Lydia's First Trip to California
I seriously considered calling this post 'Two Weeks in California, Two Weeks in Alaska.'
Take a wild guess why. :)
After getting back from Christmas in Utah, we spent the first half of January in North Pole and then Lydia and I headed to sunny California!
Those two weeks in Alaska included snow storms and seeing the Northern Lights on New Year's Eve (for the second year in a row! It always trumps fireworks. Wait - is this getting political?)
Within a couple days there was 18+ inches of snow and strong wind that literally lasted for days. People lost power. Stores were running out of generators and bottled water and batteries and snow shovels. We had snow drifts that reached to the top of our 6 foot fence. Barkley could barely do his biz without being blown away!
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| Matt assessing the situation. Snow shoes just in case. :) |
There was so much snow that these construction machines were out helping the regular plowers get it all off the road.
All of which were great excuses to hunker down and stay inside... UNLESS you're Matt Neuffer. :)
He was out skiing and snowshoeing like the weather was perfect.
AND, most impressive of all... he actually got Barkley to skijor!! All of that training paid off. :) (Between you and me, I wasn't sure this would ever happen!) He said there was only one incident where B veered off the path and dragged him into the trees to chase a squirrel. Only once, huh??
Go Barkley!
Go MATT!
Later he became the neighborhood hero when he helped THREE neighbors get their cars unstuck from the snow. You see, the plowers thoughtfully left a snow drift directly in front of our house, so neighbors kept getting stuck in our driveway.
The tractor had to come back and shovel us all out.
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| Enjoying the 3:30pm sunset |
Matt says there's an art to enjoying winter, "and hunkering down all day isn't it." :) I think we found an even balance of both.
My university teaching was on Christmas break until mid-month, so after Matt went back to work, Lydia and I had two solid weeks to relax at home without distractions.
I taught yoga as usual. There was a lot of baking and watching Netflix. It was a quiet, cozy two weeks.
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| Listening to Matt/Dad tell funny stories :D |
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| All smiles in Safeway! |
We got 3 seats to ourselves on the first flight down. The whole row. That doesn't happen. If only we'd been so lucky on the way back, too!
We left not a moment too soon, because then THIS happened:
NEGATIVE.
FORTY.
SEVEN.
That's fahrenheit, people!
It went on for days...
You know it's bad when the daily high is -46.
I think the lowest it got was -52°. We were all glad the baby and I had gotten outa there. We couldn't have picked a better time to visit Grandma and Grandpa!
I want to point out... that we planned this trip because Matt had a month-long work trip scheduled for January so we thought he'd be gone. But his plans changed after we bought tickets. We tried to arrange a flight down for him that weekend but we couldn't swing it with a busy work schedule.
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| Matt was running a Rifle Range for his unit. |
So we didn't intentionally abandon the man of the house to freeze by himself. It just worked out that way. Insert grimace emoji here...
Meanwhile Lydia and I had a wonderful time with Grandma Trudy and Grandpa Mark!
She turned seven months old the day we got there, and Dad got her this balloon. :) She loved it!
We were lucky to have Heather, Ellen AND Stacy all come to WC to visit us. So good to see them!!
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| Caught in a downpour on our walk! |
Stacy even came on her birthday, so we had another excuse to celebrate. :)
My mom hosted a happy hour with some of her friends, and Lydia was the center of attention.
Uncle George, Aunt Lisa, Tommy and Ian came over for dinner and, once again, Lyds stole the show.
We walked to the park every day, and sometimes extended our trip to Sweet Affair or Winchell's for the best muffins and doughnuts - a Walnut Creek tradition!
Lydia experienced swings for the first time, and judging by her giggles and grins, I think she loved it! I feel guilty that her swinging will be on hold until May (when it's warm again) now that we're back in Alaska!
There was also shopping, lunches and breakfasts out, a hefty dose of HGTV (I'm finally caught up on Flip or Flop! Not to mention the NBR and Jeopardy:), and bonding time with Grandma and Grandpa.
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| A millisecond before she discovered syrup... by pulling the cup over and dumping it on her hand. :) Yum! |
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| She was SO good sitting in the high chair! |
Dad continues to be the world's best storybook reader. :)
And Lydia has so much fun playing with him! So cute to see!!
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| Thrift store score! One of several. :) |
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| "I've made up my mind; staying in Ca with Gma." |
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| Trader Joe's! 💜 |
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| From a friend - isn't it perfect? :) |
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| wildlife spotting! |
While we were in WC, Lydia sat up on her own (milestone!) but cried and screamed and threw herself back on the floor. Now we know she can do it! But she's a strong-willed baby!
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| A moment of happiness before tears |
She continues to log-roll all over the place, and while she can't move forward or back very efficiently, she can get pretty much anywhere she wants. I wonder if she'll ever crawl?
We also amped up her transition from nursing ---> to 'big girl' food. It seems to be going well! I plan to have her completely off breastfeeding within the next couple of months.
All of the excitement was enough to completely exhaust a seven-month-old!
Our trip was great and totally overdue, since I hand't been to my parents' house in two and a half years! The next time Lydia sees Grandma Trudy and Grandpa Mark, she'll be exactly twice this age. Can't wait until then!
Now we have a few days at home in Alaska before packing up and heading out on the next adventure!
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