Adventures in Instagram: San Francisco

We took a flight to San Francisco to visit with my sister before I returned to work:

Never complete without a picture of the Golden Gate:

We went to Santa Cruz and up the coast to Pescadero, stopping at the Swanton Berry Farm Shop:

Goat farm with baby goats and goat cheese tastings!

Introduced the little one to his great grandmothers:

And got to see my Uncle's beautiful home:

 Back to work, and missing this little guy's face!

Chet is here!

Wow, I'm a mom! So crazy, I still can't believe it. The labor and delivery went well, fast and extremely painful (no drugs! :\ ). Chet was 2 weeks late, so I had to be induced. I'll spare the details, but give you the stats:
Born 11:09pm on December 29th, 2012, Chet weighed 7 lbs 5 oz and was 19" long.

The last 4 weeks have been a complete whirlwind, and I am still delirious from the lack of sleep and emotionally exhausted from the difficulties breastfeeding. But one look at my little man makes it all worth it. Here's a few pics:

1 week old:

3 weeks old:

I never understood why parents no longer had any time. But now I know. When you nurse every 2-3 hours, and it takes about 45-60 minutes to nurse, you only have about 1-2 hours in between feedings to get anything done, including sleep. And when the longest you've slept at any given time is 1-3 hours for weeks and weeks... well, I'm sure you can imagine the deliriousness. But enough complaining... I mean, look at that precious face! I can't thank my family and friends enough for all the help we've received: meals cooked, errands run, tips given, house cleaned. We are truly blessed to have such a loving community. I am indeed a happy lady. 

It's DD!

I usually don't post about too many life events, try to keep the blog about fun things to do around LA and some neat photography and music. But it's December 16th, the official due date (DD), so pretty significant event, I would say. Most kiddos don't come on their due date, but hopefully he won't be too late. Here's my final belly shot: 10 weeks / 40 weeks

Switzer Falls, Fall 2012

 Switzer Falls is one of my favorite places to hike, especially during the fall when the leaves start to change colors. It was a perfect day!

It was one of the most affected trails of the Station Fires from 2009. 

I'm so glad they've opened up the trail again.

Nestled in the Angeles mountains, and only about a 30 minute drive from the city, you'll need a $5 adventure pass which you can get at the ranger station just before the Switzer campground turnoff. 

This tree is one of the coolest trees I've seen in Los Angeles:

Most of the hike is spent under trees, crossing the creek, but you take the trail up (and back down) this mountain to see these majestic views. 

 

As we were parking we ran into some friends who happened to choose this hike the same day at the same time as well! So we joined them for most of the journey. As Disneyland's most popular ride leads you to believe, it is a small world after all!

Because I promised Sam I wouldn't do any more than 4 miles, we turned around at the junction at the top of the hill. But if you look for it, you can still see Switzer Falls from this section of the trail: 

Loved how the sun played through all the trees:

And the shot of the day:

You still have time to see the colors! Check it out this weekend if you can, but be sure to bring a jacket as the weather is cooling down quite a bit.

Idyllwild, part 2