California or bust

We had two free tickets to anywhere in the US and we had to decide where to go.  It all started when I got fed up with Alaska Airlines.  I stopped using the credit card I have from them last year when they tried to charge me $75 for the privilege of having thee card.  Of course that did not go over well with me and I called to cancel so they decided to waive the fee for the year.  So another year goes by and I called to cancel the card again and they decided since I stopped using the card they would not waive the fee so the card was cancelled.  After it was canceled they informed me that all of my points would be removed from my account within 24hrs, so we had to buy tickets and quickly.   CA was the place and after we got the tickets, I scheduled work down there so we got to extend the trip and had a great time.  Did I mention I hate credit cards...Dave Ramsey is the new cool, and if you don't know what I am talking about you need to listen up and get a clue.

When we got there we drove down to Myron and Andrea Kamper's in Visalia.  James got to play with Jake.  While playing in the garage they found a lizard and put it in a bowl.

Jake touched it and so did James.

He loved to watch the thing run around outside.  It was the source of much yelling and high pitched screams.

Myron is a vet and I got a chance to go visit a goat dairy with him.  These goats look possessed.

Baby goats sucking the milk down.  This is they way to run a  dairy, very little smell, clean and dry...very neat to see and any goat milk you would buy in Trader Joes comes right from this dairy.

Back at the homestead.

The girls looking awesome as ever...not sure what they were laughing about here, but I think it was me taking the picture.

We had a chance to also visit my grandparents.

James had a great time with my grandmother, especially trying to figure out why her ear kept squealing (her hearing aid sweaks all of the time).

Then we hung out with the Schenks.  After dinner it is shirts off wrestling time at their house and man is it a good time.

Mo looks quite interesting in this picture.  She is one tough girl and those kids are so darn cute.

Clothing optional.

After Riptown it was time for San Jose.

We went to Harry and Mindy's house and they had a bunch of people over to connect with again.  Here James is embracing Lucy who was born the day after he was.  She talks alot, but James is much bigger. 

Mindy was due any day and she was showing.  It turns out they day we left to come home she gave birth at 6am...we did not get a chance to see the baby though.

We got to have dinner with Jeff and Jen as well and hang out with the two girls they have.  We were so thankful to have a place to stay and crashed at Drew and Amy's house.  They were very hospitable and we had a great time catching up with all of our friends.

This is the best sight for the whole trip though.  James has been on a kick of high pitched whining lately and 2 minutes of that feels like an eternity and makes you want to jump out of a car traveling at 60mph down the road.  I assume it is partly due to his inability to talk yet, but we have been taking steps to curb the whining like turning the radio up, taking deep breaths, and then putting him in his crib...when will it stop?????