California

Well we have officially taken our first family vacation and we survived. Ari, Ryan and I flew to California for the week. We left January 30th and came back home February 6th.
Ari was such a trooper on the plane- he didn't even make a peep. We lucked out and both our flights, coming and returning were very empty so we had the whole row to ourselves. Ari was such an angel as always.
While we were in California we went up to Paso Robles,which is where some of Ari's great aunts and uncles live as well as his great grandparents- Grandma and Grandpa Palla. It was so nice to see family and for Ari to meet some of his extended family (although he probably won't remember it. We also went with Grandma Sharon to San Simeon, which is close to where Ari's Great Grandparents live. San Simeon is home to the Hearst Castle. While we did not get a chance to go to the Hearst Castle- we did get to go to the beach for a once and a life time opportunity. (Okay it happens every year from like September to March- but who knows when we will get up there again.) We got to see the Elephant Seals......

If you are like me, I had never heard of an elephant seal and was mesmerized when we got to the beach. There were thousands of them and best of all there were brand new baby elephant seals. Elephant seals are mammals and so they too breastfeed their babies- I being the lactating mother that I am was facsinated by this


here is a picture of some of the momma seals with their babies.



The elephant seals are called that because the HUGE male seals have noses that sort of resmeble elephants - the female seals look like regular seals, just HUGE and the baby seals are so cute. The elephant seals migrate to this particular part of the California coast every year and have their babies. It was really cool to be that close to such magnificent animals and not be at the zoo.



We also got to do a lot of shopping while we were in California, eat at In n Out, hang out with Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Jeff, and have a really good time just relaxing- oh and playing guitar hero.....

Ari has decided that he really perfers the warm weather and is encouraging his dad to look for work that will relocate our little family somewhere warm... I second that!