Fall Travels

At the beginning of the month we took a fabulous trip north to visit a lot of wonderful family. My heart stirs when I travel north. When you're driving up 101 and turn inland after Gaviota, the scenery changes dramatically; you are surrounded by beautiful golden hills dotted with large, old oak trees. Not to mention fewer palm trees, they are totally overused in Southern California landscapes. I absolutely LOVE the central coast. The pace of life is slower and everything just seems more relaxed. And, of course, the farther north we travel the closer we get to family. We got to see all but one of our parents, Hannah and Caleb's cousins on my side, and all but one of my siblings. My brother Jeff, sister-in-law Lauren and niece Emily were out for a visit from Indiana. It's been over a year since we've seen them so a visit was long overdue.

We began our trip with a beautiful sunrise at Nono and Nona's house

Hannah got to feed Nona's cows, and she loved seeing the new calves

Jeff, Megan, David and me. I think the last time we were all together was David's wedding over 2 years ago

My handsome nephew Kolton. Those eyes will melt you

Kolton was very curious about the baby and wanted to touch him

Here's precious Emily. She just turned two and is so fun to be around

This was the best picture we could get of Mom and Mike with all their grandchildren...like herding cats

We got to spend a couple nights with my dad, Grandpa Bud. I think Hannah was looking forward to the teasing

Caleb got to chew on Mimi's hand

And Hannah got to read her new book with Papa

Growing

I can't believe Caleb is already 4 months old. Actually, 4 1/2 now, I'm behind with this post. So what's he up to these days? Still sleeping through the night beautifully (thank you Lord!), naps are still short, he smiles a lot and laughs sometimes. When he tries to laugh, he usually gets the hiccups and then has a hard time getting the giggles out. Caleb is also very vocal, babbling a lot, which also creates a lot of drool since his mouth is open all the time. The poor guy has a rash on his chest under his chin because it's

always wet. I try the best I can to mop 

him up but he's like a leaky faucet.

Caleb likes to sit up in the Bumbo and will try to grab anything that looks like it may be within reach. And once he grabs it, it immediately goes in the mouth (producing more drool). I'm thinking we may need to get an exersaucer soon. Caleb also loves his sister and is always looking for her when he hears her voice. It's fun to watch them interact as he gets more responsive.