Five on Friday: Our California Trip

Last week we had our first travel adventure with the baby nugget – a one week adventure to California to visit where I grew up.  Today’s post is dedicated to some pictures and stories from that trip…I’ll share more details about some other life and summer updates next week!

1) Traveling With A Baby

Before we left, I shared that I was pretty nervous to fly with Caleb for the first time.  He doesn’t sleep well when we’re out and about anymore and he also tends to get a little flustered/distracted and not want to nurse in public.  Well, he did both of those things on our first fight and we still survived! On our way there, he wouldn’t fall asleep in the stroller or carrier and only slept for about 25 minutes on the plane for the entire 6 hours it took us to get from our house in KC to my parents house in Cali.  He also refused to nurse, instead drinking an entire chilled bottle (even though he hasn’t successfully bottles in almost six weeks). All of that said, he didn’t fuss and cry on the plane, so we were happy!

The flight back was even better.  He fell asleep in the stroller at the airport before we boarded, successfully nursed while we waited to board, fell asleep for 35 minutes in his seat on the plane, and then ate again and was sweet and cute the rest of the flight! We were so, so happy to have our boy be such a cutie and he was smiling and charming all the flight attendants and people around us.  He’s become a bit more outgoing these days and it’s so cute to see him flash his adorable little grin at people!

2) Meeting Family

Since most of my mom’s side of the family lives in California (my dad’s side are all in Baltimore), Caleb got to meet some more of his family. It was such a surreal thing to see my grandma and aunts hold him and know that they held me when I was that little.  I’m so grateful for how much they love our little man already!

With my dad, aka Grandad!

Meeting Lupe, a sweet family friend who we’re calling Caleb’s “Abuelita”

It was also so fun for Caleb to get some fun time with my parents.  He sat on my lap at the piano and listened to my dad play like I did so many times as a little girl.  He hung out in the Bumbo while my mom and I had our morning coffee.  He wiggled and played on the floor and looked around with wide eyes as we walked through the neighborhood I grew up in.  All in all, it was so fun to see my son become a part of the world where I grew up.

Playing with grandma!

3) Visiting Old Friends

The neighborhood where I grew up is kind of magical.  I lived in a cul-de-sac full of families and a big group of kids grew up playing together after school and in the summer time.  My neighbor Katy is 2-3 years older and was always like my big sister.  Katy’s parents still live in the cul-de-sac too, and when the wonderful older man who lived next to my parents and across from her parents passed away last year, Katy and her husband bought his house!

Katy has a sweet baby boy about 7 months older than Caleb and I love knowing that every time I go back to California Caleb will have a sweet little friend (okay, he’s basically a cousin) to play with.  Jordan and I also loved getting to go over and enjoy some dinner and drinks on their patio while our babies slept.  If only California weren’t so far from KC we could do that all the time!

4) Yummy Food

I’ve said this before, but every time we visit my parents we eat lots of delicious food.  Unfortunately Caleb’s nap schedule cramped our lunch style a bit but we still were able to hit up Santa Ana’s 4th Street Market, one of our favorite local markets with tons of cute new restaurants.  My husband’s favorite thing we do in Orange County is eat all you can eat sushi, something that unfortunately does not exist in the Midwest.  Jordan eats unreal amounts of sushi every time and I enjoy my one California roll and teriyaki chicken and rice.  Sorry y’all, but I am NOT up for any of the sashimi/raw fish.

All you can eat sushi for $19.99? We do NOT have that in KC!

We did get to do some fun date night since we put Caleb to bed so early each night (we tried to keep him on Missouri time – see next point).  We went out and got In N’ Out one night and another night actually did a date night down in Huntington Beach.  It was the first time since Caleb was born we’ve done a date night where we didn’t have to be back in time to put him to bed and it was such sweet, silly time with Jordan.  So even though the days were a little rough (again, see below), I loved that sweet time with my hubby.  We did forget to take a picture until we were walking to the car once the sun had already set so this last minute, poorly-lit selfie will have to do!

5) Gratitude For Our Routines

Caleb did great on both of our plane flights, but he unfortunately REALLY struggled with napping/falling asleep while we were there.  We had gotten to the point in Kansas City where we put him down awake for every nap and he would fall asleep on his own within 15-20 minutes, but everything seemed to go right out the window as soon as we landed in Cali.  He fought every single nap for over an hour, screaming his head off until I rocked or nursed him to sleep (which I almost never do for naps).  Bedtime was an even rougher affair since he was so overtired, and it sometimes took 2-3 hours of him crying, rocking, and nursing before he finally fell asleep.  The one silver lining is that once he went down each night, he would usually sleep 10-11 straight hours (he’s a champ, I know), but it just about broke my heart to see him so worked up and overtired during the day.

Once we got home, he fell right back into his routine, immediately putting himself to sleep for every nap without much fussing.  So…apparently we just have a kid who thrives in his normal routine/environment when it comes to sleep! I’m so glad we got to visit all my family and friends in California, but this trip definitely reminded us that vacations with kiddos aren’t always vacations for mom and dad.  We have a few more trips on the agenda for the next few months and we are hoping that he will be a little more flexible for those.  Fingers crossed, right?

All in all, we had a great trip and felt like rock stars for surviving our first travel adventure with little man.  Here’s to many more adventures in the years to come!