July began with a family vacation to California to visit an old friend and his family. Chris and I hadn't seen Tim since our wedding in Dec. '99. Since that time, Tim has gotten married and had three children. With great airfare on Skybus, we decided it was time to get caught up in person. Not only was this Kaiya's first time to California, but it was also a first for both Mommy and Daddy.
Here is a run down of our trip...
July 3: Drive up to Columbus and spend the night with Grandpa Branson and Aunt Sara. We celebrated Father's Day and went to dinner at Dave and Busters.
July 4: Fly to California. We woke up at 1:30 a.m. Pacific time to catch our flight. Praise the Lord for a direct flight into California. Once again, Kaiya was a champ!
We got into CA about 8:30 a.m. and drove about 3 hours from the airport to Hanford, which is near Fresno. Spent the day recovering and getting to know the Kochendarfer family. That evening, we went to a church Fourth of July picnic. It was over 110 degrees! The three of us couldn't stay awake for fireworks and went back to the house a little early. Even with the 3 hour time difference, Kaiya kept us up until 10 p.m.
July 5: We decided on a day trip to Sequoia National Park to visit the giant redwood trees. MapQuest said it would be about 1:45 hour drive, but with road construction on the mountain it wound up being about 3 hours! The Koch kids were great at entertaining Kaiya during our long wait.
Once we got to the spot, Chris strapped Kaiya on for a walk. At the higher elevation and under the shade, the weather was actually quite nice.
The highlight of the trip was seeing the The General Sherman Tree, which is 274.9' tall and 102.6' in circumference at its base. With 52,500 cubic feet of wood, the General Sherman Tree is the World's Largest Tree.
Family photo next to a redwood cross-section:
We rode a bus back up to the parking lot. With all the traveling she has done, Kaiya is a pro at riding public transit :-)
July 6, 7: We all decided it was just too hot, so we went to Pismo Beach for an overnight trip. The weather was perfect -- low to mid 60s! It was - surprise, surprise - about a three hour drive! But, on the way there, we stopped for lunch at In-N-Out Burger (yummy!)
The hotel we stayed at was on the coast. Here Chris and Kaiya are chillin' on the gazebo.
Here is the beach area at the hotel. It was a bit of climb to get down there, so it wasn't very visitor friendly - beautiful nonetheless.
July 8: We worshipped with the Kochs and really enjoyed the service. Our brothers and sisters in Christ at New Hope OPC were very welcoming.
July 9: DISNEYLAND!
Disney was totally worth the 4 hour drive. Chris and I have visited Disney parks in Florida, Paris, and Tokyo, so it was time to visit the original.
We decided to ride on the new Nemo submarines first. It must have been the right choice, because one of the boats was named Scout - that's what we called Kaiya before we knew we were having a girl!
Here she is on her very first amusement park ride!
Her favorite ride was It's a Small World, so we rode it twice. She just looked around and couldn't absorb it all fast enough. Too cute. Watching her on the ride was really the highlight of our trip to Disney.
July 10: We flew back home to Ohio. We got into Columbus at 1:30 a.m., so we spent the night in Columbus. We had a great time with the Kochendarfers. Lord willing, we won't go 7+ years again without seeing them again. And, now, we can say our longtime friends Tim and Leeann!
Top 10 firsts on her trip to California
- Flight with Daddy: She and Daddy were inducted into the mile high diaper club!
- Seeing "brown mountains"
- Temperatures over 100 degrees: We made sure she had plenty to drink to stay hydrated. (It was kind of sad to see her with red cheeks.)
- Visit to the Pacific Ocean: It was too cold to go in the water.
- Sleep over: Kaiya absolutely loved Kaelyn, Lannie and Iden (Sorry if these are misspelled!).
- In-N-Out Burger: This was one of Daddy's favorite parts of the trip. We wound up eating there 4 times!
- Worship at an OPC: And maybe soon she will get to hear her Grandpa Knodel preach.
- Disney park: The legacy continues... Disney World in September!
- Amusement park ride: She was absolutely adorable on every ride.
- Mouse Ears: Just like Mommy!
She was such a good girl the entire time, even though we spent about 24 hours driving just in California. I can't wait for our next family trip!
State count: 9
Country count: 1
2 comments:
Cutest. Baby. Ever.
Wow! I haven't seen Tim since `89. You turned out good!
The pictures are adorable. She sure has grown this year and I love that smile. I can't wait to visit you guys and hold her.
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