To Redding & Back

So, first road trip with Baby Grace and she did AWESOME! An answer to prayer. I was a bit worried about her because the drive over is so windy--who want's to clean up kid puke in a car seat?! But she just konked out and slept almost the whole way on the trip over.

We got there Friday mid-morning and bopped around the outlets and the mall a bit. And of course, what trip would be complete without eating at Beej's favorite: In & Out. Seriously, he could eat there for every meal if I was also up for that...but I wasn't. I thought Grace was going to sleep through every fun spot we went. But finally, she woke up!

We checked into the LaQuinta later that afternoon. Did you ever get really excited about staying in hotels when you were a kid? Oh man, I did! The big kick was who got to get ice from the ice machine and swimming in the pool. I know, we were CRAZY!!

Later that evening, we had dinner over at some friends BJ's known since he was a kid. It was so sweet to see them and their cute kids. They are great with their children and always so hospitable!

All that daytime sleeping may have been the reason Grace barely slept at all that night in the hotel! She just had a really rough time. Thankfully, BJ's exam was a review, so there was no real pressure on him. We were all pretty tired by the time we checked out and dropped BJ off at the testing center shortly before 8am. We thought his test was going to take 3 1/2 hours, so I was shocked when he called after an hour and said he was done. We hit up Chevy's for lunch, Trader Joe's for our favorites and then headed home.

Look at BJ--poor guy. I make him smile for all these cheezy pictures I take wherever we go. I'm sure I'll end up deleting half of them, but I just like capturing every time we take Grace anywhere for the first time. He's a good sport. I am just so thankful that, besides sleeping at night, Grace's first road trip went off without a hitch! She's a pretty good traveler. I am hoping she stays that way because we have several more trips planned for the summer. I can't wait!