The drive up to Northern California was not bad at all. We left a little after midnight, which gave us only five hours of guaranteed baby sleep. Sure enough around 5:30 in the morning, Baby Bug started stirring. I managed to keep her occupied with various toys until we stopped at a pancake house somewhere near Santa Rosa for breakfast.

(So much for the sandwiches I packed. We didn’t even eat them. That always happens. If I pack food we don’t eat it. If I don’t pack food, we starve to death and end up existing off gas station junk food.)

Baby Bug is a hoot at restaurants. She hams it up for everybody. If there is anybody within shouting distance who doesn’t immediately notice and coo at her, she shouts at them until she gets their attention. I realize that doesn’t sound very cute at all, but to us it is. Her shouts are happy self-confident “look at me” shouts, if that makes sense. The stuffy old man who sat across the aisle from us seemed to think so, especially after Baby Bug charmed him with her cackles and sweet smiles.

After filling up on pancakes and waffles with strawberries on top and making a complete disaster of the table and the floor beneath the high chair, we hit the road and headed for the redwood curtain. The only hard part for me was entertaining the baby on the winding roads. I get car sick so easy and looking at the baby is worse than reading a book while driving. It was quease-city for me for a good few hours. Thankfully, I didn’t lose my breakfast and we made it to the in-laws in time for spaghetti dinner and a beautiful sunset off their deck.

Baby Bug is getting really good at meeting new people. She lets everyone hold her and almost always beams her best smiles, unless of course she has just woken up. Then she’s the grumpmeister. But she warms up pretty quick. She especially likes meeting the animals. She loves dogs. Which is pretty important since they are part of the family too.