The Golden State

Reese and I went to California the last week of February to visit with family since we hadn't been home in 9 months and people don't take well to not seeing Reese for that long a period of time. We were originally going to fly out the end of the week but since Nate had an exercise at work and wouldn't be able to take us to the airport any other time we ended up leaving on Sunday. Now I speak more about my hate of Dover in the final post about our trip out, but our flight out actually foreshadowed the events that would eventually take place. We flew from Ramstein and stopped in Dover to refuel and pick up/drop off cargo on our way to Travis. When we went to get off the plane the guy told us we could leave any carry-ons that we weren't going to need for the next two hours, so I just grabbed our passports and got off the plane. Well when we went through customs the guy told us that everything had to come off the plane to be inspected and we couldn't clear customs without all our bags so we had to wait for them to finish loading and unloading the plane and refueling it before they could get back on to grab my carry on, I was then informed that they may not get it off in time for me to clear customs and get my bags rechecked on the plane. I was off course freaking out but luckily they were able to get my stuff off and I got it rechecked in and boarded the plane to head to California.

 

Reese had fun playing with her cousin Ava while we were in California, though we did hear a lot of screeching while we were there because Ava wanted to constantly hug/be on top of Reese and Reese would screech every time Ava got too close to her. Other than that they enjoyed playing with each other and I know that Reese learned a lot of new words from her big cousin.
The first weekend we were there we went to an aquarium in San Francisco so that Reese could do one of her favorite things, look at fish. The whole time we were there Reese only wanted to be held by her Papa and she would only hold his hand not mine, which was fine by me because I was enjoying the break. She and her Papa looked at all the fish they could find and of course Ava was also there to help point out all the Nemo's and Dory's to Reese. At one tank there was a diver inside cleaning the window and he waved at Reese and she waved back, then he took his oxygen thingy out of this mouth and mouthed "She's sooo cute" to me, I of course melted at the fact that someone found my child so cute they were willing to go without oxygen while underwater to tell me :) After we'd seen all the fish we could handle, and also penguins and an albino alligator, we went shopping in San Francisco for a little while before we headed back home.

The next week we went to Disneyland!!! We flew from Sacramento down to Anaheim on Thursday for our long Disney weekend. On Friday we went to Disneyland and while Reese was kind of whiney at times and made me carry her practically the entire day, she still had fun and found her favorite ride...the carousel. She wanted to ride the carousel over and over and over again which was fine because the lines weren't that long. That afternoon we watched the parade down mainstreet and Reese danced along from the sidelines which was super cute to watch. On Saturday morning as we were getting ready to head to Disneyland she was playing in the stroller and tipped it over causing her to faceplant into the corner of the wall. She got over it quickly but it provided her with a nice red line going down her face for the majority of the trip. After we got over our fall we went to Disney California where Reese discovered the Bug's Life area and fell in love. She just wanted to go on the rides over and over again which was cute to see. She was definetly in to any ride that went in circles like Dumbo, Flik's Flyers and the Astro Orbiter, she found all of those very much to her liking. That afternoon we were waiting to meet up with my parents when some music started so naturally Reese started dancing to the entertainment of many people around us, that kid will dance whenever she hears music. That night we met up with my old college roommate Lara and her husband Alan for dinner. It was fun to get to catch up with them for the night. The next day was our final day at Disneyland so Reese and I went early for the magic morning and took all the obligatory Disney photos before they got bombarded with people. We went over to Toontown and I just let her run around all the houses, I had never understood the appeal of Toontown but Reese loved it and when we went to Minnie's house she took a photo with her and didn't freak out which was surprising to me. Later on when we saw Mickey she was desperate to get to him, she'd already taken her photo with him earlier in the day so I wasn't going to wait in the super long line but luckily since she was shouting "Mick Mick" he turned his head and waved at her which appeased her need for him. That night we went back to the park for the firework show and of course Reese passed out before it started, but it was still a fun show and I enjoyed getting to see it. Monday we had to leave Anaheim and fly back to Sacramento, we'd had so much fun that I didn't want to leave but alas the time had come to leave the beautiful sun warm sun behind.

Our final week in Sacramento was gorgeous, I spent the majority of the time laying out in the backyard soaking up the sun while Reese played which was my idea of a great vacation. We ate at all my favorite places and went shopping to make sure I finished my list of things I had wanted to get, but mostly we played in the sun. Reese found that she liked to dig in the dirt with Ava and she also liked to use the sidewalk chalk. We were able to go up to my grandma's house for a visit and we also went to lunch with one of my high school friends so it was a trip packed with fun and visits. We love whenever we get to go out to California, Reese has so much fun with my parents and with my sister and Ava and I like her getting to spend time with family. There were so many little things we did that were fun that it would take way too much time to document everything, but we did have a great three weeks there and we hope we get to see them again soon.