We completed the marathon road trip a week ago. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience ... mainly because we will never drive that much in that short of a time period with a five-month old again. John actually did very well considering the sheer amount of car time. I think we asked too much of him and he still cried VERY little ... he just kind of whined about 50% of the time.
We first went to Gardnerville where Grandma Sherri and Grandpa Ken got to spend some quality time with John (we were there, too). We had a lot of fun and even got to catch up with the Roches, some of our best friends from law school. We also met the members of the Walker Branch, which was a lot of fun. In a not-too-surprising trend that would endure throughout the trip, John was the star of the show.
We then drove to Reedley to be with Dani's family. We wanted to drop by SF but Val and Gordon were in Vegas. Instead we went straight to Reedley and, as expected, Grandma Phillips flipped over seeing her "shao-pan-zuh" again. (Rough translation: "little chub.") We had a great time. I actually played some basketball with Dani's dad and brothers (first time in a couple years at least) and Dani jogged. John really liked Grandma's chickens: he loved watching them mill around looking for food or run up to us as we walked out the door. John also got to meet his uncle Farrell, who had not yet seen him in person. This part of the trip also gave us a chance to introduce John to the piano (more on this in a later post).
Next we headed down to the LA/OC crowd. We first dropped off in Santa Clarita to see Great Grandma Cascio. We went to lunch (where strangers practically begged to see John) and Grandma even let Dani take a much needed and well-earned nap. Grandma seemed very pleased that we had named our boy John, partly after her late husband and my Grandpa John Cascio. She said that he was probably smiling down on little John. I agree.
We then went to see the Valley peeps. We dropped off at Christina's place and hung out there for a while. Then Christina treated us to dinner with Kate, Bobby, and Gordy. It was a fun time. William got to see John briefly but Nathaniel wasn't there. Kate got to see John a little but didn't experience what I call his "full repertoire of cuteness." We spent the night at Val's condo in Woodland Hills (thanks, Val!) and then set off for UCLA the next morning.
John was surprised at how much Mommy and Daddy's alma mater has changed in a few short years. He was excited to see how much construction and development has taken place in the biological sciences section of campus. I think he could feel a sense of excitement as Mommy and Daddy showed him their favorite parts of UCLA and he really likes the cute onesie we grabbed him at the UCLA store. John also really liked seeing the UCLA Institute, where Mommy and Daddy met.
Before leaving LA for Laguna we dropped by the LA temple to show John where Mommy and Daddy were married. We ate our lunch and strolled around part of the grounds. I love that temple; it will always be "my temple."
We next went down to Laguna Woods to introduce John to Great Grammy Jackson. As with everyone else who meets John, she was struck with how handsome and fun he is. He sat in her lap and they had a lot of fun together. We ate a delicious dinner she prepared for us and talked about family until (for us) late into the night. We were able to make a brief run to the beach to introduce John to the ocean. He was a little skeptical at first due to all the noise and motion, but eventually seemed to like it. We put his feet in the water, which he also got used to after a while. We vowed to find a way to get him substantial beach time every year.
The next morning we started the longest single driving day of the trip, which through poor planning on my part was also the last. We dropped by Dani's aunt and uncle's place in Tustin. James and Monica and Anya, AJ and Zach enjoyed seeing John. I'm not so sure the family enjoyed being awakened by our call at 7:45am on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately Luke and Emily were not at home.
The drive home was very long and the stop in Vegas further cemented my determination to only move there if Baghdad is full. John was again quite the trooper, especially since he was in that car seat for nearly eleven hours! We finally arrived home late Saturday night and basically slept all of Sunday. The trip was great, but we went and forgot to take pictures for most of it. Here are a couple we did take, with apologies to those (especially Great Grandma Cascio) who do not appear. In the next post we'll have some neat updates and other exciting developments.
Here's John trying to get out of his pack-n-play:
"Shao-pan-zuh" and Grandma Phillips enjoying a nap:
(What he is really doing is begging to be on mommy's lap so he can see the computer screen)
He actually likes the music books more than the piano, but I think he's learning to appreciate the piano. Now he gets excited when he sees it and only tries to eat the keys about every other time.
And he actually enjoyed it! For a while, when I would get food onto a spoon he would lunge at it. We didn't think we would have any problems getting this kid to eat. And then one day it all changed:
He now just hates most food. I don't understand how anyone could hate peaches or apples. But when I let him suck on a slice of apple that I'm eating I can barely get my fingers out of his mouth with apple still intact. And as hard as it is to get him to eat, the hardest part of the entire process is getting him out of the Bumbo:
Now for the 6 month stats: Height 27.5 in (75th %ile), Weight 19lb 3oz (80th %ile), and his head circumference was in the 60th %ile (I don't remember the numbers). So he is perfectly consistent with his percentiles from 2 weeks, 2 months, and 4 months. And he cried only when the doc was doing her exam (he always cries when he sees her) and when the nurses stuck him with the needles. But as soon as Daddy picked him up he stopped crying. He's such a tough little guy. And Ben is the very best daddy. 
