It feels quite impossible to summarize our entire trip to California. And I’m half tempted to leave those photos in the cloud instead of sitting here uploading photo after photo from the wedding and the family and friend meet-ups.

But let’s just try.

We flew out on Friday and hustled straight to the Sangeet on Treasure Island from the San Jose airport. We changed in the car like real hooligans.

Ishu was so happy to be reunited with his Chacha and his Dadi and Babaji. AND ON THE DANCE FLOOR AT THAT. Highlights of the night for Ishu probably included: carrying his pink hanger around all night, watching his Papa and Chacha on the dance floor, the “Seeti Bajaye” song, watching the dhol player, meeting Ishika Bua after a year, dancing with the dandiya sticks, and toying with all the wedding decorations. But mostly the dance floor. Always the dance floor.

The following day, we made our way up to SF for the wedding. It was held at the Design Center and the baraat started in the parking lot right across from the venue.

Ishu (squared) and I snuck away from the baraat toward the end to give Ishu some freedom to run around before the ceremony began.

There were two levels of seating at lunch. With an overtired, underfed baby, we quickly scarfed our food down and made our way to the hotel to get him some food and a NAP.

We all hung out in the room for a couple hours ’til it was time to get ready for the reception. Similar to the Sangeet, the dance floor was his favorite. Until everything finally caught up to him and he crashed. Hard.

The next day, I left Ishu with Ankur and Nikku and drove to Saratoga to see Jen. In true Divya-Jen form, we went to Rio Adobe for lunch and got salads bigger than our faces.

Then we walked around the park and caught up on all the things. Only, this time, without interruptions or children yelling at us in the background.

After a few laps, we went to a coffee shop Jen loves and shared an oat milk latte. And then I went back to her place to hang out with Juanski and the girls for a bit before driving back home.

On Monday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went scooting to the park.

The fall colors were out in full force this past week and I was freakin’ thrilled about it. We also spent a lot of time in the living room, playing chess, playing the guitar, playing with the microphone.

On Tuesday morning, we went to StoryTime at the library. Ishu LOVED singing the songs and listening to the stories. He also enjoyed checking out his own books and scanning the barcode on each one.

In the evening, we went up to San Francisco to see our sweet Aku and eat some sammies.

Even though we just saw the whole family for Nani’s 90th birthday celebration, it felt extra special to get this quality time with one another. We loved watching Aku react to “OK Google,” dance to ALL the songs, and chase the vacuum cleaner. He reminds me of Ishu in so many ways and I can’t wait to watch the bond between these brothers grow over the years.

On Wednesday evening, we took advantage of the grandparents and left Ishu home with them. While Nikku, Ankur and I went to watch Wakanda Forever and then went to dinner at Curry Up Now.

On Thanksgiving morning, we met up with Anuja at the park and watched our little ones play together, swing together, dance together. We’ve been wanting this for SO LONG and I’m so happy we finally made it happen.

After his nap, Nikku and Ishu got to work on their gingerbread house while the rest of us got to work on Thanksgiving dinner.

We opted against the turkey in favor of Aidells chicken meatballs. And all the Thanksgiving sides, of course. It was quiet and intimate and we ate in our PJs. It was perfect.

On Friday, we drove to San Jose for brunch at Shruti Aunty’s house. Again, even though we saw one another at the wedding, it was so nice to be able to catch up with everyone in a quieter, more intimate setting.

Aunty and Ishika made such a beautiful spread of food and wWe had so much fun chatting and watching Ishu dance to his “Seeti Bajaye” song on repeat.

In the late afternoon, Ankur’s college friends came over to the house. With their respective kiddos. And we all stood back, in disbelief that our hangouts now feel SO DIFFERENT. We ate leftovers and watched our kids scoot and bike around the backyard.

On Saturday morning, we drove up to SF and hung out with MAYA.

We went to the park, ate breakfast burritos, and squeezed in a lot of hugs and kisses before nap time.

AND THAT’S IT.

It was quick. Never enough time with all the people.

But we did what we could.

Hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving week with loved ones!

Now, I gotta get off my butt and get this kid ready for school. (Transition to school yesterday wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be after 10 days away. CROSSING MY FINGERS that today goes just as well).

Have a good one!