From 8 to 12 December 2003, Mark went to the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and the whole family came along! We drove up Interstate 5, along Mark's usual route to Berkeley, and stayed at the Westin St. Francis Hotel overlooking Union Square.
Mark's meetings ran from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day; Cheryl spent a lot of time taking care of Lura in the hotel, but usually managed to get her into the stroller and out shopping at the stores in the area. Lura probably traveled more distance in the stroller, as well as in the car, on this trip than she had in her entire previous life.
Here's a closer look at Lura in that nice warm sweater (given to us by Donna); it was indispensable in the cold northern California weather.
We brought a "bouncenette," a combination bouncer and bassinet, for Lura to sleep in. However, we had a room with two double beds, and since Lura isn't (quite!) ready to roll over on her own, we found it easier to lay her down between two decorative pillows on one of the beds; she slept very well there.
On Tuesday evening, 9 December 2003, we drove down to San Jose to have dinner at JoAnna, Grant, and Amanda's home; Lily, Ken, and Justin came over to join us. Lura had a good time watching the big kids play!
Two evenings later, we met Cyrena and her friend Rafael at Aperto, a restaurant just a few miles from the hotel. Lura was generally content when we went to restaurants (usually we'd make sure she was well fed just before we left, and she'd just sleep!), but she was pretty fussy this evening. Fortunately, our friends and the people at the surrounding tables were pretty tolerant, though Mark did have to take her outside in the sling to walk along the sidewalk until she finally fell asleep.
After the AGU meeting, we drove to San Jose again to spend the weekend at Lily, Ken, and Justin's house. JoAnna, Grant, and Amanda came over for dinner, and we were joined by Lily's friend and former co-worker Kim, who is mostly invisible in this photo because Mark framed it a bit off and the kids were too fidgety to re-shoot...
We did a little walking with Justin and Lura in their strollers; here are the mommas...
...and the poppas.
Lura was a little too young to play with her "calabash cousins," but she did enjoy watching them. Justin's outgrown play mat with arches of toys overhead, though, was just her size! We have one of these at home, which we'll have to set up for her to enjoy. We all had a great time visiting our friends, and making new ones!
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