California Love!

Last month we spent a week in the city of Campbell, California, celebrating my little brother Michael’s wedding. We stayed in Campbell once before, over Christmas in 2016 when Ella was just 18 months old. It’s a very cute city located just outside of San Jose, part of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area. 

We flew down with the kids and my parents, taking flights from Toronto to San Jose via Salt Lake City. Ollie is at a super awkward age for flying. He is crawling and very much wants to be moving around, not trapped on someone’s lap in a cramped economy seat. Fortunately with four adults we were able to share the load, passing him around on an hourly basis to try and keep him occupied. Ella, on the other hand, is at a great age for flying as she is very happy to be allowed unlimited screen time and will happily explore the inflight entertainment options for a new TV show to watch.

The four of us stayed in an airbnb in a perfect location, just off the main street of the historical part of Campbell. It’s a very cute street full of cafés, restaurants and independent shops. The weather when we arrived was gorgeous and sunny, a very welcome break after the cold and rainy spring we’ve been having in Toronto. 

Our first full day in Campbell was Mother’s Day, and Ashley, Mike’s soon-to-be bride, organised brunch at their house with both sets of immediate family. It has been a LONG time since both my brother and I have been able to celebrate mother’s day with my mom so that was pretty special.

We spent our first few days hanging out in Campbell, enjoying the nice weather in our gorgeous back garden in our airbnb, at the local playground, and strolling along Campbell’s main street sampling the local fare.

back garden of the airbnb

bathtime in our airbnb

fun at the local park

hanging out in Campbell

Our favourite place was Manresa Bread, they have great quality coffee along with beautiful pastries and breads and a small menu with breakfast/lunch/dinner. We ended up here most mornings to pick up some coffee and bread and croissants to enjoy back in our airbnb. By the end of the week Andy was best mates with the employees there!

We headed to Santa Cruz one day where my brother likes to surf. Ella was super happy to be back on a beach. It was way too cold for swimming but she loved playing near the water.

Mike and Ashely took Ella to The Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose one afternoon. They wanted to spend some time with her in the lead up to the wedding so that she would feel comfortable and happy in her role as flower girl. I don’t think they needed to worry, she was very happy around them and wanted Ashley in particular to play with her on a regular basis!

In the days leading up to the wedding the weather turned cold and rainy, which was pretty stressful for my brother and Ashley as they were having an outdoor wedding. Eek! Who could have predicted cold and rainy weather in May in California?! The day before the wedding we headed to the wedding venue, the campsite Saratoga Springs, for a run-through of the ceremony. Standing in the pouring rain it was difficult to appreciate the beauty of the place in that moment. All I could imagine was how wet and miserable we’d be with the two kids! Fortunately they were able to have a marquee set up which alleviated some of the stress.

That evening there was a “meet and greet” at Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos for the guests. As our family is all in Canada it was an opportunity for the Canadians to meet the Californians prior to the wedding. It was fantastic for me as well, as I got to see lots of our family that I hadn’t seen in years, and they were able to meet Ella and Ollie. Ella also made some friends, four of Ashley’s cousins, all girls ranging in age from 3-13. She was in her element running around with them. 

Mike and Ashley were super lucky that it didn’t actually rain on the day of the wedding - hurray! We all arrived early to help with some set up; Ollie and I worked on creating the basket of petals for the flower girl, while Ella ran around with her newfound friends.

I was initially worried that Ella wouldn’t want to do her flower girl duty on her own, as she can be quite shy. In the lead up to the wedding we showed her lots of different videos of flower girls on youtube so that she would understand her role. In the end, she was great, carefully throwing a trail of petals onto the ground for the bride.

The ceremony was beautiful. Ashley and Mike wrote their own vows, which were so sweet and personal and brought tears to my (and everyone else’s) eyes. They have been together a long time (about 8 years I think) so you can really see how their relationship and love has grown since they met. (Funnily enough, the first time we met Ashley was at our own wedding, in London waaaaaay back in 2012. Imagine meeting all of your future in-laws at your boyfriend’s sister’s overseas wedding - no pressure there Ashley!)

The wedding was super fun, we spent most of the night dancing underneath the giant redwoods and twinkly lights. One of my favourite bits was the campfire where you could make s’mores. Andy had never had a s’more before, crazy! I didn’t realise they were just a North American thing!



Ella had a blast with her new friends and danced up a storm, and Ollie seemed to be content being passed around to various cousins and aunts.



At about 9:30pm both kids crashed, so Andy took them back to the airbnb and I stayed out a little bit longer. All in all it was a fabulous wedding.

The next day was Ollie’s 1st birthday. We had a very small celebration with my parents and Mike and Ashley, and Ollie had his first taste of birthday cake. Suffice to say, he liked it very much!

The next morning we were off to San Jose airport for our flights back to Toronto. It was another loooong day of flying, with a connection in Denver (which is a pretty good airport at least!). It was a busy but lovely week and hopefully it won’t be too long before we are able to visit California again, now that we don't live quite so far away!