California Trip with Calvin

Well,
      we (Calvin and I) were so blessed to be able to go to a family business conference in California with Scotty for my fathers company, who my hubby works for. Annie stayed behind with her Grammy and Paw-Paw. Actually Calvin would have stayed behind if he could, but being only 8 weeks old we couldn't really be separated, me being his only source of food and all. Another plus was we got to be there with my parents, and two of my brothers with my sister-in-laws, and we got to see a few cousins and aunts and uncles. It was a great conference but I didn't get any pics from it since I was busy paying attention to the conference and taking care of my little man. Since our flights were payed for out to Cal. we decided to stay a couple of personal days after the conference was over so we could visit Yosemite and Sequoia National Park. I had never been and was dying to visit. Of course we packed a lot in a couple of days, and had many, many, many hours in the car with a crying baby who we discovered HATES! his car seat, and still does.  Anyway.....  On to the pictures.........

Calvin's first plane ride. We were so nervous because at this point he was only 8 weeks and still in a very fussy stage of life that we couldn't quite figure out. He actually only had some minimal fussy periods that ended quickly thank goodness. Here we are leaving knoxville.

 This was one of his happier times. Actually I had to leave the conference and take him up to the room because he was crying too loud just before this, then I gave him a bath and that settled him down. Look at that happy boy! So cute when he isn't crying constantly.

 We got to stay at the Awesome Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Ray near Los Angeles California. The conference was also here so it was great. This was the view from our room. Beautiful.

 This is One of the many beaches of Malibu.

................And this is us on one of the many beaches of Malibu.

 Santa Monica Pier.

............................. And this is Calvin and I with the Santa Monica Pier in the backround..

 California Sunset

  Brother Pete got to rent this Mustang Convertible for the first night we were there. It was pretty cool looking.

 Me and my cousins daughter Adaya. She is so adorable and such a sweet content baby.

 Ben and Bri getting some practice with babies since they are going to be parents soon themselves. Plus they just like babies, and love the chance to hold them.

 See what I mean. Calvin like Uncle Ben, he just doesn't know it yet. At this point he didn't really like anybody. I'm talking about Calvin people.

 Yay! When you're in Los Angeles you have to visit Hollywood right? Well we did the touristy thing and visited the hollywood sign and all. Not that little sign, i'm talking about the big mambo jambo one that's in all the movies.

 This was the car we rented while in Cali. A Dodge Charger. We randomly saw the Hollywood sign from far away, so Scott just decided to turn on a back road into a neighborhood to get us closer to it so we could get a good picture. Well lo-and-behold, we ended up driving through some really neat old neighborhoods and popped out right at this place you could go hiking, and it had a really good view of the sign.

 And there she is in all her glory............well not really. As you can see she is having some work done. We weren't that impressed, but it was fun to say we have been there.

 Cool place to go hiking or trail running,if I lived out there.

 View from the mountain (hill).

 Proof we were there.

 Proof that Ben and Bri were there. Haha!

 Classic stars on the hollywood walk of fame. This was a very touristy place, and we blended right in with everybody.

 My baby, holding my baby. So Handsome AHHHH!!!!!!!!!! I love them both soooo much.

 Houses in MAlibu. I don't even want to know how much these babies probably cost.

 Another Beautiful sunset pic. I didn't even know that I got that bird in there until I downloaded the picture. It looks awesome though doesn't it? Ok that sounds a little proud.. nevermind it's late and I'm getting off track and distracted. Pressing onward.

 The guys. Left to right- Husband,brother,father,uncle,brother. Yep! I'm related to them all.

 Benny Boys birthday. That slice of cake he got could have fed the whole table. It was humungus. Not quite sure what dad was doing with the goose made of leftovers but it looks like it's hovering over the desert to get some.

 Downtown LA.

 Leaving the city for some much needed beauty of mountains. I love how different everything looks out west as apposed to East Tennessee.

 More mountains. The views change rapidly around here.

 Got to see some bears driving into the Sequoia Park on our way to see General Sherman.

 Yes we hit snow, and actually had to rent chains at the bottom of the hill in order to be able to even drive to general sherman. It was a close call on time but the Lord was kind to give us just enough time to see the tree and make it back down to return to chains before they closed.

 Putting the chains on since the roads were covered and icy and slippery.

 Look at those magnificent trees behind you honey.

 Driving on the scary roads. Those chains make a huge difference.

 Theres us in front of General Sherman, no not the tree on the left of the pic. General Sherman is actually the one farther back behind us.

 Ahh that's better. Such a huge tree. I was blown away by the size, it actually took my breath away, or maybe that was the freezing temperatures.

 Info on the tree in case your interested.

 We really dirtied this car up, people were staring at us driving around town the next day so we ran it through a wash in 40 degree weather. HAha. That's my Scotty, always likes to keep a clean car. Personally I would have left the dirt so we could be like "Yeah, we drove through some crazy snow in a little charger with tire chains", but thats just me.

 Sheer Magnitude. Amazing how big it is.

 The next day we drove to Yosemite, yes lots and lots of driving as I said before. I pretty much spent most of the time in the back seat with Calvin trying to keep him from crying the whole time and driving us crazy. Look at the beautiful snow covered trees.

 Yay! we made it.

 In front of El Capitan on the left, and Half dome farther back on the right, on our way to the valley.

 El Cap.

 Frozen waterfall.

 El Cap

 Deer

 A very rare happy boy. He just woke up from a nap here.

 Half Dome.

 frozen dried up waterfall.

 Amazing views from every angle when we were in the valley.

 Half Dome.

 Calvin in a daze from all this driving and cold weather.

 Of course we had to get us some in-n-out while out west since we don't have these out east.

 We were fans.

 Driving along the Pacific Coast Highway.

 Calvin getting to put his feet in the ocean on the other side of the country. Not many people can say that, especially at his age.

 Santa Monica Pier. I had to get a funnel cake. I love those. Scott didn't want one.......

 but once I got one he of course helped me eat it.

 And yet another beautiful sunset pic.

 The weekend after we got back we had our annual girls outlet shopping weekend. That was a blast but I don't feel like going into detail about that trip. I'm actually quite exausted right now so I'm going to bed. Good Night Folks.

     

Yours Truly