G-Man's Traveling Adventures

I keep meaning to type a blog, but it hasn't been working out.  After spending a couple of very chilly days in Los Angeles, we are now here:

in Napa Valley.  It really is as pretty as this picture.  It's all very charming and quaint and cozy. Everyone looks fancy.  I drove by The French Laundry and wished that I could eat dinner there.  We drove around and looked for a nice place to eat, but G-Man fell asleep while we drove and we ended up with delectable subs from a trendy little spot called Quiznos.  We're in a very lovely hotel where the man running things memorizes his guest's names and calls them by first name when he sees them.  We basically want to stay here for the rest of the week, but we have to drive back down to Oakland tomorrow night after the wedding we came here to attend because we fly back to the East coast at the crack of dawn on Monday.

I was thinking today that I need to do a better job of chronicling these trips for G-Man.  Since I'm doing such a bang up job of finishing his scrapbook (I've got one page done from the day he was born), I need to provide some detail about these trips we have been so lucky to take so I can remember what was going on.

So, because it is late, here are some quick memories and things we have learned from our current trip:

• Trying to keep a feverish, teething baby quiet on a 6 hour plane ride is not my idea of a good time.  Especially when the captain won't turn off the fasten seat belt sign because he chose the bumpiest possible route from Boston to LAX.
• G-Man says "hi" to everyone we see.  On the plane, in security, in the hotel.  Most people smile and interact with him.  Some people just look at him or look away.  These people are dead inside.
• G-Man wanting to touch all the flowers on the grounds of the Newport Beach Temple.  (I'll post pictures later.)
• Being able to go to dinner with Aunt Susan.  She's such a great lady.
• G-Man is now a pro at drinking through a straw.  Other than walking on his own, this is the most useful thing he has learned so far.
• We were looking at pictures of animals in a book, and G-Man did the sign for "fish" when we saw the dolphin in the book.  He's never done the sign before.  Now he can sign "dog," "more," and he did "all done" for the first time today.  (The signing has been way more helpful and fun than I thought.  And now, we're all going to start learning sign language so we can communicate with Baby Alice as she gets older.) 
• Upon arriving in Napa, G-Man immediately found a group of women there to celebrate a bachelorette party and began flirting shamelessly.  

Things to look forward to in the coming days - a long overdue report of Amanda's graduation weekend, the remainder of our trip to Cali, a brief summary of SYTYCD auditions to this point (we will begin more extensive reports once the top 20 is chosen and the show really begins) and more G-Man cuteness.