Our weekend: Meeting new family, FooFest and flea marketing!

Yet another eventful summer weekend for us! On Saturday we went to meet Aurora's grandparents and aunt for the first time! I was a little nervous about the whole thing going in. As most of you know, Aurora's daddy isn't in the picture. However, his family has made it clear that they would like to be involved and I had no intention of shutting them out. I made plans to meet his sister and the night before we found out that his mother and father were going to come down too! Steph, the Bean and I met up with them at one of our favorite neighborhood brunch spots, Julians. I felt silly for worrying about five minutes in, they were super nice and were very excited to see Aurora! Things went really well. My nervousness gradually went away as we started getting to know each other and by the end we were like old friends. Aura got passed around and hogged all the attention as usual:

Aura and Grandma J!

Grandpa J!

Brunch was delicious and everyone got along really well and even had a few laughs. We ended up staying for a couple hours and even sharing a few laughs. All in all a really good time and I'm sure we'll do it again soon!
I must admit that our meeting brought up a few painful things for me, like the fact that Aurora will never get a chance to know my mother. My father may be out of the picture also unless he straightens out. It's a little tough when things like that hit me but I'm dealing with it. I guess in a way though it's more of a reason to embrace all the relatives she does have, even if circumstances are a little different than most. Who knows what the future holds for our little patchwork family. I'm excited to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones. I'm even thinking about reconnecting with some family that I've lost touch with. Right now, Aura knows nothing but love from every direction and I couldn't be happier about it. I'll do everything in my power to make sure her life stays this perfect.


After we said our goodbyes it was on to FooFest!
FooFest is an annual block party and live music event that happens in the middle of the city every summer. Always tons of fun stuff for the littles (which I hadn't ever fully appreciated before) and tons of good food and music and tons of people that I look forward to seeing (and, of course, a few I don't haha)
Last year I attended but didn't have the best time. It still wasn't public knowledge that I was pregnant (I hid it well) and it was hot and uncomfortable. If I remember correctly I left pretty early after one too many awkward conversations.
This year was much more enjoyable and low key. We did a bit of walking and mingling, then we hung out in a little grassy area for a bit.

Aurora had her first up close and in person experience with a big yellow balloon! She was pretty baffled by it...

She couldn't figure out if it was a yummy snack...

Or a prop to help her stand up!

We were worried about it popping and scaring her but when it eventually did pop she wasn't even phased! She just looked at us funny like we hid it from her and then it was on to the next thing.

Three cheers for mellow babies!!

Eventually Aurora needed a nap and I figured she wouldn't sleep with all the excitement so we left for a bit in the afternoon and took a long walk. I was hoping to lull her to sleep but she had other plans. We wandered downtown for awhile, I got coffee and I took her to my favorite family friendly restroom to change her and clean us up a bit. Then we headed back to walk around a little more and get some food. Aurora met quite a few of my old friends and some new people. I discovered that she even turns grown men into a pile of mush... I'm sure this is just the beginning of what will inevitably be her long illustrious career as a future maneater. We met up with other friends and watched a few bands play and eventually headed home with Aura finally snoozing in her carrier the whole way. Our long peaceful walk home was the perfect end to a really nice day.

Sunday was our usual family grocery trip and a quick stop at the flea market. I came home and made an awesome pasta salad with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, black olives and pesto vinaigrette.
More on that later in a food post I'm working on, it was delicious!!