Christopher and I just returned from 10 days in California visiting Brandon. He will return on Friday from a month long rotation at Travis AFB (near San Francisco). We had a wonderful time and absolutely loved it! Brandon's mom flew out with us and his dad joined us for the second half of the trip and they were a tremendous help. The camera is still with Brandon so you'll have to wait until he returns and I can go through the 1000 photos that we took before seeing them, but I thought I'd at least go ahead and tell you what we did. We arrived around lunch on Friday and Brandon was able to leave work early to pick us up at the airport. We drove around town for a while and stopped to see Lombard Street, took photos and then drove on down the curviest street in the world. Then we went straight to see the Golden Gate bridge, which was so cool to actually drive across! We went and grabbed dinner in Sausalito, which if you have lots and lots of money, would be a great place to live. (Let us know if you do, we'll come visit!) It was Fleet Week that weekend and so Saturday we headed into the city and walked around, grabbed lunch and found a perfect spot to watch the air show over the bay. Christopher loved watching the planes do all their fancy tricks. Sunday we decided to avoid the crowd and head to Muir Woods to see some of the famous redwoods. It was so peaceful and beautiful! The bigger ones are, I think, south of S.F., but they weren't on our way out of town. Afterwards we headed to Travis to check in and relax. On Monday we hopped in the car and drove up to Napa Valley, which was very beautiful. There were so many vineyards along the road to see and we had fun stopping at some of them to learn how they made their wine and so Brandon and his mom could sample a few. One of them even had a white grape juice box for the kids (which I ended up drinking since Christopher doesn't like juice). We had lunch at Taylor's Refresher, which we'd heard about on the Food Network as being rated one of the top burger places in the country. It was a lot of fun! You just walked up to the window, ordered your food and then watch the kids run around until your order was called, typically with a funny message. On Tuesday, Brandon had to head back to work, so Lisa and I headed to a nearby outlet to do a little shopping. We had to practically drag Christopher out of the Ghiradelli shop we went in. He loves his chocolate! (Not sure where he gets that from.) On Wednesday, Papa John arrived, so we just stayed on base until it was time to pick him up. Thursday we went back up to Napa Valley and found our favorite winery yet. They had the cutest little store with all kinds of cheeses, breads, meats and just about every kind of dips, sauces, mixes, etc. you could think of! We spent forever in there and bought a few things before leaving. On Friday, I told John and Lisa to take the day to do whatever they wanted since their anniversary was that weekend and Christopher and I just relaxed and napped at the hotel while it rained. It was just what we needed to get ready for the weekend ahead. We woke up early Saturday to head back into the city for our tour of Alcatraz. It was so amazing to see and hear what happened there. Definitely a must see if you ever go and visit. We went to Pier 39 to grab lunch and walked around at the shops there before we sent the grandparents off for an anniversary dinner. The three of us drove down to Oakland to meet our friend's parents for dinner and it was so peaceful and calm, not what we expected, but a wonderful end to a busy day. Our last day was Sunday and we headed back into the city again for our fire engine tour over the Golden Gate Bridge and to a few other places. I think it was probably mine and Christopher's favorite thing we did all week! We all got to wear firemen jackets (including the little guy) and sit in the back of an old fire engine as we bounced around the city. I don't think I've had that much fun in a long time! It is something that everyone MUST do if they have kids or not. After grabbing lunch at Fisherman's Wharf we headed over to the Ghiradelli Shop and then went to ride on a trolley. Christopher crashed by this point and we headed on home to start packing up our bags. We had an amazing time and Brandon and I have already decided that we want to go back again in about 5 years to do it all over again, just the two of us. So, if you ever head out west, we definitely suggest going to San Francisco! We loved it, but there's definitely no place like home.

So we went for the ultrasound this week and got Baby Bump's second round of photos taken. We didn't find out if we are having a "he" or a "she" and if Brandon hadn't shown up when he did I think I would have known. But I was a good wife and as soon as I walked in I told the tech he didn't want to find out, even though I have to admit, I thought about not mentioning it and seeing if she'd tell me. But I love my dear husband and didn't want to take away his joy of telling everyone when the bump arrives, "It's a boy!" or "It's a girl!" The tech said she didn't even want to find out if we didn't because she could slip up and tell us. My doctor said the same thing. So, we really and truly have no idea! So, now we just have to come up with two names, which has proven to become very difficult and hopefully we will settle on one of each by the time we leave the hospital in January/February with the new bundle of joy in our arms!

Top: Baby Bump's face (forehead on right with hands under chin on left)
Bottom: Baby Bump's legs crossed, guess he/she heard we didn't want to know and tried to help out! (knees on left and feet on right)

Christopher has had a lot of fun helping us cook in the kitchen this week. First we made some chocolate chip cookies and I caught him right before he dumped pepper into the mixing bowl. I gave him his own bowl and let him put whatever he wanted in there, which made him happy. Then a few days later he helped Brandon make some pizza dough. He dug for the goldfish that we hid in the bowl and went back and forth dumping them into a measuring cup. He played for 30 minutes before we finally made him clean up, the flour was starting to become sticky. Maybe one day he'll fix dinner for us????

I caught Christopher looking at a magazine while eating his lunch one day, something I do quite often. I thought it was so cute I had to catch a photo. What was he looking at you ask? None other than the Babies R Us sale catalog that had come in the mail the day before. He looked very interested in the carseat section. Guess he was trying to figure out which one he would like us to get for him next. Slow down buddy!

We decided at the end of the week that we wanted to head out of town for the long weekend and so we packed up our stuff and drove down to the lake. It was nice to wake up to the cool air and be away from the hot, humid sun of north Alabama. Wait, drive south, cooler temperatures? That's right! We were just as surprised as anyone, but didn't complain one bit. Saturday was spent relaxing and watching soccer (we know, it was a big day for football). Mom and I were cooking in the kitchen when Christopher walked by and was headed straight for the pantry. Next thing I know, he's carrying a brand new bag of Fritos, looks at me and walks back to the couch to join Brandon where he's watching a soccer match. It was too funny! Our friends, the Khans, came up to join us for lunch and the boys enjoyed seeing each other again. The dad's had fun figuring out how to play Bocche ball and Melissa and I were just glad to have the boys entertained for a couple hours while we relaxed with some homemade cookies! Saturday evening we drove into Montgomery to have dinner with Brandon's family. Aunt Ame and cousin Cameron were in town for the evening as well and the two cousins chased each other all over the yard and in the house and laughed at each other while eating dinner. It was cute! Sunday we spent the whole day relaxing again and then Aunt Jenny and Uncle Trey came up with Mollie and Beasley to visit for a little while. Monday we headed back to Huntsville, but stopped in Birmingham to visit with our friends Cosby and Liz and have lunch. We got to see their new house and Christopher had a blast chasing their cat all over the place. They had just returned from their honeymoon and bought Christopher an official Barcelona soccer uniform, which of course we had to put on him right away. It was adorable! We finally got back home that afternoon and were exhausted, but glad we had a chance to see so many family and friends over the weekend.