“Play soccer with me Lexi!”
—Mason, 4/8/11
“I don’t make any of my own decisions. Mommy and Daddy make good decisions for me!”
—Anna, 4/8/11
Sometimes I think I love Anna and Mason like crazy and then I see them and fall in love with them even harder. Back from one of my best trips yet to San Francisco and wishing I could just stop on by and see them all again today vs. July. They have a wonderful life out there and I feel lucky to share even a few days in their corner of the world. Shouldn’t every kid grow up like this?
Several times I wanted some magical way to stop them from growing up so fast—Anna is really and truly a girl now, no longer close to a toddler, and Mason talks and talks and is a real little person now instead of an adorable quiet baby boy. I wish I could relive it all and somehow record their 2-year-old and 4-year-old-ness with my mind, but written words and tons of photos will have to do.
Highlights!
– Anna showing me off to her preschool teachers/class. I got to walk in one morning when we dropped her off and she led me around to each of her teachers and proudly proclaimed “This is my Auntie!” I recognized a lot of the teachers from the project I’d done for Stephie last year, and they were all so nice. I even got to stand in front of the class and be introduced which was hilariously adorable. They left some time for ‘questions’, and the ‘questions’ from the 4-year-olds were basically statements. “I’ve been to Minneapolis!” “My name is Lexi too!” “I really like your purse.” (That last one from Anna’s little friend—my purse was the only bright [pink] thing on me, and the girl was in head-to-toe pink. Ha!) It was so cool to see where Anna spends a lot of her time and the school was great.
– Mason being a real little person! One of the most amazing things to me on this visit was how receptive he was to me; I mean, he’s 2, he shouldn’t even know who I am, you know? But Stephie does a terrific job with prep and he wasn’t a bit shy with me once. When Anna reinstigated ‘hug-attacks’ (note, this will probably have to stop soon as she is getting pretty big!) and we were horsing around on the floor, Mason, having no idea really what we were doing other than it looked like fun, immediately jumped into place saying “me too me too! my turn my turn!” and RAN headfirst into me. (This is also how he said goodbye to me too, basically with a full body-check, so I hope I haven’t confused him too badly…ha.) He acted like he’d known me his whole life (well, he has, but, you know) and that I’d always been around, and on my first morning there even woke up and said to Stephie “I play with Lexi?” which melts my heart. Awwww. He’s just turned into the friendliest, cutest, chattiest kid ever and he amazes me.
– Watching Mason play pretty much anything. Golf/soccer/basketballs and trains/trucks, he’s pretty much the happiest kid ever no matter which it is. He even played princesses with Anna. He always wants to play with everyone so he says “Play soccer with me Lexi! Play golf with me Mommy!” etc etc. Then he runs and kicks, runs and kicks, over and over and over. (He is sooooooo coordinated too, it’s really bizarre almost.) When he plays with his trains or trucks he talks to himself quietly and often talks about the ‘guys’ (people) in/on the truck/train/”hotter” (airplane in Mason-speak) which is hilarious. He gets so focused and lost in his little world.
– House of Air with Anna and Stephie! So cool. I would do flips and Anna would just say “watch me Aunt Lexi!” and be totally unimpressed with my tricks, convinced hers were better, LOL! I also got to see the kids at swimming lessons which was great. Mason looked so cute with his little goggles, ha, and was so proud of ‘run run run JUMP!’ into the water. The day where we went to House of Air was also just a special treat day for Anna which was fun :). We got to pick her up at ballet (so cute) and then go out to lunch and hang out with her little friend/their family too. Then got treats after too.
– Mason thinking Anna’s baby doll is alive…um, that was awesome. One night before bed we were all hanging out in Anna’s room and Mason demanded that I hold up the baby doll for him. He then spent almost five minutes jumping in front of the baby and yelling at the top of his lungs “baaaay-BEEEEE!” at the baby’s face and then laughing his head off. WTF?!?! It was hilarious and I would LOVE to know what he was thinking! The next night he cuddled up with the baby on Anna’s bed and was whispering to it. Again, ??? HILARIOUS and adorable.
– Anna/Mason ‘doing’ my hair with Anna’s toy blowdryer/brush one morning. I still don’t have my hair things back…hahaha.
– Playing at the park with Anna, she is such a good climber! She could swing from one horizontal bar to the other and go all the way across. I don’t think we think of her as strong but she is very strong indeed. Even if her going down that pole scared me a bit!
– Mason smashing Anna with the wrapping paper roll from behind her back and Anna’s retaliation the next day with the soccer ball. OK, so that wasn’t funny or nice, but it was memorable because (a) siblings fight and (b) after Anna got in deep trouble for her soccer-smash, Mason ran in to where she was having a time-out and said “it’s OK Anna, it’s OK!” even though SHE had just smacked HIM. He is sooooooooo nice to her and just worships her. Whatever she does, he wants to do. (“Ballet Mommy, ballet!”) She fell down and was crying later and while Stephie was hugging Anna, he ran to hug them both and patted Anna’s back. What a sweetheart he is.
– Yuki arriving and Mason saying “my friend Yuki is here!” and Anna then trying to surprise Yuki with me being there (“cover your eyes Yuki!”) as she led her into the kitchen, HA!
– Hanging out in their SF life. Multiple times we ran into families they knew, and they now live in a very kid-full neighborhood, where Stephie and Mike are friends with all the parents. (I went to a cocktail hour in their neighborhood on Friday that illustrated this; secretly I think I’d love to be an anthropologist, because I really enjoyed not just meeting their friends but being in basically a whole different culture and wondering about that. Um, I also enjoyed some amazing fancy drinks, ha ha.) They really have it made and I don’t blame them for not wanting to leave Cali.
I also had a ton of fun just hanging out with Stephie and Mike, and we even got to go to a nice dinner on Friday after the cocktail hour which was so great. I got to chit chat with Stephie a ton which I loved and drank my typical megadose of West Coast caffeinated drinks thanks to her…yay. (I am craving an iced latte now actually…) We also: went to the farmers market where the kids ran around and we ate fancy yogurt in ceramic cups (and where Mason hit me with his balloon all the way home), did a lot of throwing/twirling the kids around (impressing grandmas everywhere), watched a pretty decent movie on Saturday night after the kids went to bed/before I left, got our nails done WOOOOOOO!, went to the Warming Hut for iced lattes and photo ops and ‘souvenirs’ (mermaid doll which Anna then put in the bathtub?? ha) and much more. I also left with lovely candy and a new shirt, bonus! And found black quinoa and cherry green tea. Ahhh food. It was somewhat chilly but way sunny and just a gorgeous trip.
WordPress is telling me the word count for this post is 1367 which is ridiculous I suppose. Ah well. All I’m trying to do is record it the best I can for it was magical. These kids are little gems and they grow up so fast. I wish they lived closer but really, as I kept saying, what they have is “the life”. Miss them all already though! What a great trip.