little California girl

As a gift to my grandparents, my aunt and my mom sent Drew, me and Bentley to Orange County to be "handyman/painter", "organizer/cleaner-outer", and "little ham-sandwich". I have finally uploaded all the videos, edited all the photos to now bring them to you via this blog. enjoy!

BEFORE


AFTER
The butterflies returned to their rightful place.

DURING
Drew donning Papa's work clothes and Nana's belt. Less to pack for us.


Bentley comes in for the assist...




I have fond memories growing up looking forward to our annual visits to my grandparents home and getting to pick oranges. My dear childhood friend Andrea and I even sold oranges at the end of the driveway one year. I painted a big wooden orange sign and we rigged an umbrella to stand up as our sun shade. I believe we scored about $60 to share. With this I am sure we went to the mall. It is a joy now to watch my daughter enjoying the same experience even at just 18 months old.




We even enjoyed a bit of home with the warm (thank goodness) rainy days.







My new camera came a few days prior to us visiting, so I made myself pack it so that I could practice before my first wedding of 2010 at the end of the month. I have also been teaching Drew a few things... enjoy his capturing the essence of our daughter, Bentley Brooke.




Each morning Bentley would walk down the hallway and ask for Nana and Papa by name. And she made sure to say "Doody" in response to Papa's morning greeting, "Howdy Doody!" As Papa would relax in his chair, she made sure to tell all of us, with her finger to her mouth, "Shhhh" since he was "sleeping" apparently. She acclimated to this new environment very well. Even to the nightly Jeopardy sessions that were a must-see as her bedtime neared.





We visited with Grandpa Hall for breakfast and got to see the boats that were right outside our restaurant near mission viejo. (I can't remember the name of the city we were actually in, dad!) Corrected! We had breakfast in Dana Point.



We nearly missed the Superbowl! Drew was ready to grill me because our tickets were booked to leave DURING the Superbowl. We ended up extending our stay which included homemade guacamole with authentic California avocados from Nana's friend, as well as several chip dips (Bentley doesn't yet understand that double-dipping is a serious social faux-pas), instead she would much rather dip the chip and suck the guacamole off and then dip again. The game ended with a raucous tackle of daddy by Bentley.





The ham-sandwich herself





Nana teaches Bentley the church and the steeple. I love experiencing things again for the first time through her eyes. I love even more that Bentley has had the opportunity to visit her namesakes at their home three times now.



And I can't forget to mention that we tried to see Andrea, J and the girls while we were down there, but alas, it did not work out. We are looking forward to their visit to Washington in April.

We did get to see my brother Matt and my sis-in-law Judy and my nieces and nephew. We went for our second annual breakfast at Dennys and then to this little farm near the swap meet. We saw LOTS of interesting animals. Then Judy and I got away with just the little ones to the Santa Ana Zoo that my Nana thought was just a park around the corner. It turned out that my Pt. Defiance Zoo membership got us all in for free! yippee! Unforntuately I was so paranoid about my new camera, I did not bring it on these excursions to take any photos. ugh. Judy has a few, perhaps she will share? (wink wink)

On our flight home, Bentley accidentally spilled water on her outfit, so we changed her into her PJs. While in transition and just in her diaper, she said "diaper dance" ("dipah da") and proceeded to hold the seat in front of her while she moved her hips wildly!