Lily's San Francisco Adventure!

As we mentioned a couple blogs back, Lily took her first trip in an airplane two weekends ago. Aunty Cathy and her family were taking an end-of-summer vacation to San Francisco, and since they were so close it seemed a shame not to take advantage of the opportunity for Lily to see her Aunty again, not to mention meet her Uncle Paul and cousins Tyler and Joshy. We also thought it might be a relatively low-impact way to see how well Lily travels...with the short flight and just a night away from home, we figured we should be able to handle whatever ensued, and we'd have gained some valuable insight!

This is Lily on the plane!

She did really well with the flight...sort of. She spit up before we got on the plane! Lily does this thing where she sucks on her fingers instead of thumb, and SOMETIMES she acciidentally gags herself. Well, sure enough, she did that, thoroughly soaking her footie pajamas in the process. But we had an extra outfit, so no problem. The main bulk of it was great...she pretty much dozed off for most of the flight up, and a bit of the flight back (choosing to flirt with the lady next to her on the return instead of sleep). And we did a pretty good job of making sure to feed her during takeoff and landing to help her ears pop. The only problem is, that flight is pretty short, so her tummy can get pretty full if you're not careful...the upshot of which was she spit up AGAIN as we landed in San Fran, soaking her second outfit! (Thank goodness it was just juice that time!) Anyways, we learned our lesson and paced ourselves on the way home, so she was fine.

We stayed in a very nice hotel called The Argonaut, right on Fisherman's Wharf. As you can see, Mama and Lily were very happy to test out the bed when we checked in. It was a great location for us, because you could just walk out and there was plenty of fun stuff to see, things to eat, etc. And check it out! We could see Alcatraz out our window! (Although I had to photoshop this picture pretty liberally so YOU could see it).

We arrived first, but pretty soon Aunty Cathy and her gang showed up, so we went up to their rooms to see everyone! It was very nice for Lily to finally meet her cousins! The blondie is Tyler, and his brunette brother is Joshua. As you can see, they bought her presents, which she liked quite a bit! So we hung out for a bit, but before too long headed out to dinner, since they were all on East Coast time, and poor Lily was way behind on napping (a recurring theme for the weekend, unfortunately). So we walked to a nearby restaurant for Mexican food, where Lily propptly fell asleep for the first half of the meal. See? Aint she cute? After dinner, we went down to the plaza to window shop and get ice cream, and Aunty Cathy was nice enough to take a rare family picure of the three of us. And then off to bed! Unfortunately, one of the things we discovered is that Lily is not much for sleeping in strange places...she's a champ at home, but we were up and down quite a bit that night. I guess the unfamiliar surroundings, plus mama and dada being in HER room, making NOISE, kept her from really relaxing. SHe did okay, but wanted to be fed every 2-3 hours or so. Sigh. So the learning, we think, is that she really does do best if she can be laid down in a REALLY dark room, by herself, with some white noise. Relatives wanting to be visited, please take note! :-)

The next day, we did something really special...we went to visit Cathy and my nanny from years ago, Pai Feng. What a special, rare treat that was. It's strange to see someone that was a huge part of your childhood years and years later...for example, I remember being able to talk with her as a child, but she only speaks Chinese (which I no longer remember) so we could only barely talk with Aunty Cathy translating. But the love was definitely there, and I think Pai Feng really appreciated the visit. Even now, she has pictures of our family prominently placed in her home. It must have been really nice for her to see how her babies now have babies of their own.

After visiting Pai Feng, we met up with cousin Mei to have Dim Sum. Yummy! Mei (seen here posing with Joshy, who has mysteriously sprouted facial hair) lives in San Francisco, so we were able to get her to take us to an especially tasty restaurant. Mmm, ginger dumplings....oh, sorry, got distracted for a sec there. So Lily got to meet yet another new relative! Such riches!!

This is Aunty Cathy holding her favorite niece. Aunty Cathy figured out that Lily would tolerate being held much longer if held in her preferred position, face out. Aunty Cathy attributed this to Lily not being able to see her, and thus not realizing it wasn't Mama or Dada. But that isn't true! Lily LOVES Aunty Cathy!!

It was also at Dim Sum where the boys realized they REALLY like petting Lily. Guys, I know she was born in the Year of the Dog, but come on! Actually, it was very cute, and I certainly can't blame them, I rather enjoy petting her myself.

Well, that was about it...we actually saw Cousin Caroline and her family briefly as well (sorry, no pictures!), but that about all we have to report. So, to sum up:

1) Lily doesn't sleep that WELL away from home, but she does sleep. So I actually think she'd do fine, especially on a longer trip when she has a chance to adjust, and if she can have a bit more quiet and space than a hotel room affords.

2) drinking during takeoff and landing, good. Drinking too much, not as good. Gagging on own fingers, definitely not advisable.

3) spending time with family, though? Priceless.