We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas in California with my family. We spent the first half of our trip in Healdsburg and then returned to Inken & Andrew's for Christmas. Now I'm not going to lie, it was quite a different experience than our last trip to wine country, as in more crying and less relaxing. There were some challenging moments dealing with jet lag and 3 kiddos under the age of 3 who all wanted to play with THE new toy. However, there were also those wonderful moments when three cousins were chasing one another around the house in fits of giggles, or giving loving kisses, or having "conversations" over breakfast, or reading books with their Omi K.
These moments were priceless and made the trip so worthwhile.
A recap of our trip in many pictures and few words.
The girls were great little travelers (despite Kenzie getting carsick on the way to the airport for our 7am flight). They were so excited to see their cousin Grady. When you ask Lexi what the best part of her trip to California was the answer is always "Grady!"
We had lots of rain, but made the most of the times that the sun was out and found fun things to do in the rain ... like playing twister & candy land while enjoying some wine.
We rented a limo to take us wine tasting one day. A very good decision as the kids thought the limo was very cool and it made the day much more enjoyable for the adults.
We enjoyed the quaint town of Healdsburg and relaxing fireside at the home we rented.
The girls enjoyed our Healdsburg "neighbors" but weren't quite as impressed with our visit to Muir Woods. The enormity and beauty of the redwoods did not seem to overcome the fact that they were cold and tired.
We continued our family tradition of having Cioppino for Christmas Eve dinner, quite appropriate for San Francisco. Kenzie baked cookies for Santa wit Aunt Inken ... Lexi was beyond exhausted and cranky and was already in bed ... and requested that we put out 8 carrots for the reindeer and a Diet Coke for Santa.
Christmas morning was fun and a bit chaotic. Santa found us in San Francisco and brought the "pink princess" that Lexi had been wishing for.
The day after Christmas we went to the Exploratorium and had lunch at the Ferry Building.
The next day we went to the San Francisco Zoo and Ocean Beach.
It was a fun & busy week spent with those that I love the most. I am so thankful for my family and the opportunity to share new experiences with my girls. And while we returned home exhausted, we also returned with wonderful memories and that makes it all worthwhile. It was a very merry California Christmas.