Vacation Part 1

A few highlights from our vacation:

1. Avery took FIVE steps on Sunday morning in Patterson, CA (in, of all places, a Carl's Jr., which might be the second time I've ever been in a CJ in my life, so I don't think we're going to be go often to re-live the moment).

2. On Friday night, in a Mexican restaurant in Los Banos, CA (yes, transalated to The Bathrooms, CA), our waitress was telling us that one of her customers spoke seven languages, and then she proceeded to tell us what they all were: Italian, English, Spanish, Australian, ... (um, wait a minute, did she just say Australian?) ... And then she said "I guess Australian is sort of similar to English." Um, yes, it is SORT OF similar to English. You might even call them the same language. I could not even look at Iain or the waitress because I would have cracked up. So Iain and I got a great laugh about it after we got in the car. This restaurant also had a great grassy patch in the front where the girls took off their shoes and ran around laughing and playing.

3. We had lunch at a restaurant in St. Helena, CA (Napa Valley) with some of the best burgers and shakes we've ever had (thanks, Kelley & Joe, for the awesome recommendation).

4. We have been having fun listening to Audrey's constant talking in the car. She has opinions on everything, and her new favorite thing is to say "No Mommy" or "No Daddy" in a very matter-of-fact, authoritative voice with the look of someone who has been commanding people for years. I have to say that I much prefer this to the whiny voice she used to use, but I also prefer her other favorite phrase "here you go, Mommy" to this one.

We forgot to clear our camera's memory before we left, so we haven't taken many pix. But I'm about to clear it, so hopefully there will be some more postings later in the week. In any event, here's a pretty funny one ... our car was so loaded, there was no room for diaper changing on the inside. =)