Pennsylvania Polka and Livemore Rodeo

When Aunt Amanda left at the end of May, Andrew and I went with her!  My job flew me in so I could conduct a training for my team, so although the trip back to PA was nice - working every day was exhausting and the week flew by very quickly! We did have a few fun dates crammed into the final days of our stay... starting with meeting new baby Keira Collopy!  Her fabulous Mommy, who happens to be my best friend, made a delicious dinner for Andrew and myself after work one night, and it was so nice to get that time with the Collopy Clan.  The next night we had an impromptu dinner in Doylestown with Petra and the 5 A's - Andrew, Amanda, Andrea, Allison and Anne.  Definitely a much needed girls night!  Saturday morning, we had a play date at Burpee Park with Juliette Tizer, Brianna Sisca, Sophie and Constantine King, and the Collopy Kids (and the Mom's - Karen, Kim, Lia and Jen). So fun to see them all interacting and getting so big!  And, no... I didn't get a SINGLE picture from any of that fun!  What was I thinking?!?

Here are the only pics I got from our PA visit:

Andrew in Mr. Lova's cat carrier... Mr. Lova was moved to Aunt Amanda's new house - for both Andrew and his safety!

Andrew giving Gram a run for her money... unfolding all of her neatly organized hand towels!

 

So I didn't have to do the long flight home with Andrew by myself, Gram graciously offered to fly back with us and stay for the week while Mike was in Denver for two nights.  She also upgraded us to Priority Class (not First Class, I wouldn't let her!) - so we got unlimited food and drinks, more leg room, and a 3 seat aisle all to ourselves... all of this is a HUGE blessing when travelling with a rambunctious 10 month old!   As a thank you, we outfitted Gram with a pink Cowgirl hat and took her to the Livermore Rodeo.  Although the rodeo was fun, I'm not so sure it really paid her favor back.

Andrew and Gram watching Dora

I loved the rodeo.  I must have been a Cowgirl in a former life. I loved the hats, the horses, and the sport of it all.  Yes, it's a little sad seeing the calves running for their lives before being lassoed and dragged to the ground.  But, I assure you that they weren't "harmed" and all ran back to the safety of the pens.  The events were the ones you may expect: Bull Riding, Bronc Riding (saddled and bare back) Roping, Penning, Steer Wrestling, and Barrel Racing.  And then, there was this one unexpected event... Wild Cow Milking. Yep, it's what it sounds like.  They would let the cow out of the pen, a rider would go after it, lasso it, jump off their horse and restrain the cow, while a partner ran across the arena to milk the unhappy wild cow.  After the runner was successful in milking the cow, he had to run back to the starting point with his vial of milk to prove he in fact got something.  This was a pretty hilarious event to watch, although my Mom wondered about the cruelty level.  However, it is believed that this event emerged from how Cowboys would help orphaned calves get the much needed colostrum in the first days of life... makes it seem a little less cruel, right? 

They wouldn't let us take pictures of the events, but here are a few we took before entering the arena.

Howdy Partner!



Yee Ha!



Lil Cowboy

The heat and the long day made for one tuckered out Cowboy

The Arena

In addition to helping with Andrew on the flight and while Mike was gone, Gram also taught Andrew the one thing that I have been trying to do for months - CLAP! Yaaaay!  (We have to say "Yay" to get Andrew to clap on command.)  Also, since arriving back in California, Andrew has gone from what seemed like a newborn foal on wobbly legs, to an officially walking and running little boy.  He is way more of a handful now than we could ever have imagined when he first started crawling... but it is truly fun (albeit exhausting).

Aunt Amanda's California Vacation

May ended with a visit from Aunt Amanda!  We picked her up from the airport and headed into San Francisco for the afternoon.  Amanda had been wanting to head to Haight Ashbury to replace her missing tie-dye from our first visit there with our parents (over 10 years ago)... so, we went and had a nice lunch after getting new hippie tees.  Andrew and Amanda bought matching shirts (which we somehow never managed to get a picture of them together in). Afterwards, we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge, where we freezed our tushies off, but got a few cute pictures!

Before Aunt Amanda even got her bags to her room, she gave Andrew his presents - a Phillies outfit and a Baby Elmo book... he loves books, and he loves his Aunt Amanda even more!

 

The next day we headed to Napa Valley. Mike and I had both been there before, but not yet with each other.  Mike went there on a romantic trip with Josh Russell post high school, where they took a gondola ride to the top of a mountain at Sterling Winery.  Love kidding him about that... of course, my trip included a romantic hot air balloon ride during college - with my parents and Amanda. So, needless to say, the "romance" of Napa Valley has still escaped us, since this trip included a 9 month old and a Sister (-in-Law).  Despite that, we had a great time getting lunch in Napa and then visiting two wineries - V. Sattui and Beringer.  V. Sattui was a mob scene, with hundreds of people picnicking beneath the trees. Surprisingly, Beringer makes more than just White Zinfandel... and some of it's not half bad!  It is the oldest continuously operating winery in Napa, and we took a short, but interesting tour (2 wine tastings were included). 

Andrew making friends at V. Sattui

                                         

The Beringer Estate

In the caves at Beringer

Central California had not a parade in site to celebrate Memorial Day... that is except for the parade of cars headed to the orchards.  So, we embraced our new Cali culture, and followed the crowds and picked cherries - Andrew's new favorite fruit!

Peek-a-boo!

 

May Happenings

We had a lot happen in the month of May... below are some of the highlights. (Amanda's trip will get her own blog!)

Livermore Wine Festival - Wine Country definitely likes to drink. We would highly recommend that visitors plan on coming out next year for Livermore's Wine Festival.  It costs $30/ticket for wine and $25/ticket for beer tastings.  For that price, you get a glass that you take around to various stations set up downtown.  Each station has multiple wineries and breweries pouring 2-3 different tastings (Sierra Nevada included!).  And, here's the best part - you can go up to each stand as often as you like over the course of 2 days!  The streets of downtown Livermore are blocked off and street vendors, food trucks and artists sell their goods.  They even have a mini amusement park set up for the kids with a tilt-a-whirl and Salt and Pepper shakers!

 

Andrew sound asleep at the amusement park

Livermore Farmer's Market - Thirsty Thursday - Yeah, so again... they like to drink here. We brought our glasses from the Festival and got them filled by Sierra Nevada and Wente Winery and walked around the Farmer's Market. They have the weekly Farmer's Market all summer long, but only allow the drinking once a month... we'll be back next month for sure!

Foster Family Visit - Before Mike was even offered the job out here, Linda, Aunt Barb and Uncle Warren had planned a trip to California.  So, when he landed the job, they altered their plans to include us, and Aunt Cyndie joined the trip as well.  The whole crew flew in on a Saturday and we had a mini-party for Cyndie's birthday.  They left the next day to explore California, but the following weekend Linda came back to stay with us for a few more days. We met up with Barb and Warren in Walnut Creek, and after a nice lunch and quick trip through the shops, we headed to Mount Diablo.  On our drive up the mountain, we got out for a quick hike to no where before heading to the summit for a quick stop at the visitor's center. After that, we headed to Mike's cousin's husband's Aunt's house (Rob's Aunt Rhodonia).  They were wonderful hosts and we had a really nice visit.  Before a really great meal (farmer's market salmon, asparagus, and dessert of homemade chocolate angel food cake), we took Andrew into their gorgeous pool!  It was Andrew's first time in a big pool - and he loved it! 

First Steps - Andrew took his first steps at 9.5 months old.  In addition to perfecting the whole walking thing, Andrew enjoys climbing up the steps, pushing his high chair across the room, and pulling my hair as hard as he possibly can... yep, he's a bruiser!

 

First Bike Rides - The Foster Family has recently gotten into bike riding.  Some of you may be surprised to hear this, but I'm not the most athletic of people... and I did not really know how to ride a 10 Speed until Mike bought me a very nice bike for Mother's Day.  So, now that we both have bikes, and live in this gorgeous, flat development (no hills, yay!)... of course we had to get Andrew all set to come along.  He is very happy we did!  We tried one in the front of Mike, but that didn't really work for Mike... so now we have one that sits behind Mike's seat.  Poor Andrew!! Hahahaha.. just kidding Mike! :)

He does NOT like it when we stop riding.

First Solar Eclipse - The scientist in Mike really enjoyed this one.  He made us Solar Eclipse viewing boxes... I had the brilliant idea of actually putting on our heads (much easier to hold that way), and silliness then ensued.  For anyone who's never actually experienced a Solar Eclipse, it's definitely NOT viewable with the naked eye - trust me, we tried.

View from inside the box.  The right one showed the sun with the moon coming across.
 The left one was too big and didn't work as well.