California

My house is full of trains, cars, and everything boy. I have a few dolls and dress up things but not much so it was so fun to fly to California to visit a world of pink. Shaun's sister lives in the Bay area and has two little girls. Sami is 5 and Alyssa is the same age as Annie. They all played together pretty well. When we first got there Alex kept asking where the trains were, but after a little while he found a Barbie car and a little people bus that were manly enough for him. We also went to visit Shaun's Aunt who lives nearby. She hadn't seen Alex since he was 10 months old. It was good to see so much family again. Alex and Sami rode circles around her kitchen on her tricycle. I think I may have to get him one of those.
We took a few minutes and got pictures of the cousins all together. Uncle Shaun was good at getting them all to smile. Sami really wanted to see snow so her mom rented a cabin up in the mountains for all of us to stay at for a few days. It was cute and had a enough rooms for everyone to be comfortable. We weren't roughing it at all... it had a dishwasher, garbage disposal, tv, and a great heater. It was nice that none of us could get cell phone service. They had four feet of snow so we took advantage and did lots of sledding. We haven't had much snow this year here so we loved the chance to play in the snow. The walkway up to the cabin was perfect for the little girls to go sledding on all by themselves. Ally is a true California girl and wasn't thrilled with the snow, but she sure did like sledding. We also found another big sledding hill to go down. I couldn't manage to stay straight on that one and Annie and Alex got a face full of snow a few times! But they just brushed it off and asked to go again.Yum, snow tastes good!Uncle Jeremy and the little girls

After sledding it was back inside to dry off and drink some hot chocolate and games. We played Ticket to Ride and Jeremy and Tamra taught us how to play Bohnanza which I hated for the first few rounds since it was so confusing, but after a half game and a little comprehension, I ended up really liking it.
Alex is a funny boy. The first night we were at the cabin we saw Alex at the door with his pants around his ankles. When I asked him what he was doing he told me he wanted to go pee on a tree. He was very insistent even though it was 20 degrees and snowy outside. Why is it so fascinating to pee outside anyway?
It was so much fun to catch up with Tamra and see the kids play together. I can't wait until we can all get together again.
I do have to say there were a few things that made travel so much better. We found out that you don't have to pay to check carseat bags. We borrowed a set of wheels that attached to your carseat allowing you to roll it behind you. Annie and Alex loved sitting in it and it was nice to have a carseat to strap one child or the other in when we were in the air. As we were leaving California Alex got a few laughs as he yelled, "Bye bye California! We'll see you later!"
Annie at BWI loving those fries