Heading back to Cali... by JPK

So, it's been awhile since our last blog update, but as always things have been busy. Kelly has been back working part-time since mid-June, and I've been busy trying to organize a bike race for later in August. That said, we took our first real vacation of the year and drove out to California. We visited both friends and family as well as enjoyed a few days to ourselves.

We started our trip at my parents place in Garden Valley. My mom and her friends threw us an amazing party at their house. She invited a lot of my old teachers and other people I had grown up with... most of whom had known me since I was born. It was a lot of fun to see them and introduce Freja. It reminded me of how lucky I was to grow up in such a tight community of friends and I hope that we can provide a similar environment for Freja.

Our next stop was in Calistoga, a small town just outside of Napa. We didn't venture out much there, but had some nice times at the pool and ate lots of good food. From there we started our trip south and headed to Los Gatos to see Will, Nika and Persis. Will and I have been friends since before I even could spell the word 'friend' (or Will for that matter). Persis is about a month older than Freja and is a super sweet baby with her Momma's good looks.

I enjoyed copious amounts of Will's home brewed beer and watching Persis and Freja interact. We all went to a baby music class which was ultimately more fun for the parents I think than the girls. Persis conked out at the end of it. We also did a private wine tasting at Ridge Winery which was exceptional. Wine tasting with babies in tow is a bit different from wine tasting in the good ol' days, but fun nevertheless.

From there we headed to Ojai which is inland from Santa Barbara. We stayed at a resort owned by the same family that owns Aspen Skiing Company. Again, we did little other than relax and eat.

Our final stop for the trip was Los Angeles. Uncle Jan and Nancy hosted us at their place and Arie came up for a visit. The highlight for us was going to visit Grandma Rachel in Santa Monica. It was fun to have four generations of family in the same room. I am blessed with being related (and married) to strong women, but none are stronger than Grandma Rachel. I hope Freja inherits of her strength and spirit.

We also had a great time introducing Freja to Arie, Jan and Nancy. I love the influences each of them will bring to Freja's upbringing and I hope each will come to visit us in Colorado often.

So, that's our trip in summary. I will note that on this trip Freja started sleeping longer at night and started rolling from her back to her stomach. Both good signs of progression. For me, the best part of this trip was spending much needed time with my smoking hot wife and darling daughter. I really am a lucky man.

Finally, here is a fun video we shot just today. Freja is really starting to love playing peek-a-boo!