Baby flights

With all the travel to see family (see end of last blog entry for an overview of our Thanksgiving journeys), the twins are turning into quite the little fliers.

Ear protection is good, but accentuates those chubby cheeks just a little too much.

Anneka eyes all those the switches and dials.

Then she moves right in...

... and takes over the yoke

("Norcal Approach, Navion One Zero Zero Delta Delta, I'll have to have my baby daughter explain that last altitude deviation...")

Most of the time, the kiddies chill in their car ...um... air seats,

... but Anneka's always checking to see if we want her to come back up & take over the controls again.

All those flights hours lead to peaceful sleep.

Thanksgiving in Walla Walla

Early in Thanksgiving week, we managed a quick trip up to Walla Walla to see family.

Somehow, though, we got very few photos! (Sorry!)

Walla Walla was blessed (?!) by an early snowstorm. We took advantage of the opportunity for an outdoor photo op.

Some of you may have seen this photo on our 2010 Christmas card.

Papa reminisces:
That snowstorm was no joke. Air traffic was snarled across the Northwest. I guess I can be glad I didn't try to fly us up, or we'd really have been stuck.

All in all, that Thanksgiving week was a busy one! Travel went like this:

Drive from Arroyo Grande to Santa Barbara, fly to Seattle then Pasco, drive to Walla Walla, spend a couple days seeing Ketting & Rittenbach family, drive back to Pasco (in the snow), delayed flight to Seattle, miss the only connection back home due to the snow delays, snag a flight to Sacramento (due to the miracles of a flight waiting for dead headers that -- miraculously -- wasn't full), rent cars in Sacramento for both Mama & Papa, send Mama and kids off to her parents' in Sacramento, drive myself from Sacramento to Arroyo Grande (arriving 1 am) so I can work on Wednesday, drive down to Santa Barbara Wednesday pm to pick up our own car at the airport and turn in the one-way rental car, drive back home, sleep a little, fly back to Sacramento (my own plane this time, at least) Thursday morning for Thanksgiving dinner with Bauer clan, stay overnight, fly wife & kids to Redding, stay two nights with Jolene's brother & family, fly back home Sunday morning, back to work Monday morning. All with babies in tow...

Are you feeling tired yet?

Vacation to Long Beach

Papa wanted to visit Long Beach for a specific reason: The AOPA exhibition was being held there (translation: lots of airplanes & airplane stuff). Mama and the girls humored him by tagging along.

The twins loved their hotel room-service dining. They found Mama provides faster service than the bell boys, though.

Wasn't all airplanes. We got out for a walk around the bay.

Denis and Melissa Cline joined us for the day. The girls all went to the aquarium. The boys went to see planes (photos all spoiled by drool).

No trip to Long Beach is complete without a visit to the Queen Mary.

We hiked over with the girls and had lunch aboard.

It wasn't busy, so the girls got to stroll the decks while Mama & Papa ate.

We returned to our hotel at dusk; got some good photos on the way.

Fun times!

Due to Papa's surprising restraint while looking at all those airplane gadgets, we didn't come back too much poorer!

How to get a good baby photo...

... You just keep taking photos ...

(Ain't digital film great!?!)

(Problem is, you don't run out a film like with the old cameras.)

So you discover you can't stop shooting.

Kids keep hamming it up

Eventually...

You either get a good one,
Or you just pick one.

But in the end, you keep them all.
(They're just too cute!)