we left houston yesterday to welcome uncle james home – vanpa went early to sort out the rental car while nanny, evan, avery & I headed out to fresno a few hours later. it’s funny because a lot of people have asked us if we were nervous about travelling with the kiddos that far. haha! our kiddos are used to 10+ hour flights to england so this was EASY!!
as normal, the kids did great!! they were so content on the plane and had their backpacks full of goodies mommy & daddy packed for them to keep them entertained! I love that they are such great travelers! we flew into LAX and then caught a connection to fresno. so thankful our connecting flight was only one gate away!
just hanging on the plane!
doesn’t everyone have car races in the terminal?!?!
once we got to fresno, vanpa was there to meet us – thank goodness bc we had 3 suitcases, a stroller, the carry on bags, and the two carseats {thank goodness for go go babyz!!! seriously the best travel with kids accessory we have ever purchased!}. traveling with kids is not for light weights 
vanpa also had a small incident with the rental car – as in he is on the “do not rent” list for enterprise due to a charge they put on his card and never actually billed him for. while he was waiting for us, he went to another rental company and actually got a better deal! go dad!! we loaded up the car and headed for “beautiful” lemoore, california!
james had told us it was pretty boring and smelled terrible and it did not disappoint! there was NOTHING in lemoore! james had us stay at the indian casino there {ok, so there’s that} and it was nice but seriously, there was nothing else!! crazy!
once we found the casino and got checked in, we went downstairs for dinner where the host attempted to seat our party of 5 at a table for 4 but that only had 3 chairs. as he walked away trying to find us another table, e pointed out that “this table won’t work! there are 5 of us and only 3 chairs!” glad my 3 year old got that but the 20 something host didn’t!
after dinner, we walked around the hotel checking out the pool, etc while we waited on james’ girlfriend, liz. the kiddos did a decent job of not getting too wet
liz came to our room while we bathed the munchkins and got them ready for bed. at this point, we were pushing 11pm houston time {with no nap for aj!} so they were a little tired! as we sat around talking, aj curled up on the bed and fell asleep! I can honestly say that has NEVER happened! sweet thing was just sooooo tired!
the next morning, the kids were up pretty early {like 5 california time which is normal for houston time}. after getting showered and dressed, we loaded the minivan back up and headed out to the base. what should have been a 10 minute drive turned into a 30 minute tour of lemoore. we started following signs for the base and when we didn’t see anymore, we deferred to the navigation on dad’s phone which took us all the way around to the other side of the base. once we figured out we were heading to a side gate, I looked up the main gate online and it was back where we had initially deferred to the navigation – haha!! we managed to make it in plenty of time and were able to watch james’ squadron fly in – amazing!
just waiting around!
here they come!
{james is on the bottom row – second from the right}
there they go!
hurry up & wait
VFA-97 families…
james pulling in…
and parking…
warhawks are home!
”patiently” waiting…
getting closer!
and this is when I forgot I had my camera so I missed the pic of liz & james 
two munchkins who were EXCITED to see their uncle james!
& I think she might have been a little happy to see him too
walleye meeting his baby girl for the first time {& being interviewed by the local news}
yep, they love him!
finally back together!! so happy for them!!
we left the base and headed out to get lunch. just to show you how amazing lemoore is, we ended up at a gas station subway
after a quick lunch, we hit the road for san francisco! while it wasn’t a very scenic drive until the end, we were so excited for our vacation to really start {just ask evan – he was constantly asking when we were going to be on vacation
a little driving during naptime…
crossing the bay bridge…
we rented a townhouse right behind ghirardelli square with a rooftop terrace & free parking! it is absolutely AMAZING & the owner, dede, is the best! I would highly recommend it to anyone going to san francisco!!
once we unloaded the car, we headed out for dinner. we are able to walk anywhere we want to go – love it! pushing the stroller back up the hill was a little challenging but we took turns
the kids thought they would get a drink at the bar while we waited
after dinner, we headed back to hit the sack early! we are pooped from such a long day! big girl is currently sleeping on a pallet on the floor of my room {first time she hasn’t been in a confined type bed} & so far, so good!
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