{destination #3: sacramento}

by the time we were gearing up for california, we were pretty spent. arrow got a cold/fever our last days in chicago. and though he was a trooper with all the traveling, he was tired. all three of us were. in sacramento, all we wanted to do was spend quality time with linda, jared, belly & samuel. no sight seeing necessary. and i'm happy to say we accomplished this.

just as we had requested, our days in sacramento were incredibly chill. i was grateful to be with isabella and samuel, enjoying the california sun and cozying it up at home. belly and i talked a lot as she painted and re-painted my nails, and zachary impressed samuel with his made-up power ranger games.

california is a gorgeous place. the weather. the trees. the air! oh, the air! it's a place where oranges, lemons and grapefruits can grow in your backyard. and where you spend more hours of your day outside because you can.

it felt really good to be with linda, to feel baby kalina #3, and see how well they're doing. 

living away from family is not easy. i get it. but i also get why it would be hard to leave a place so beautiful and relaxing.

linda & jared, thank you...for taking good care of us (like you always do), for picking us up & taking us to san francisco (jared, we love you), for all the laughs, and for showing us the good life.

no matter how he was feeling, he was still up for playing.

a stunning view.

a morning hug. just because. 

samuel, you're the best.

isabella was so good with arrow. she was a huge help during our visit, and wanted to be around her cousin as much as she could. even when i'd nurse or put him down for his nap, belly would come in her room to see if i needed anything or sneak in and pretend she was getting something important out of her desk drawer. it was really sweet.

a tire swing on their front lawn!

samuel's lego tower...

...and awesome stacking creation.

getting ready for a nap.

it was valentine's while we were there. arrow woke up to find a suitcase filled with delicious goodies and a superman monster truck from samuel. 

emo & emo-boo spoiled arrow. thanks you guys.

a natural. he was hitting the balls across the street.

a quick butt rinse in the kitchen sink.

walking to the park, we saw so many different kinds of interesting trees.

linda hanging with arrow. and stealing kisses.

going from playing power rangers with jared and zachary...

...to getting his nails done. 

and arrow...getting a little too comfortable.

having an orange tree in the backyard is enough reason for me to move somewhere warm. do you know how much money we would've saved while i was pregnant?

being able to go outside and pick oranges from your own tree. come on!

these two had fun together.

in-n-out burgers. holy moly's!

arrow loved the playroom. his favorite was the big bin of wooden food and kitchenware. he sat in that sun square, cooking, drooling and happy-screaming for quite a while.

this is a painting done by a former art apprentice from gallery 37 (where vi and zachary used to work). her name is safiya hameed and goes by princess safiya. her art is crazy-amazing. ever since i saw her large painting of fruit, i've always admired her work...so colorful, bold and happy.

vi gave the niece & nephews princess safiya artwork one christmas. this piece that hangs in belly & samuel's playroom is truly a work of art. 

every morning at linda's house, i would go into the playroom and just smile. every color, every line, every erased image you could kind of see underneath the paint...it all made me happy and it all made for a perfect painting.  i don't know where that fruit painting is, but i hope someone has it hanging on their wall, smiling every day.

wondering what his emo's up to.

we took a nice walk by the river.

samuel and belly didn't want to go initially. they said there were snakes. but we told them we liked snakes and wanted to check it out, and so they went along with it. but the first 10 minutes...they were both uneasy. samuel kept telling zachary to be careful. 

the first 10 minutes. clearly, they were worried.

but it became less and less scary since there were no snakes in sight.

...and we all started to appreciate the river.

isabella collecting sparkly rocks.

samuel flying paper planes with zachary.

all of us making weird shadows.

...including a shadow totem pole.

being with linda and fam was a perfect last-stop before heading back to seoul. it was difficult to say good-bye, to rub linda's belly one last time, not knowing when we'll get to meet this baby. but hopefully with the start of zachary's new job and more time off, we can soon come back to california and the midwest.

til then, i'll look at these photos and think fondly of our trip home.