Caroline's 1st Plane Ride!

In July we headed to Houston for a visit.  It was C's first time on a plane!  She was amazing.  I was a little worried taking a 2 month old on a plane, but I knew I could at least feed her if things went badly.  I fed her on take-off, and after that she slept for the entire 3 hour flight. 

Here are some pictures of my baby girl's first time in the air.

Yes, she spent most of the flight with her head in David's armpit! 

Here's our frequent flyer...

Lily is an old pro at flying now.  She loves going "dumbo high".  She is such a big girl, she entertained herself with colors, stickers, activity books, and watched part of Toy Story.

On the way home

I forgot my memory card when we left LA, so I wasn't able to get any pictures on the way to Houston.  But I did get a few on our way home. 

But before we get to the pictures, let me back up and talk about Lily on the plane...

Before we left on our trip, I was really worried about taking Lily on an airplane.  She traveled on one when she was about a year and a half, but she sat on our lap.  On the trip out she was pretty good, but the ride home she was very tired and cranky, which made for a stressed out momma.  This time we had to get Lily a seat, since she is over 2.  I read lots of information about toddlers traveling, and saw numerous recommendations to take her car seat.  My hesitation with this was on the way home it was just Lily and me.  I wasn't sure how I was going to manage a toddler and a heavy car seat, not to mention everything to entertain that toddler.  So I again searched online and found a product you hook to your car seat to make it roll.  Seriously best invention ever!  It was a little pricey, but totally worth the money. 

So it came time for our trip.  Lily was such a pro!  She actually rolled her car seat through the airport.  Then she was really excited to get on the plane and she jumped right into her car seat.  She was so happy there, and never got upset.  She kept looking out the window saying, "Momma, Dada, I'm Bumbo high!"  (She loved Dumbo at Disneyland, so now every time she is up somewhere high, she says, "I'm Bumbo high".)

Our ride home was also very easy.  The two of us got through the airport pretty smoothly, and she was happy on the flight home.  She even fell asleep right before we landed.  Now I'm not so nervous about flying with Lily, seeing as she enjoys it more than I do!  And it doesn't hurt when Southwest serves you lots of snacks...including Golden Oreos :)

Lily playing with her stickers

having lots of fun!

My Little Cheerleader

My mom got Lily a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader outfit at Target.  (Seeing as it was fully covered, I approved)  We thought she could wear it while David watches the games ;)  I thought she looked so cute, and she did a few poses in her new outfit!

love this pose...crazy girl!

Swinging at the Park

After the splash pad, Lily changed her clothes and headed over to the playground.  After a few times down the slide, she headed over to the swings, where she stayed for the remainder of our time there.

The next picture I one of my favorites.  She was laughing and having a good time, but when the camera clicked, this is what was captured...hilarious!!  It looks like we are torturing her!

that's more like it!

me and my sister!!

yes!

Fun at the Splash Pad

The neighborhood where Ashlee and David's parents live has a splash pad in it.  We decided to take Lily one day.  She had such an amazing time playing in the water. 

David had to take her through, she wouldn't go by herself

I swear she had more fun in the showers than on the splash pad...I don't think she knew they weren't a toy.

Dinner at the Retbergs

Our wonderful friends invited all of us over for dinner one night.  We had such a great evening, and lots of great food - seriously best ribs I've had in a long time.  All the kids had such a great time playing together, and our Bears pulled out a win against TCU!  (that was a good game!)

I had to include a couple of pictures...

Below is David and their Great Dane, Walter--He is awesome!  The biggest dog I have ever met, and also one of the calmest.  He really liked David.

Ashlee and baby Wyatt! 

Napping

She really falls asleep in the most random places...

Fairy Dance Party!

We went to the mall to do a bit of shopping, and I found part of Lily's Halloween outfit.  She ended up wearing her wings all around the rest of the mall while we shopped.

Later that evening, Lily decided to put her wings back on and have a dance party!!  She had so much fun dancing all around the house.

She even got David in on the action!  The look on David's face is priceless!  He's such a great daddy.



Ashlee turned the big 3-0!!!

We arrived in Houston Saturday afternoon, and that evening we celebrated Ashlee's 30th birthday!  It was so much fun!  We had Gringo's for dinner and yummy Gigi's cupcakes for dessert! 

Olivia and Lily waiting for cupcakes!

cupcakes and presents

Lily helped blow out the candles

Wyatt loves Woody

Birthday girl!

Lily enjoying her cupcake!

Can't believe my big sister is 30!!!

mmm...Wine!

After David opened his presents, we headed out to Paso Robles.  It is a wonderful winery area.  As much as I loved Napa, Paso is lots fun because they have great wineries and are much cheaper. 

Driving through the mountains always bring such neat views.  You drive through lots of agriculture, mountains, and you also pass lots of oil derricks.

We stopped at the first winery, Tobin James.  It's a neat place to stop.  It looks like a saloon, very cute.  And they have free tastings, so there is nothing wrong with that!  After that we headed to Bianchi winery.  They make a very good late harvest dessert wine that we have purchased before.  They have beautiful grounds, and Lily had so much fun watching the coy fish.  The best part of the whole thing was when one of the fish jumped up and scared her!  She jumped and ran over to David as fast as she could.  It was hilarious!

 The last winery we stopped at was Pear Valley.  It is by far my favorite winery.  Little tidbit: most wineries that you go to don't grown their own grapes.  Usually they own the land their building is on, but the grapes are grown in another location and someone else owns the grapes surrounding their winery.  At Pear Valley they acually own all of the land their winery sits on, including all the grapes.  They have a beautiful wine tasting area, and it sits on a hill. beautiful.  They also have amazing wine, which never hurts.

swinging with Grampy

it was a bitwindy

wine grapes are tiny

she loved these steps.

It was such a great vacation with my family.  I was telling my mom when they were here, this trip was special.  Usually we are traveling to go see people, so we don't get much just family time.  This time it was perfect because we really got to experience all of these things together.  It was perfect!