California Love

My favorite guys and I just got back from a quick trip to my home land...California.

It's where I was born, where I always called "home" (even when we moved away), and where most of my extended family lives.  Derek, my dear husband, had never been "home" with me until now!  We will celebrate our 4 Year Wedding Anniversary in July and he had never seen where I grew up.  Disgraceful.

SO, we decided that we would make a little mini-vacation out of it.  We flew in to San Francisco, which is kind of scary to drive around in, but all around a really neat city.  We stuck to the super tourist-y type things and hung out around Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf.  I LOVED Pier 39 when I was a kid!  (What kid doesn't?  I mean really.)  So it was really fun to show my Brennan boy around my old stomping grounds.  He got a big kick out of the Sea Lions that hangout in the little marina and really enjoyed riding the big carousel with Daddy!  I would have gone too, but it's five dollars per person to ride or something insane like that...so I passed.  I was on picture taking duty and enjoyed a warm churro with my Mom while the boys were riding :)  We also got to meet up with my precious old (not OLD, but old-as in, from junior high) friend Diana and her sweet baby girl Amaya!  It was super awesome to see them, even if the Rainforest Cafe* did scare the dickens out of my son.

After our lovely day in the bay area we headed back home to Stockton which is where all the family is.  We stayed with my Grandpa Bill and Grandma Reggie and got to see lots of little cousins and my uncle and aunt whom I haven't seen in YEARS.  It was awesome.  Brennan had tons of fun playing with sweet Caroline (who is a little more than a month older than Brennan, but clearly more dainty than my big boy!)  We also spent lots of time with my mom, my sister, my nieces (Madisyn and Abigail), my brothers, my grandma...LOTS of people! :)  Lots of food, naturally.  Lots of laughs.  We were even able to capture a picture of all of my siblings and my Mom.  A rarity, my friends!!  So what if we couldn't get Austin to smile...that, too is a rarity (even more than the picture) :)  It was the perfect little trip and just long enough.  We were ready to get back home, but we will definitely look forward to coming back for another visit soon!  Next time it will be with TWO kids...whoa.

*The Rainforest Cafe is an obnoxiously loud and humid restaurant that is set up to look like an actual rainforest...complete with moving/mechanical wildlife such as gorillas, snakes, and butterflies.  Also...every 30 minutes on the dot there is a "thunder storm" sans REAL thunder, but it makes for an ULTRA loud couple of minutes where there are strobe lights, rumbling chairs, loud claps of thunder from the sound system, etc. combined with the screeching of the mechanical animals.  Being that we have ACTUAL thunder storms (which are quite scary sometimes) here in good ol' Texas...Brennan wasn't too keen on the spectacle.  He screamed and cried in terror every thirty minutes and clung to me through the whole thing.  *sigh*  AND...our meal was OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive.  $15 for a cheeseburger?? Really?  Next time we will stick solely to the clam chowder in a bread bowl sold on Fisherman's Wharf.  YUM!