The Shorters: Chicago and San Francisco!

Now I am officially no longer a southern belle (but I still have the shirt...honorary southern belle?). Daisy and I drove from Mississippi back to Indianapolis. Overall is was a pretty uneventful trip other than I had a lot more stuff than I thought to fit into the jeep. Luckily Adam is smarter than be when it comes to packing and convinced me to not keep a bunch of other stuff. I had the back seat and the passenger set filled with stuff and Daisy had the back area along with her bed and crate. She was a little concerned when I was loading up the car, but was very happy when I put her in the jeep as well (yay! mommy is taking me with her!).

After a couple of days in Indy and dropping Daisy off at my old vet to be boarded, I went up to Chicago to spend the day with my sister-in-law and my niece and nephews. They are all getting so big! My sister-in-law is pregnant with twins and my niece is really hoping that one of them is a girl. She said if they were both boys then they could keep on and give one to Aunt Lynette....I guess it's nice of her to let them keep one!

After spending the day with them I met Leah (college roommate), Bob and Maggie for dinner. I hadn't seen them in awhile so it was great to catch up and see how big Maggie has gotten. I was very happy to see that she finally had some hair come in. Jennifer (aka Woody) and Annabel (the new 1 year old) came late and Annabel went right to sleep so the girls had some time to catch up and then it was off to bed for an early flight the next day. We were heading to San Francisco to see Allie (aka Ski), Marc and their new baby girl Riley.

We flew out of Midway and Bob was the bomb for taking us to the airport and picking us up when we returned...thanks Bob! Annabel was pretty good on her first airplane ride. She slept for about an 1 1/2, played a little and did getting fussy and squirmy towards the end but no major scream fits so overall, not too bad Annabel.

Ski and Riley picked us up at the airport and we made a quick stop for lunch and went back to Ski's house for nap time. We had a great time hanging out and catching up. When the kids woke up we walked to Safeway to pick up some items. It was a nice day for a walk (the weather in Indiana since I've returned has not been so nice). Later that night Ski made us a very yummy past and sausage dinner....along with some crappy and nice wine (Ski's husband proclaimed the wine to be crappy prior to giving it to us:).

The next day it was off to the zoo! We went to the Oakland Zoo since it was closer and since the kids are so young anyways they probably wouldn't have lasted through a large zoo (we were right). We met up with Ski's friend Lyndsay and her son Xavier who is so cute and Annabel's new boyfriend! The kids favorite part of the zoo was the petting zoo. Riley actually woke up for that part. Annabel wasn't too sure about petting the goats but seemed interested in checking them out. Xavier thought playing in the straw was the best part.

In the evening we had a Wii bowling tournament...which I won despite the fact that I don't move my body when I bowl as Marc pointed out (Adam has mentioned in the past as well). Better luck next time guys!

The next day was Saturday which means that Marc didn't have to work so he could play with us also! We went to do some wine tasting in Livermore (close to where Ski and Marc live and much lest touristy and crowded). We went to the Wood Family Winery first where Annabel experienced her first winery. Riley has been wine tasting before so it's nothing new to her so she slept the entire time. They had a cute Retriever there who loved to play fetch and found the perfect sucker in Ski who kept throwing is slobbery ball every time he requested.

The next stop was a picnic lunch at Concannon. There we had awesome sandwiches and wine. The only thing that would have made it better was the Doritos that got left at home:( After a nice picnic it was off to Thomas Coyne. We had a nice time there despite all the Penn State paraphernalia on the walls. Annabel had the most fun trying to eat rocks...good times!

Later that evening we tried to watch Slumdog Millionaire which I don't recommend when there is a one year old walking around and an infant crying.....it is easy to get lost and confused. I guess maybe next time!

Then next day we had originally planned to head into San Francisco but I think that having the kids out yesterday taught us that it is best to keep out outings short and stay close to home. We instead decided go to Walnut Creek for lunch and shopping. We ate at a Mexican restaurant who had AWESOME salsa but kept messing up our order. Oh well, everything was still good.

After enjoying some of the wine we had purchased, it was off to bed to head back to the cold Midwest.

The plane ride back was even better for Annabel! She napped longer and stayed pretty happy. She now has this flying thing down. Now I'm back in Indiana for a little while before heading out east. My parents are in Indy now and Daisy is loving all this extra attention she has been getting, although she misses her daddy very much!

Future best friends: Riley and Annabel!