Dad and Addie Visit Cali pt. 3/3

A real highlight of our trip was spending time with the Beaubiers. My best friend growing up was Aaron, we did everything together. I spent a good chunk of my childhood with his family and they're very special people to me. it was great to see them twice on our trip, it had been a few years. Aaron's older brother Josh has a great family and they had us over for lunch on our way to the airport to fly home. Josh and his wife have been blessed with 4 little girls, the last 2 being a set of twins and they're so cool.



Here's Aaron showing he has a tender side:


Timlyn made us a great little lunch, and Addie got to play with a bunch of toys/dolls. Here are Addie and new friend Brooke getting some food and playing with dolls.

After hanging out with the Beaubiers we headed to the airport. Addie was definitely ready to go home, and i was exhausted. I don't know how single parents travel, but i pretty much failed. Outside on the walkway i was towing 3 suitcases, 1 car-seat, carry-on bags, and an exhausted 2-yr old. We had a crash and Addie bumped her head, which basically turned into chaos. Thankfully a kind gentleman picked up my bags and helped me get to the counter.

After we survived check-in we headed to the gate. I was able to get us on the plane with no problems, we always sit in the last row to stay out of people's way. I got Addie setup and about 10 minutes into the flight she was out.

And she's out:

At this time i apparently looked like death. The steward asked if he could use the vacant seat next to me for his gear, of course i said it was alright but i joked that i wanted "free drinks" for the flight. He turned and said "okay" and went on to do his pre-flight stuff. I put on my headphones (listened to Meese and Glorious Unseen) and tried to relax. The steward, after taking everyone's drink orders was approaching my seat.

"what would you like?" he asked

" um, i'll just take a coffee" i replied

"you can have anything on the plane and you want coffee?"

"uh, no, um, do you have beer?"

"yes, would you like a Heineken?"

"yea, that'd be great" i said.

Then he proceeded to go down the aisle and charge everyone for their drinks, but not me, he gave me a free beer! i know this isn't really amazing or whatever, but it really impacted me ya know, i was exhausted and he was being such a great person to me. I said thanks and enjoyed my beer.

After about 15 minutes he came back and asked me if i was ready for my 2nd?!

Of course i said, now completely relaxed, excited to be home, and enjoy the quiet rumble of the plane. Southwest totally made me their customer after this trip, they were awesome!

This trip was great, i was so thankful that we could see some great friends, and hang out with my family so much. Folsom is growing so fast i hardly recognize it when i go back, we even have an In N Out now! I'm so thankful for my parents and their hospitality, they really took care of us and let us do pretty much whatever we wanted. Addie was really good too, even though she was homesick and was asking for mommy, she stuck it out with dad and didn't have any major breakdowns. She was so good that i picked her up a new pair of DC's from the outlets in Folsom, so now she has puffy white skate shoes just like her daddy!

Addie and Dad Visit Cali pt. 2/3

So throughout the week Addie and I got to have a lot of adventures. When it's over 100 degrees outside you end up indoors watching movies while dad and Uncle Derek watch soccer. So Addie got to watch Nemo, Monster Inc, and Mouse Movie (The Tale of Despereaux) and play with my itouch until it cooled off.






One day we decided to head down to the river. I grew up on this river, so i figured it'd be a good spot to introduce Addie to something besides a pool. This water comes straight out of the bottom of Folsom Lake, so even though it was 100+ outside, the water was frigid. Addie didn't mind at all though, she walked right out in it. She chased some ducks, played in the mud, and wanted me to swim her out to the "dolphins" (buoys).

And probably the coolest (literal) thing we got to do was hit up a local park. they had a little man made river and waterfall that we played in. I dragged my good friends Chris and Eli (of Killing the Dream fame) out with us to help keep my kid entertained. they did a great job!

My favorite shot:

Dad and Addie Visit Cali pt. 1/3

Well, Addie and I (dad) decided to run off to northern California for a few days and hang out in my hometown of Folsom (yes, like the prison). i was excited to take Addie by myself for a few days and give Kassie a few days to relax before the 2nd baby gets here.

Everything went great, Addie is a good traveller, she has a few movies that she loves, she's not a super-picky eater and she sleeps well. Unfortunately it was ridiculously hot the first few days so we were inside a lot, but we had fun!






Addie decided that her Little People each needed their own seat

First we wanted to get together with each of my grandparents. We saw Grandma Lois first, and got a 4 Generations picture.

Then we had Grandma Wilma over and got another few pics.

After we hung out with the Grandparents Addie got to hang out at home. She played with my old train set whenever she got the chance. this huge track was in the living room for most of the trip.

She also got to meet one of the girls that my mom watches, Ally. They played a lot and got along really well. Ally's parents have given us a ton of clothes so it was funny to see Addie wearing outfits that Ally used to wear a few years ago.

Addie basically survived on yogurt, cereal, pizza, and ice cream. She wanted ice cream all of the time, and being the responsible parent that i am, i broke down often and gave in to her demands.