Ryleigh heads to the West Coast

As everyone knows, we spent the last 10 days in California, and I have been trying to figure out how best to blog about our time there.  When I added up the number of photos taken between Yaya and I, I decided it would best to do it with a photo timeline.  Here goes....

DAY ONE
Mommy, Daddy and Ryleigh get up SUPER early (4:00 am) to head to the airport.  Even though she was still sleepy, Ryleigh stayed awake with excitement as she made her first trip through airport security.

Until finally, she made it on her very first airplane!  Ryleigh was such a good little traveler.  She stayed happy pretty much the whole time, other than the few minutes before each of her little cat-naps.  Mommy and Daddy had to force her to sleep a little bit, she just wanted to stay awake and watch everything!  She made many new friends on each of her flights. 

When we finally arrived in L.A., Poppi was there to pick us up.  We made the drive down to Orange County where Yaya, GGma and GGpa were waiting for us.  We spent the rest of the day lounging around and catching up on some much needed sleep.  Ryleigh adjusted great to the time change and was in bed her first night by 8:00pm California time...but not before Yaya snuck in some playtime with her.

DAY TWO

Ryleigh was a good little sleeper and slept until 6:30am California time.  Of course, Yaya and Poppi were up and ready to play as soon as Ryleigh was, but Daddy was able to sneak in some time with his baby too.  They had fun playing in the fuzzy blankets.

Finally, around noon, Yaya, Mommy and Ryleigh headed back up to L.A. to pick up Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah.  Ryleigh was very excited since this was her first time meeting her Aunt and Uncle. 

 It took her a few minutes, but she quickly caught on to Uncle Jason's charm and they became fast buddies. 

Ryleigh spent the rest of the day playing with and getting to know her Aunt and Uncle.

DAY THREE

Now that Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah are married and Ryleigh is no longer in-utero, Yaya wanted to take family pictures on the beach while we were all in California.  So we dressed up in our pink and blue polos and spent a good portion of our afternoon at the beach playing in the sand, touching our toes in the ocean and snapping pictures.

Ryleigh's first touch of sand



I think she likes it!

Four Generations

trying to eat the sand

the ocean was a little cold for her

 

liking the grass much better

beach time is exhausting!

After beach time and nap time, we were ready for playtime and ribs!  Poppi and Daddy had a "Rib Cook-off" and spent a lot of time caring for their rib racks.  While they did that, Ryleigh spent lots of time with Aunt Bekah and Uncle Jason.

Nothing caps off the night like Sing-A-Ma-Jigs with Poppi and a bedtime story from Yaya!





DAY FOUR

Easter!!  When we woke up the Easter Bunny had found us all the way in California!  He left a basket for Mommy and Daddy, Ryleigh and Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah.  Ryleigh wasn't quite sure what the big deal was, but Mommy and Daddy were excited to see all her chocolates!

After seeing what the Easter Bunny brought, we all got ready and headed to church where Ryleigh met LOTS of new people.  She also thoroughly enjoyed the sermon because I have never seen her pay so much attention in church before!  Easter Sunday was also the first time that Ryleigh has ever worn real shoes.  Hooray for such a milestone!

We spent the rest of Sunday lounging around and spending lots of time with Uncle Jason and Aunt Bekah on their last day in California.

 

Poppi snuck in some Ryleigh time too!

DAY FIVE

This was a big day for Mommy, Daddy and Ryleigh.  We first spent the morning with Aunt Bekah and Uncle Jason before they left to go back home to Buffalo.  But not only were they leaving, so were Mommy and Daddy!  For the next 3 days, Mommy and Daddy went to Las Vegas and Ryleigh stayed with Yaya and Poppi.  This was the first time the 3 of us have ever spent the night apart!  So the next couple days of pictures will be filled with pictures of Ryleigh spending time in California and then some pictures of Mommy and Daddy spending time in Las Vegas.  Yaya did such a great job of sending us pictures while we were gone! 

Morning cartoons!

While Mommy and Daddy drove to Las Vegas, Ryleigh took a much needed nap...in the garage.  She became quite fond of her garage naps.  In fact, it's where she slept the best.  And the good thing about California is if you don't keep your car in your garage, it pretty much acts as another room.  Almost like a basement!  It stays a perfect temperature and it's completely dark!  Ryleigh loved sleeping out there on GGma and GGpa's mattress.  After her nap, she spent lots of time with Yaya, Poppi, GGma and GGpa.

It took Mommy and Daddy about 4 1/2 hours to get to Vegas.  We stopped at the Mad Greek Cafe on the way and had the best gyros and baklava ever!  We stayed at the Paris Hotel and spent the first evening wondering around the strip after eating yummy sushi and Koi.

DAY SIX

Ryleigh spent her first whole day without Mommy and Daddy keeping busy.  Yaya happily paraded her all over town by taking her to breakfast at the IHOP, then grocery shopping, taking her into work to meet everyone, then walking around the Irvine Spectrum where she got to watch puppies play!

no pancakes for me...just toys!

Mommy and Daddy spent their day away from Ryleigh walking around Las Vegas.  We started out with a yummy breakfast at the Mon Ami Gabi restaurant.  Of course, Mommy had eggs Benedict : )  We then pretty much made our way into every casino and hotel.  We gambled a little bit playing the Wheel of Fortune slot machines, but didn't win any money...didn't lose any either though!  We watched the lions play at the MGM and walked through the shark reef at the Mandalay Bay and finished our evening out with a delicious dinner at Jean Georges Steakhouse in the City Center.  A perfect little get-away.

in front of all the champagne

My eggs Benedict

Daddy's blueberry french toast

the designer in my loved this restaurant in the Aria

the designer in me also loved how the architecture of the building cast shadows on this awesome waterfall wall

Did you know that the MGM has 37 lions on hand and they all live on a farm about 12 miles away from the hotel.  They switch out the lions every 6 hours.  Isn't that crazy?  

DAY SEVEN

Mommy and Daddy left Vegas in the morning, excited to get back to our little munchkin!  She spent her day waiting anxiously for our return, obviously!  She spent a little bit of time at work with Yaya, but for the most part she just hung out at Yaya and Poppi's house.  Yaya is convinced she is on the verge of teaching Ryleigh how to stick her tongue out.  Good thing we didn't leave them alone much longer!  It had been a long day for everyone, so we just ate leftovers and Mommy and Daddy played with Ryleigh after being apart from her for so long.  Daddy wanted to take her swimming so bad, but the pool wasn't heated.  He settled for dipping her toes in for a little while.  We think she'll enjoy swimming when the time comes : )

DAY EIGHT

GGma and GGpa left and started toward Michigan this morning.  Ryleigh enjoyed her time with them and so did Mommy and Daddy.  Later in the day, Mommy's friend, Alex came to visit.  We spent the afternoon with her catching up and playing, but unfortunately, it was a pretty fussy day for Ryleigh.  We just hung around the house  practicing sitting on our own and then promptly went to bed as soon as possible! 

DAY NINE

For our last full day in California, we decided to spend time enjoying the outside and the beach as long as possible.  We took a leisurely stroll in Laguna Beach playing in the sand, water and on the rocks.

After a fun-filled day at the beach, we headed back to Yaya and Poppi's so Yaya could get in as much cuddle time as possible before we left for home the next day.

DAY TEN

After 10 days in California, it was time to head home.  We had so much fun exposing Ryleigh to all sorts of new things...the ocean, sand, sunshine without humidity, limes, lemons, splashing in the tub, tea (on her binkie thanks to Uncle Jason), puffs!  She also left California having learned how to sit on her own!  She was again, a wonderful little traveler and I know she was very excited to get home to her Lucy dog!

Speaking of Lucy...she had fun on "vacation" too.  We would have loved to bring her, but we just couldn't find a way to get her there.  But she stayed with two wonderful families that made sure she was loved and taken care of.  She made new doggie friends as well as human friends.  She got to learn what life will be like when Ryleigh gets older...walking to the bus stop, going for visits to school.  Needless to say, we know she had fun because she has been sleeping ever since we got home!!  She is one pooped bully!

sleep at last!