Baby It's Cold Outside!

We got a cold snap last week and I think it's here to stay. Thankfully Olivia has numerous hats to keep her warm and in style this winter.

Santa Claus Breakfast --- SLU Style

This morning we woke up bright and early to head down to SLU for Olivia's first "Breakfast with Santa and the Billiken". The event was for Toys For Tots, so we picked up a cute little Barbie and some Mega Blocks.

Miss Olivia's smashing outfit is courtest of her Great Grandma Kamman!

I had not been in BMC since the rennovation (yes, I've been on campus, but sadly enough have not ventured in)...the place was amazing! We walked down the stairs and into a large festive room full of craft tables, balloons, breakfast stations and more.

The cute little sacks that weighted down the balloons on the tables

Justin, Sarah, Alex and my Dad joined us for the festivities.

Grandpa Vasel and Olivia!

First on the list of "visitors" that greeted Miss O was Rudolph...that went pretty well, she didn't know what in the world to think of him. He was great...his nose lit up and everything!

Daddy, Olivia and Rudolph!

Next, came the Billiken...Alex and Olivia were both a little standoffish with him...sorry, Billiken!

Olivia holding onto Daddy for dear life!

Alex and Olivia both wondering why their Daddies want to do this

Finally after waiting in line (thankfully we stood in line BEFORE we ate...the line was carzy long after and there is no way they would have lasted that long) we came to Santa Claus! And, Mommy got to take O up to see him while Daddy snapped the photos. It went okay, but just as we got up to him the Billiken came in too and it was a little much for O...all in all, I think she did pretty darn good for her first time seeing Santa

Talking O into hanging out with Santa and the Billiken

Clearly Mommy needs to be in more photos...I blocked O out!

Mommy, Olivia and Santa!

Olivia's little treat for being so good with Santa...how cute is the reindeer?!

Alex and Olivia both chowed down when we got back to the table...we all did too! We had a wonderful time and will probably do it again next year...we're all hoping the Shockley's will join us with their new bundle of joy too!

Olivia's First Thanksgiving!

Let me start by saying...I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! Thankfully my dad let me borrow his, but I feel like I didn't get enough photos of the whole family since I didn't have mine there.

Storytime with Great Grandma Vasel

Two Grandpa Vasel's!

The Granny!

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time! My Dad's brother Mark's family came down to join us and my Grandparents for a wonderful family-filled day! The food was great, the company was even better and I do think that Olivia truly enjoyed herself.

Olivia's first Thanksgiving dinner...she loved the turkey!

Olivia's preparing for lunch, not her turkey dinner...couldn't find a bib!

Olivia is almost walking on her own...she's still pretty cautious and can get around faster by crawling, so that's our main obstacle right now. I'm sure she'll be pretty darn close by her first birhtday (brace yourselves people...it's two weeks from today!).

"Walking" with Grandpa Vasel


Look Mom, no hands!

Olivia being silly!

"Hi, Grandpa..."

Playing with Aunt Mel the morning after (Kyle, I don't have any pics of you...maybe Mel does on her camera)

Olivia's "Vacation" To Grandma and Grandpa Vasel's

While Chad and I were in California Olivia took a little "vacation" to my parents' house. I forgot my camera at Thanksgiving (yes, it was Olivia's first Thanksgiving and I left my camera at home...not good!) so I was able to grab a few shots off my Dad's camera while downloading the Turkey Day photos...looks like she had fun!
Olivia LOVES to get in bed with you when she wakes up in the morning...she's usually pretty happy, but if she wakes up too early she can be a little cranky! :)

Olivia can't get enough of books...we have several books in a little basket so she can get them out whenever she wants...most of the time I come home to books everywhere

Dinner time!

Olivia has her own cabinet at Grandma Vasel's full of plasticware

Apparently while we were gone Olivia started putting her dog in her carseat and rocking him...she's silly!

Day 4 -- Jenner and Cavallo Point

Sunday we left Napa Valley and headed towards the coast. Although the drive was long, it was very scenic and the coast line was unbelievable! The roads were WAY to winding for me, but it was worth it.

Jenner is a town of about 183 people, but there's a restaurant where the Russian River meets that Pacific Ocean and it was great. The restaurant not only had unforgettable scenery, but the food was awesome too!

After a leasurely Sunday lunch we headed back towards San Francisco...first on the stop was the Golden Gate Bridge (the weather was not good when we left).




Golden Gate Bridge done...Sausalito here we come! What a cute, walkbale town...the homes were something else and the little shops along the way were great to pop in and out of. It was pretty cold and windy, so we didn't last too long walking around (I was too cold).

Cavallo Point (Fort Baker) would be our final resting place in California. What a unique hotel. The rooms were in the officer's original quarters at Fort Baker....if my camera would have been able to take photos that did the room justice I would have put taken them, but they just didn't capture everything. The restaurant and bar were spectacular! Chad was way excited about their beer list...it had several top 50 beers on it (yes, you all read that correctly...Chad's into his beers...kind of like people who like good wine, Chad likes good beer). I would have to say that this was my favorite hotel of the whole trip.

Day 3 -- Napa

After a little bit of a rough evening on Friday...I was up and ready to go the next day. First stop...Cakebread!

I would highly recommend the educational/taking tour...I felt like I learned different things on this tour than I did the other tours. The grounds are beautiful and the tasting room is on the second floor overlooking the vineyard.


After Cakebread we stopped by Gott's Drive-In...not your typical "drive-in" but it was great! The food was delicious and Chad's soup was more "gourmet" than your typical "drive-in" soup. It really hit the spot!




After refueling and making one other stop...the last vineyard on our list was Schramsburg...it was fantastic! The only sparkling wine tour on our trip and I'm glad we made time for it. The whole tour was given inside their wine caves which hold 2.8 million bottles at one time...700,000 are distributed each year. The tasting was done by candlelight...if you have time to make this stop, please add it to your list. Thanks to Chad, I will also be getting my Valentine's Day, Birthday and many other "Day" presents courtesy of Schramsburg's Wine Club...YAY!!! :)

This portion of the cave was about 10 feet+ wide and more than 150 feet deep; the sparkling wine was stacked like this the whole width and depth!

This evening we stayed at 1801 First...a little bed and breakfast where we stayed in a little cottage in back on the main house...it was super cute and the breakfast was very tastey!







For dinner we dined at Redd...HIGHLY recommended...both of our meals were superb, we loved it!

Day 4...heading to Jenner for a little lunch at River's End.