VACATION!!

Well, we are home from vacation and trying to get back into our routine... such a hard thing to do after such a wonderful time.

Raivis was so patient, waiting in line to go through security

Raivis promptly fell asleep on the flight to L.A., once we got there a lady who sat behind us told us that our baby was the best baby on the flight... such a proud moment! :)

Before the flight, Raivis trying to eat Daddy.

Raivis tried to help with the luggage once we got to L.A.

We rented a car, then proceded to get stuck in traffic for about three hours... the traffic was incredible. Raivis was such a trooper, by the time we got to Nik's cousin Shawny's house he was exhausted. We had a great time visiting Shawny and her family (and her furkids). She took us to the beach, we had such a fun time. Raivis did not like the sand at first but it grew on him, soon he was crawling all over taking face plants occasionally. I forsee many more fun beach trips in the future. :) Shawny took some wonderful pictures of our boy... here are some of my favorites...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this face!

First dip in the BEAUTIFUL Pacific ocean

Daddy and Baby

Sweet baby toes

Building sand castles

Finally loving the sand!
Mommy and Baby
I also love this face (his not mine)
And this was the result of the face plant, so cute. I think that he felt it was worth the face washing that followed...

We went to Nik's Aunt and Grandma Rita's house next. We had a wonderful visit. It was fun to see Great Grandma Rita with Raivis. She kept calling him her "little northerner"... I think that was her nice way of calling him her whitest great grandchild :) While we were there we got to visit with Nik's other cousin Mica, it was so great to see her and her wonderful family!

i have always said that there was something about Raivis that reminded me of Grandma Rita... now do you see it?

Holy cow, do you think that they are related?

Great Aunt Dee with Raivis
Us with Mica and her beautiful family
Third cousins (I think) Vince wrote us a beautiful song when Nik and I got married, he is such a talented musician, Raivis took some notes :)

Next we headed up to Bakersfield to visit Nik's Uncles, Aunts, and cousins. Again, we had such a great visit. Raivis played pretty well with his cousins Lucy and Jacob, in fact I think that he though Lucy was quite possibly the coolest little person he had ever met!

She liked him too-"Errs eye-is" she would say (Where's Raivis)

Raivis swinging at the park with Lucy (his first park swing)
Raivis and Lucy digging (this was right before he shoved fists of sand into his mouth UGH!)

Three of the four Great Grandchildren on Nik's Mom's side (Raivis looks HUGE in this picture)
Chris Raue's whole family (minus one daughter because she had to work) and us, it was so much fun getting to know everybody. (one of Nik's Mom's brother's family)
Nik, Raivis, and all three of his cousins plus Jacob (Raivis' third cousin). Raivis thought that Marni was so pretty he just had to touch her :)

While in Bakersfield we were able to visit with one of Nik's other uncles (one of Nik's Mom's other brothers). He made us a phenomenal dinner. He has a lemon tree in his backyard that I thought was awesome (ok, don't laugh, I AM from Idaho, we don't grow citrus there).
We had some fresh lemons in our water, it was so cool!
Another great visit! So much fun

While in Bakersfield we got to see the first house that Nik lived in. His grandmother made the stained glass window in the front. Nik vividly remembers the olive tree out front. It was fun to see it.

Raivis defied the odds, he slept on the entire flight home. This time, a lady behind us stood up at the end of the flight and said, "Oh, there is a baby, I didn't even know the whole time!" Gee, am I spoiled by a wonderful boy or what?

So that was our trip in pictures. We had so much fun visiting all of Nik's family. All in all it was a wonderful trip, we ate some wonderful food, Raivis got to go to the beach for the first time, swing in the park for the first time, play with children his age for the first time, fly in a plane for the first time, Raivis got to meet his second of three great grandmothers, we got to visit with great family, and make connections that will hopefully last a long long time! Wow! No wonder I am tired!