San Francisco and Chico, CA

We've been back from California for a couple weeks already and I'm just now getting around to writing this post. We had a fabulous vacation there visiting all our family and friends and now we're back to all the fun of a Minnesota summer.

Helen did great on the plane (video above filmed during take-off) and generously shared the view with her baby:
Our trip began in steamy hot Chico, CA (101 degrees) where my cousin Eric got married at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. Here's Helen running around with my cousin Mike's kids, Ben and Emmett. They're overlooking big vats of beer (is that what they're called?). The wedding was beautiful and the band was spectacular. Helen danced and danced and chased the big kids everywhere:
Even though it was super hot, Helen loved playing in Ben and Emmett's playhouse:
And washing dishes with them:And on Sunday morning, before it got too hot, we went on a bike ride together. Helen sat in Emmett's seat that is positioned on the handlebars of an adult bike. She had so much fun that was got one of our own when we got home. As we rode through Chico, she saw another biker and hollered out to him, "Hi, Bike!! Hah-Nah ride bike too!!"
Eric was really looking forward to the taco truck at the rehearsal dinner:
But what he really wanted is a burrito from the mission in San Francisco. We arrived in the lovely cool city on Sunday afternoon and relaxed in the Noe Valley apartment we rented, relieved to be away from the heat. 70 and sunny each day.
Helen could have spent the entire vacation in the apartment and the garden:
She loved running around and playing peek-a-boo with us:
But of course, there were Noe-O's to be eaten:
And bread pudding from Tartine:
And a redwood forest to explore:


Some family photo attempts:

There was so much to see in the woods, but Helen most enjoyed pretending to unscrew the bolts on the fences along the walking paths:
And later, she hammed it up by pretending to be a llama eating her pajamas (from the book "Down by the Bay"). She would eat her shirt like this and then laugh and say, "Llamas funny" and continue laughing at her own joke.
On the way to Muir Woods, she crossed the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time:
And on the way back into the city, we decided to stop so she could take a closer look, but it was SO WINDY that it felt like we might blow over the edge. She really just wanted to get back to the garden apartment and the little toddler park just down the street in Noe Valley.



By the end of the trip, she was pretty good at saying "San Francisco" and when we'd come up the hill to the apartment, she'd point and say, "Hah-Nah's San Fuh Siss Oh house!"

The other day as we were approaching our house in Minneapolis, I said, "Helen, where are we?" expecting her to say, "home" and she shouted "San Francisco!!" ...maybe next year :) It was a lovely trip.