Good morning from CALIFORNIA!

We hit the ground running – quite literally – when we stepped off the plane on Friday evening. And now we have a relaxed couple of days at home to hang out and do very little. Which is exactly what I wanted. Ha.

We survived our first flight as a family of four!

Our flight left Chicago at 1:30pm. Ankur got home from work around 8am. And then we finished packing and cleaned the apartment (the best we could with two little humans to care for, one of which was tailing me, messing everything back up). About an hour before we had to leave, Ishu got upset with me for eating a piece of apple (that was on his plate but that he didn’t want to eat). And then when he realized I couldn’t spit it back out because I had already swallowed it, it was game over.

So we spent a long time coming back from that.

And by the time that was over, it was time to go get the car.

So Ishu and Ankur walked over to get the car. And since my half-brain used the car last, I couldn’t remember what floor I had parked it on. So the clock kept ticking as they went up and down the different levels to find the car.

Oh. And then, if that wasn’t stressful enough, Ishu was feeling upset about something. So then Ankur scooped him up. And then he proceeded to have a pee accident. So then when they finally DID find the car, they had to park it and come upstairs and change clothes. Because Ankur had pee all over him too.

Okay. And THEN, while they were changing, I took the suitcases down to the car. And then quickly realized there was no way in heck the double stroller (that we got SPECIFICALLY for this trip) was going to fit into the trunk with the suitcases.

So we somehow shoved it in between the two front seats and then I proceeded to drive us to the airport with half my body shoved forward to accommodate the stroller wheels at my shoulder.

Quite a sight to see.

Quite an eventful few hours.

The flight itself was fine. Except it was only 4.5 hours and, somehow, it felt like 12 hours. And by the time it was over, I was smelly and sweaty and sticky. (And I’m pretty sure Ankur did all the hard work, so I can’t imagine how he felt).

Dadi picked us up (with Starbucks in tow because she’e an actual living angel human). And then we drove straight to dinner at Lazy Dog in Dublin to celebrate Arun Mama’s birthday.

We left dinner early because Ishu was on his last leg.

Both the kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. But once we parked the car in the garage, Ishu was up and excited to see his new bed and play the drums and do all the San Ramon things.

We all eventually passed out. And slept so hard ’til we had to get up in the AM and go celebrate Aku’s b-day at the SF zoo!

It was rainy and icky out, but it didn’t matter. Because we were all so excited to be reunited with the cousins. We walked around the zoo and saw as many animals as we could (rainy days = some animals were moved indoors). And then celebrated the birthday boy at 2:30! Face painting and dancing and cake eating. And just so much joy seeing all the babies play together.

And then yesterday, we had friends and family stop by the house throughout the day. It was so nice to see everyone. Our friends also had a baby 4.5 months ago so it was so nice to get to meet baby Nora!

We ordered Tandoori pizza and Mom put together some yummy appetizers. And people kept rolling in and rolling out. Ishu was happy to show off his tricycling skills to anyone who would watch. And Riyu was happy and content being passed around from person to person.

In the evening, Manoj Bhaiya and Nitu Didi came by with presents for the kids and a cheesecake (that Ishu claimed to be his birthday cake). It was so nice to see them. It never feels like enough time!

Even still, I’m feeling grateful for the time that we have been getting to see our family and friends. We’ve missed them so much!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Happy Thanksgiving week!