Bay Area We Before Three

For my momma's birthday I really wanted to go on a girls trip. Especially before 2 girls in the family became 3.  So my dad and I decided it would be fun to get plane tickets for my mom and I for her birthday for us to fly back to her home town of San Leandro, CA. I gave her some fake tickets on her birthday so we could choose together the dates and length of the trip together. 

We ended up going the second weekend of December for 4 days. We flew into Oakland and my grandpa picked us up from the airport. I have been back to the Bay Area several times in the past few years, but my mom hadn't been back home for over 10 years. She was way overdue for a visit! Her parents recently moved from my her childhood home into a townhouse so it was important for her to visit and know where they are now. My grandmother welcomed us with a tea party. So cute! We laid low that afternoon and went to dinner with my aunt, my uncle and his family and my grandparents. After dinner I was thrown a cute little baby shower by my aunts. It was so sweet of them.  

More booties from grandma Sharon made by her mother. Baby girls great great grandma Betty.

Friday morning we took the Bart into the city and walked the Embarcadero to the piers for some clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. I can't go to the Bay Area and not have clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl. We also hit up Ghiradelli's for some Hot Chocolate and rode the trolley down to Union Square. We were on the hunt for a coming home outfit for baby girl and it was a total busy. I have issues with Zara over this matter. You can't get NB sizes on their website or in store and they haven't responded to my emails on when they could possibly be restocking NB sizes! Ugh. Anyway, we didn't spend long in Union Square and made our way back to the Bart to catch a train home.

My mom wanted to try drinking chocolate and realized upon its arrival it wasn't her "cup of tea" and made me dilute it with my regular hot chocolate. It was pretty funny. 

The results after a day of indulging. 

Saturday I wanted to hit up a shopping district I had recommended to me. We again rode the Bart into the city and got off near the art district and wandered for a bit. We then hit up Hayes Street.  It's a charming street with great shops and restaurants. We stopped in a tasty boulangerie and I had an amazing fresh squeezed orange juice. I found a cute jewelry dish for the nursery in a gift boutique. And the weather was amazing! It was 60 degrees out. 

My mom's one food request of the trip was Chinese so I had looked up reviews on places. It was a little bit of a walk and when we got there, closed! I then looked up another place, it was a Wok Shop not the Wok Shop Cafe- ugh! Next place, closed between lunch and dinner. At this point we had walked from one side of the city to the other, through Santa Con (a pub crawl with hundreds of lovely day time drunks dressed as Santa, Mrs. Claus, reindeer etc) and ended up in China Town and mom finally got her Chinese. 

We then wandered back to the Bart through the financial district. We walked passed the Bank of America Tower where my grandpa worked for years and years. The last time my mom had a photo taken in front of the building she was 18. 

That night we visited thr Oakland Temple to see the Christmas lights. My mom and I both have never seen the waterfall down the front of the temple running. It was beautiful. 

It was so strange for me to see some of my favorite spring blooms loving life in December. 

Sunday we woke up to POURING RAIN. It was a good day to go home. It was so good to be able to spend so much time with my mom because I don't see enough of her these days. Thanks for the fun trip momma, I love you!