Visit from Michigans!

Two weeks ago Collin's family from Michigan came out to visit. It was wonderful to spend time together and have all of the cousins meet! Grandma Judy and Grandpa Jerry had a party to introduce Tyler and their relatives to some of their friends! Here are some pics from the night!

Hanging with Daddy and Great-Grandma Elaine
Great-grandpa Elton, Laurie Mitcheltree (family friend) Tyler and Grandpa Jerry
Grandpa Jerry teaching Tyler young - bad influence Grandpa!!!
The little ones playing! (Cousin Izzy and Nic)

Relaxing on my New Zealand sheep skin rug from Mary and family!

Chance's First Birthday

After our trip to Napa, we headed back to Sacramento on Saturday for Chance's 1st Birthday!!! I was so thankful that we could be there to celebrate with my family. It's hard to be so far away from Sacramento and miss out on many of the family events. I'm thrilled we could be a part of this and have another day to spend with my family!

Chance playing "Honk, Honk" with Tyler's nose!

Vacation - Part 2 - Napa

For our vacation this year, we traveled to Sacramento to visit my parents and then Collin's parents joined us up there. From Sacramento we went over to Napa for the week. On Monday we decided to take it easy. We started our day with a lunch at The Squeeze Inn - a great dive in Sacramento that now has a place in Napa too. Collin (and Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) love this place! It was Tyler's first experience with the "skirt." We then went over to Fairfield and toured the Jelly Belly Factory. Tyler was a trooper all day. We finished the day walking through downtown Napa. We expected to find a bunch of cute little shops. I guess it's the sign of the times to find a lot of empty store fronts and a couple of restaurants.

Tyler watching Daddy eating his Squeeze Burger

Getting ready to tour the Jelly Belly Factory with Grandpa Jerry and Gradma Judy

On Tuesday we did a little wine tasting. Tyler loved the wine tasting. That day we visited Black Stallion, Mumm, BV, and Sutter Homes. Mumm had the best setting. It's worth a stop just for the view and relaxing atmosphere.

Mumm - ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL

We also continued our DDD visits and had lunch at Taylor's Automatic Refresher in St. Helena.

Yummy!

Sutter Home - good wine that's not too expensive!

On Wednesday, we continued the wine tasting. We headed to Healdsburg to visit the La Crema tasting room. It was a LONG drive but worth it! What a great little town. We had lunch at an adorable cafe. Tyler is so anxious to eat. We had to give him his bib and let him munch on Sophie while we all ate! It won't be long before I have to give him rice cereal!
On the way back to our timeshare, we stopped at a castle. I just cannot remember the name of it, but it was quite grand!
We finished the day with another wine tasting at Beringer! The grounds of Beringer are beautiful too!
Tyler loved Beringer, too, because he got to spend time hanging out with Daddy!
On Thursdaywe took Tyler to San Francisco for his first visit to all of Mommy's favorite places. We started the day at Fisherman's Wharf. It was a beautiful day! We took a family picture at the end of the pier.
We then wandered up to Ghiradelli Square and hopped on the cable car. Tyler was asleep for most of the ride, but when he woke up, he loved it!

Asleep in Mommy's arms on the cable car!
Awake at the end of the trip as we arrived at Union Square!

We spent the afternoon shopping. Grandma Judy bought Tyler his first baseball cap at one of Mommy's favorite stores - Gymboree! Daddy was sooo excited!
After some shopping we headed to Chinatown for dinner with Grandpa Jerry's cousin. It was delicious! We finished the day with a trip on the cable cars again, then a sundae at Ghiradelli! By the end of the day, Tyler was pooped out! He was such a tropper all day long!

Mmmmm!!!
Soooo tired!

Friday was our last day in Napa. I really wanted to visit a vineyard I had been to before with my family. The wine wasn't our favorite of the week at Pine Ridge, but the setting was the best by far!

After visiting Pine Ridge we headed to the Napa outlets for some more shopping. While there we ran into Grandpa Jerry's cousin again. It was great to get a picture of Cousin Allison, Alan and their son Michael!
It was a great week with Grandpa Jerry, Grandma Judy and our family of three!

Funny Vacation Videos

Here are a couple of videos from our vacation to Napa.

This first video was taken at the dinner table in a great little restaurant in Napa. Collin just started playing with Tyler and he began giggling like crazy...until he'd had enough.

Then Daddy decided to make Tyler dance. Sorry for the sideways view. I'm still learning to use the video part on the camera. =)

At dinner another night, Grandpa Jerry got Tyler going. His laugh is just contagious!

As you can tell, there was a lot of giggling on our vacation this year!

Vacation - Part 1 - Sacramento

On July 2 Collin, Tyler and I drove up to Sacramento to start our ten day vacation. We spent three days in Sacramento with my parents and then headed to the Napa Valley for a week with Collin's parents. So here is a quick rundown of the week!!!

Friday - A family BBQ with Grandma Betsy, Grandpa John, Aunt Katie, Uncle Matt and Cousin Chance. Tyler and Chance played on the carpet together, swam (Tyler went under for the first time with Daddy!) and even dressed alike. It was a great evening.
Saturday - Tyler's first 4th of July!!! We spent the day with the family (Big Katie, Lynne, Dale, Jerry, and Judy) swimming and enjoying the afternoon sun. That evening we headed to the fairgrounds for the city's fireworks show. Tyler stayed awake and wasn't really scared of the fireworks. At times he even watched them over our heads!
Sunday - We hung out at my parents before leaving in the evening for Napa. Aunt Emily came and hang out with us too!! Grandma Judy and Grandpa Jerry were also there with us too! The two Grandmas liked relaxing on the outdoor couch with Tyler.
After an afternoon of relaxing, Jerry, Judy, Collin, Tyler and I made the short (but VERY trafficy drive to Napa).