The Walters: Trip to Cali

We had a great time in Northern California and visited a lot of family in a short amount of time. When we got back to Kansas, our AC was on the fritz and sure enough it went kaput in the night. Since the temps were forecasted to be above 100 that entire week, I packed up Cal and the dogs and we headed to Larned until it could be replaced. Poor Mitch suffered it out in our basement through the week, but didn't complain. It's been a week, but thankfully we got our new AC today!!

Cal did phenomenal on his first flight! His second wasn't too bad, the third was great, but the fourth flight started off a bit dicey. We flew out at 5:45am on Sunday morning and were lucky to get off the ground at all. The Asiana crash happened the day before and could've extended our trip by the inevitable delays that followed the disaster, but we luckily we weren't affected. Cal for most of the flight, curled up between Mitch and I. We pulled the armrests up and he nestled in for a snooze. The fourth and final flight was out of Denver and into Wichita. Boy oh boy, Cal did not want to get on that flight. Mitch was seated in row 25 and Cal and I were in row 5. That means that he was a full 20 rows away and still heard Cal's uproar as though he were right next to us. It was awful and I felt so bad for our little guy. He was sweating and screaming....trying to crawl/claw his way out of the seat belt.....kicking the sear in front of him and rupturing the eardrums of passengers within a 2 row radius. It was awful. Poor baby. Once we started moving, he was fine. Sorry, I'm skipping all over the place. Here he is before his first flight:

Once we got to San Fran, we took the train (tran?!?! Mitch isn't here for me to ask, so I risk sounding like a traveling novice, but I will stick with train) to the rental car garage. Cal was in love with the train ride and each time we stopped, he said, "Wanna doe adain!!!" and we did go again and again and again until we finally reached our stop.

It was just a tad foggy driving over the Golden Gate when we started, but fairly clear once we got to the other side!

Cal wouldn't eat applesauce for me up until this point when Aunt Lily offered him some. Delish!

Helping feed "Baby Gabi".....not just Gabi, always Baby Gabi.

Play time for the cousins!

Cheese!

He helped Aunt Lily water her amazing garden. Her backyard is full of plants and trees full of fruits and veggies. She's got quite the green thumb!!

We had to run to Kohls for some sleeveless shirts for Cal and shorts for Mitch. He of course fell asleep 2.5 seconds before we arrived at our destination so I carried all 38 pounds of him around the store while we shopped. My arms were shaking and felt like they were going to fall off!

We went to the Russian River and played in the clear stream. The water was perfectly calm and Cal loved throwing rocks. These naked babies had a great time in the water!

Lil tried to bribe Lex to get in the picture, but he thought her invitation was for a game of tug-of-war. Funny dog!!!

Bloated or pregnant.....you decide! ha

"Baby Gabi....don't eat grass!!"

That afternoon, after a good snooze, we went to the park and met Belle's brothers and sisters for a picnic in the shade. Cal was in heaven with the variety of jungle gyms at his fingertips and he had an ample amount of play mates. Although his favorite may have been his Baba Belle.

The cousins and their kiddos!

We were hoping for a quiet introduction to his Great Grandma Mimi, but instead Cal wanted to shout as loud as he could for her. She got some good laughs!!

The next day, we drove 4 hours north to see Walt and Sooz. We met at the Crabs game, where Walt and Cal played catch.

Cal thought Grandma Sooz was a genius when she showed him how to put M&M's in his popcorn!

We took a jaunt down to the creek and Cal loved looking at all the big trees.

Gabs is such a good traveler! She was just starting to crawl while we were there, but I'm sure she's motoring all around by now!

Cal loves all animals, but he really loved Rio.

We went to the Big Lagoon to fish one day. Although we didn't catch anything, we enjoyed the peaceful surroundings.

Cal thought P-Paw Walt had the best toy......worms!!!

The next day, we took Cal to Moonstone Beach and met up with the Hillyards who were in town from Germany. Don't let the beach pictures fool you.....it was FREEZING!!! We parked the car on the hill and walked down in 80 degree temps, but once we hit the beach the wind was howling and it dropped to 70 or below. I'm guessing below b/c my skin looked like a freshly plucked chicken's.

"I'm stuck!!"

Roxana and Nea

Jeff and Ella (not picture, although she's hidden in his handy child carrier on his back)

When we returned to the house, Quinn and Cal became fast friends and chased each other around a piece of scrap wood for over two hours. Seriously.

Hug break!

Quinn was so funny. She kept saying to Cal, "What are you doing? You're crazy!"

The whole BBQ crew!

Before we left on Saturday morn, we ate at the Seascrape. Great breakfast food! We made a stop at the Light House before headed south.

A pic on the pier!

Cal loved seeing Christina again! Uncle Bryan, Aunt Maureen, and Chris came to our hotel for dinner on Saturday night. It was great catching up with them!!