Back and completely refreshed!

We had an amazing mini-vacation in S.F.!!! I was worried that coming off a week where I was gone so much, another break in the routine would just make the situation worse. Just the opposite happened, though. Being on vacation meant that she was with me 24-7 without anything else to distract me. So lots and lots of quality Mama/Isa B time, which we both needed.

Isa B is a champ when it comes to travel. She flirted shamelessly with all our fellow travelers, then as soon as the plane engines started up, she passed out and slept for the entire flight (both directions). Excellent job by Auntie MoMo in planning our flights close to nap times.

When we got in on Sunday, we took BART into the city (more new people to flirt with- yeah!). We checked in, dropped our bags in the room, and then headed right back out. Pretty much just dinked about the city for the rest of the day. Let me put in yet another plug for my Ergo. Isa was strapped in for almost 5 hours as we walked around. I'm not going to say that my back felt fabulous after lugging around my 20lb darling for that long, but the pack itself was pretty comfortable. And she got in a nice nap while Mollie and I could still be out and about.

I think I've mentioned before that Isa doesn't really get cranky when she's tired. Instead, she finds the world extremely hysterical, a state we call the Tired Jollies (or T.J.'s). Here is an example from Sunday night. Granted, Auntie deciding to climb into the hotel crib was kind of funny, but not quite as amusing as it would have been if Isa wasn't in the middle of the the T.J.'s.

On Monday we hopped the ferry over to Marin to meet our online buddies Porter and Elsa. Porter is another single mama who I "met" via a Yahoo group during the adoption process. I felt like she was a kindred spirit right away. Her gorgeous daughter Elsa was at Toukoul with Isa. I got to meet Elsa when picking up Isa so that I could some pics and video for Porter. I was really excited to finally meet Porter IRL. (And she is just as wonderful in person as she is online!)

The girls played, the mamas chatted- it was a very fun day. We went swimming in Elsa's Oma's pool, which Isa B loved. Elsa wasn't as big a fan of being in the water, but she did an excellent job sitting near the pool looking gorgeous.

Notice how in this pic Elsa is smiling beautifully for the camera and Isa can't be bothered to stop playing with a new toy and look at me. :)


Here is my gal with her new (grown-up) buddy. She thought Porter was pretty darn great- lots of smiles for her! The uber-tasty rubber fish just cemented the friendship.

On Tuesday morning, we were going to check out and leave our bags downstairs. So, I attempted to pack.... someone was VERY helpful, as you can see.....

We walked down to the ferry building, had some breakfast and started towards Pier 39 to meet Porter and Elsa for lunch. The girls were super chatty at lunch which was fun to hear. Isa B taught Elsa the bad habit of sitting half turned in her high chair. My daughter, the corruptor....

We LOVED hanging out with Porter and Elsa! Porter and I have very similar parenting styles. She responds to Elsa's talking with the same phrases that I do when chatting with Isa. It was nice to be around another parent that isn't focused on following the baby books by the letter, but rather going with what feels right for your particular baby. Which is sometimes hard to do when you've adopted- you worry that you need to be even more vigilant with following the "rules." I wish we lived closer but our little mini-vacation went so well, I'm sure we'll do it again in the not-so-distant future.