Upon review of the blog, I realized we did not post about Uncle Matt's visit to California in March.
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Uncle Matt, Mommy's older brother, wanted to take a trip to California to visit his 2 little nieces.
He thought and thought over the best time to fly out to maximize his time.
See, the last time Uncle Matt was here was early August 2008.
He thought he might get to be one of the first ones to meet his newest niece, Kennedy, but she waited and waited to make her grand entrance.
Uncle Matt was already back in FL when she arrived.
This time, Uncle Matt wanted plenty of time to hug, kiss, snuggle, and play with the girls.
We tentatively scheduled (and re-scheduled) his trip many times between December of last year and February until finally picking the best dates.
Uncle Matt decided to fly to California and visit for 5 days, then fly back to Florida with Mommy, Madison, and Kennedy to help on our very first flight with both girls.
He arrived in Burbank March 27th.
With his flight arriving around 3pm, we decided this would be the perfect opportunity to take our first family trip to the LA ZOO since it's only 15 minutes from the airport.
We spent the morning and early afternoon checking out all the animals, eating lunch, and eventually napping in the car on the way to pick up Uncle Matt (look for a Friday Flashback on this trip soon)
The first couple days of our trip we hung around Simi Valley.
We took Uncle Matt to our favorite Mexican restaurant Lalo's for some true authentic Mexican food (not the ground beef you find in the South) and played at our house.
Sunday morning before church, Uncle Matt taught the girls how to stick spoons to their noses.
Kennedy was less than thrilled.
Madison thought it was great fun!
She still tries to huff on her spoons and stick then to her nose now!
Check out her crazy bed head.
After church and naps, Uncle Matt took Madison for a walk in her wagon.
Monday, Daddy went to work and Uncle Matt, Mommy, and the girls loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly, Hills that is....
We actually drove to Hollywood to check out the sign
the Kodak (think red carpet-Academy Awards)
and all the touristy stuff that goes with it.
Madison got to hold a parrot.
Mommy and the girls stopped for a picture at Walt Disney's star.
Madison tried out her hands for size at Shirley Temple's spot in front of Grauman's.
She paused for a photo by Mickey Mouse's star, too.
Had we known Kennedy would fall so in love with Mr Mouse, we would have taken her picture, too!
We cruised down Hollywood Blvd for a little while before heading over to Beverly Hills for stroll down Rodeo Drive.
The girls were pretty antsy when we got there so we decided to keep the car moving and just enjoy the window views of the brand new Bentley's, Lotus's, and the shiny new Rolls Royce we saw driving the neighborhood.
We stopped for a couple quick pictures under a sign and in front of the Beverly Hills police station but I can't seem to locate those right now....Hmmmm.
After lunch at PF Chang's at the Beverly Center he drove home for nap time.
The next day, Tuesday, we drove north to Santa Barbara.
We took Uncle Matt to the place where Mommy and Daddy originally wanted to get married (Hawaii won out)
We stopped at a bench in the beautiful grassy park overlooking the ocean above where our beach spot was.
The fence in the background is up because part of the sidewalk washed away.
At high tide there is no beach spot where we wanted to get married and the waves crash up against the rocky cliff.
Sometimes all that crashing makes for changes- including washing away a huge portion of the cliff.
Isn't it just beautiful in Santa Barbara?
Once we got down to the beach, we were lucky to find low tide and plenty of room to walk and explore.
This was Kennedy's first time on the beach-(east coast or west, remember this trip was before our FL trip)
She wasn't sure how she felt about the wet sand.
Note the Godfather face making an appearance (we don't see that one too often anymore)
It didn't take long for her to decide handfuls at a time is the best way to explore the sand- that and putting it in her mouth.
Doesn't she look so tiny back then?
Uncle Matt and Madison explored the rocks and water while Kennedy played with the sand.
This is the view from the other direction.
Gorgeous mountains and ocean...
and a sweet baby, of course.
Soon Madison joined in the wet sand fun.
Uncle Matt helped Madison up the tall stairs back to the car.
Can't you just imagine a beach bride making her grand entrance here?
After our beach time and a little snack we were off to the main reason for our trip- wine tasting.
We decided it would be best to stay within the city of Santa Barbara since there are several tasting rooms (instead of acres and acres of rolling vineyards) within walking distance of one another.
First stop, Oreana winery.
Mommy, Daddy, and Pop went to this winery several years ago before Madison was born.
Madison liked the patio area out front.
There was a flamingo planter decoration in one of the barrels she thought was super fun.
Inside this little co-op winery they have a Pac-man video game to play while you taste.
Uncle Matt showed Madison how to play.
Then she hoped around to the other side to pretend with the controllers.
Madison liked the surfboard out front.
Since we had the girls and didn't have unlimited time we decided to pass on Kalyra and visit their neighbors instead.
Most tasting rooms in the area offer 6-8 different wines for around $10.
Giessinger winery offered a taste of 17 different wines for $15.
Everything from the usual whites and reds to dessert wines and ports.
Mommy and Uncle Matt shared a tasting at this stop while Madison happily played at the bistro tables with her doodle pro.
Then in Uncle Matt's lap.
The tasting rooms are not very busy in a Tuesday late morning just after opening so grad student who was telling us all about our wines (and her exciting upcoming move to Europe for grad school) was happy to have Madison and Kennedy to keep her entertained.
She was even nice enough to take a picture for us.
When Mommy and Daddy were exploring Santa Barbara for a potential wedding destination in the fall of 2004, they found a great place to catch a bite, beverage, and football game any given Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
When they went back to Santa Barbara for their first anniversary Mommy was VERY pregnant with Miss Madison.
We laughed and laughed when we stumbled upon our favorite little football spot only to find the name was the same as our soon to be baby girl's!
We had to take a picture to show her when she gets older.
After telling Uncle Matt the story, he wanted to try this place out, too.
So, lunch at Madison's.
After lunch the girls were pretty tired.
We decided to head a bit further north to try and find some vineyards for Uncle Matt to see.
Both girls fell asleep in the car.
Unfortunately, the road to wine country was a bit longer, windier, and slower than we anticipated.
Long about the time we realized this was NOT a good idea, we were stuck in construction traffic on a 2 lane, windy mountain road.
Needless to say, we turned around as soon as we could (which was not soon at all!) to head home with two very unhappy campers!
Hey, at least Uncle Matt got to see Solvang on his trip.
Maybe next time he comes we will actually PLAN to spend some time there.
We got home just in time to start working on dinner.
Yummy stir fry.
Madison thought since everyone else was using chopsticks, so should she.
We enjoyed watching her try to eat grapes with chopsticks.
The next day, Uncle Matt played with the girls so Mommy could finish getting packed for our big Florida trip.
Kennedy practiced her push ups (she's wearing a shirt that was Mommy's when she was a baby)
and played with Sierra
then hung out with Uncle Matt on the sofa (he's not sleeping, he just closed his eyes in the picture)
Later, Kennedy showed Uncle Matt how she likes to crawl with her leg warmers to keep her knees from getting rug burned.
The next morning we rented a car big enough to take all of us and a month's worth of luggage down to Los Angeles International Airport.
The wonderful lady at the Southwest ticket counter offered Daddy a gate pass to help us through security with the kids.
We were so thankful for the extra hands, but wondered why in all the times Mommy has flown by herself with Madison no one EVER offered this to us in the past.
We didn't even know it was available with all the extra 'security' since 9-11.
Now that we know, we are requesting a gate pass for Daddy any time Mommy flies alone with the girls.
It was so much easier having Daddy, Uncle Matt, and Mommy to help fold up the stroller and keep the girls off the airport floor without shoes on their feet.
We were thankful to have Uncle Matt flying with us on the way to Florida since Madison and Kennedy got tired at the same time and both wanted to sleep on someone.
Uncle Matt had the pleasure of snuggling with Madison while she took a short airplane nap.
After this trip, Uncle Matt is making his list of places he wants to visit again with his friends if the University of Florida Gators (boo) make it to the National Championship game again this year, since it will be played at the Rose Bowl.
He has already 'reserved' his spot in the guest room for the week should they make it!
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