coolness that we invited the coolest people we know, Gabe and Jerica, to go with us.

Porter shattered our cool, carefree illusions.

We had not even made it to Reno before Porter peed out of his diaper and pants, which we didn't discover until we were in Hash-House-A-Go-Go due to the confusion about whether all the moisture might have been from the water bottle he'd been squirting into his lap.

So, yeah, that was my kid running around half naked through the casino. 

Don't worry, we changed him.

Hash House A-Go-Go is always amazing!

We arrived at our beautiful Airbnb in Orinda, where we spent the night listening to Porter wallow his way off the mattress, transferring him back onto the mattress, and repeating.  We were tired in the morning, but the house and view were lovely!

We tried to make up for the coolness lost the day before by hitting up a super trendy place for brunch.  Our hip waitress was beyond patient as Porter dropped every single piece of cutlery (and my cutlery) and his glass, and whatever food he didn't want on the floor all while managing to smear his entire body with syrup.  Yeah, we were cool.

On the way to the Redwoods Porter dumped his entire water bottle onto himself.  Don't worry, we changed him. Since the woods were quite chilly, this necessitated the purchase of a new shirt from the gift shop before we went hiking.

From the Redwoods we drove into San Francisco for dinner.  Porter slept for the drive and woke up cranky and had completely pooped through his diaper, pants, shirt and onto the car seat.  Don't worry, we changed him: right on the side of a crowded little street in SanFran with cars slowing down every three seconds because they were hoping for our parking spot.  At this point we were completely out of extra clothes for him, so we hit up the local Gap.

Funnily enough, we weren't alone.  There was another couple in the Gap with a little girl in the exact same predicament!

 The tacos and ice cream were totally worth it, and the atmosphere made us feel cool, even if we spent half the time wiping kids faces.

The next day we hit the beaches.  At the Fitzgerald Marine deserve we saw some fun tide pools, built sand castles, and, with two dozen Asian tourists taking pictures, Porter ran fully dressed into the water.  Don't worry, we changed him.

Next we went to a beach-beach.  Now, I remembered the beaches in the Bay Area as really really cold, so I didn't even think to pack swim suits.  Did that stop my children?  Nope, they both charged into the water (again) fully dressed.  Don't worry, we changed them.  It left a bucket of sand in our car, but at least they were dry.

Dinner on my birthday eve was sushi in Sacramento.  You could tell we were the cool table because everyone was playing with chopsticks and we kept yelling things like, "Don't eat that!  It's yuck-yuck after it falls on the floor!" and "Please don't pull your pants down until we get to the potty!".

After a wild night watching old "Fresh Prince" episodes (because we're cool) Gabe and Jerica started the long drive back to Utah.  Words cannot express how grateful we are to them for putting up with our exhausting children and their schedule.  We missed them when they left- it was much harder to feel cool without them.

We spent the day in Sacramento visiting the Railroad Museum and stocking up at Trader Joe's.

This museum was AWESOME.  I did it for the kids, but I think I had just as much fun as they did and learned a ton.  If you're ever in Sacramento be sure to stop by!

Speed train simulator

There was an entire FLOOR of play trains and model trains.  Very kid friendly.

We were an hour away from home when Eli declared his need for a pit stop.  Porter, who is sporadically enthusiastic about potty training, somehow managed to pee on himself and in the toilet AT THE SAME TIME.  We did not change him.  We were completely out clothes- extras, pajamas, and recently purchased.  He rode the rest of the way home in his diaper.

Exhausted, I went to bed that night at 10 pm, because I'm cool like that.