ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

One of the major benefits of living in California is that we are so close to family, which means free babysitting! Alastair and I took advantage one weekend and dropped Emre off at my parent's place.  We had never let anyone watch Emre for longer than a few hours, so this was really going to test the waters. He did great! He woke up in the morning and went straight to having fun at Lola's house!  Alastair and I left pretty early, so we could grab some food at the store and to beat traffic. This was all done in vain because for some reason, the bank put a fraudulent hold on our card and couldn't use it until we sorted it out with the bank. Super frustrating but whatever. I drove all the way to Yosemite, which is HUGE for me because I hate driving and windy roads freaks me out! But I did it! Sweaty palms and all, I did it!  We made it the park and decided to hike a trail that lead to a lake. Alastair did his research about the destination, promising views of

One of the benefits of living on the West coast is the proximity to family. We loved all the family time we were able to have, especially Emre! He became best pals with his Gigi and her elephant collection. It was so nice to give her a call to let her know we were on our way to hangout with her! We love our Gigi!  It was also nice to be a road trip away from Grandma and Grandad. They were able to travel to the Bay Area with Alastair's aunts, Vickie and Joyce. I've never met that side of the family, so it was nice to officially meet the McKee side!  We spent the weekend in Monterrey and Carmel. Our first stop was at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium. I was so excited to take Emre there! At the time, he was so into sharks. Absolutely obsessed! I was excited to take him to see real sharks. The experience was ok, just bummed that there were soooo many people! completely crowded. I felt a bit overwhelmed and we didn't even manage to take Emre out of the baby carrier. I