A few weeks ago, Michael, Alec and I went up to Northern California for a long weekend. We went up on Thursday night to San Francisco so that Friday morning we could see a couple of friends of mine start off on their 3 Day/60 Mile Walk for the Cure for the Susan G Komen Foundation. More about this can be found on my other blog:
Lara's Theme. It was a beautiful morning, and we took advantage of our location and decided to check out a couple of colleges in which Alec is interested.
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| Michael, Alec, Me, Elizabeth, & Nova at the Opening Ceremony |
First we went to San Francisco State University. This campus is a sprawling property in the middle of a very busy city. Housing edges up against a gigantic mall, which seems to be in closer proximity than most classes...
Next we went to CSU-East Bay, located in Hayward....not the most exciting city, to be sure. Fortunately the campus is located at the top of a hill and is pretty encapsulated.
The third university we visited was San Jose State University--my personal favorite going in because it is about 5 minutes from my sister, Lisa! This campus seems pretty insular, yet exists in the middle of downtown San Jose. The students have only to step to the outer edges of the campus to be in an exciting and vibrant city.
Before we headed out that morning, Alec's order of preference (as I understood it) was--CSU East Bay, SFSU, SJSU. After touring through the cities and seeing the campuses, SJSU has come out on top and is his first choice. Yay!
While we were out looking for colleges, we stopped by Ghirardelli Square. If you don't already know, Michael is seriously a fan of chocolate...so it was a given. We had lunch and, of course, ice cream :) Yum!
Then we headed in to San Jose for the final college tour (they were really drive-bys) and to check in to our hotel. The rest of the weekend was dedicated to my niece, Celia, who turned 5 years old last month! That evening we had dinner from our favorite Mexican restaurant, Aqui, with a longtime family friend, Kristofer.
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| It's all about the Extreme Closeup these days! |
The next day was all about getting ready for Celia's birthday dinner. Lisa and I shopped, my brother-in-law, Bill, picked up our mom from the airport, and Michael and Alec checked out the Tech Museum. Then, while Grandma Anita read to Celia, we got things ready. Dinner was lovely as always, but Celia was more interested in presents :)
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| Storytime! |
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| Cool bracelet kit--we made bracelets for each other <3 |
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| I'm telling you, it's about the funny pictures--in this one, she's just a head... |
Celia's Grandma Lolita, Aunt Monica, and Cousin Julia were also there to celebrate. Monica and Julia made Celia some chocolate covered strawberries...
And once the kids were sufficiently hyped up on sugar, I swooped in and made them a little crazy...it's what I do.
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| This would be Julia's Extreme Closeup... |
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| Silly faces |
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| Silly faces...Extremely Closeup... |
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| Silly girls! |
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| What can I say?? I love this girl. |
Sunday morning we got together for brunch and had Coffeecake, eggs, bacon, fruit...oh, and Coffee! As Celia and I started making our bead bracelets, Lisa and Bill started putting out Halloween decorations.
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| Halloween parachute figures... |
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| C is so cute with this scarecrow! She couldn't wait for Lisa to bring it out :) |
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| Well, she's looking at Mom's camera for this one... |
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| Playing with its hair! |
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| Maintaining a safe perimeter, as always. |
Then, before we packed up to go, I had to get in some planned shots. Foremost on my mind were the "Cousin" pictures I always try to get. This year was fantastic! Celia and Alec had been bonding all weekend and by the end were ready for "cheek-to-cheek" poses.
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| We were practicing her MySpace pose |
This little girl delights me in ways I can't even describe. It is a privilege to get to spend time with her, and I am so blessed when I can! Happy 5th Birthday, Celia! We love you <3
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