"A family isn't about whose blood you have, it's about who you care about."

The next city we hit was Santa Rosa! We went up Monday afternoon and it was such a lovely drive! It took less than two hours (thank goodness cuz this time I was by myself!) and I just loved it! After we got out of San Fran we started passing more and more vineyards and rolling hills and it was just so pretty! Some hills were just covered in vineyards, looked just like a postcard!

Then as we got closer and closer to Santa Rosa I started recognizing things and started to get more and more excited. I think that's the best part of traveling, when you start to get to where you're going, especially if it's going home! And to me, this felt a bit like coming home, even though we don't live there anymore. It was our home at one time (the first home I remember) and I have some great memories from Santa Rosa!

Unfortunately my memory isn't the greatest but coming back did help jog a few little things. We went right to my Aunt Pat's because that's where my sister Katherine is living at the moment and I wanted to see Aunt Pat and my cousin Megan (she left last week to move to Brooklyn so I caught her just in time!). Then my birth mom, Terry, and her husband Mitch came over. They were ALL so excited to see Evelyn, as everyone is. She was a bit weary at first but warmed up to everybody before we left. She loved all the attention too! Lots of people to watch and to play with...I think she's getting a bit sick of me :)

So my Aunt Pat lives right across the street from the house I lived in here (which one of my uncles lives in now so I went over and said hi :) So it's an area I remember quite well. I lived across the street from lots of cousins, two just my age (Megan and Joey) and we had so much fun playing together! I remember playing freeze tag in Aunt Pat's yard, melting crayons in our wagons at Auntie Kim's, jumping on the trampoline at my house, playing in the little cottage my uncle built for my cousins. Which is still in their backyard! How cute is this?

Unfortunately our fun times had to end when I was seven and my fam moved across the US to Missouri. My cousins and I were so upset! We kept making plans to hide me so I wouldn't have to go, which were all pretty ridiculous but our little minds/imaginations believe they'd work! :) I was very sad to move away from them and am still sad that I missed growing up through high school with them and wasn't able to keep that closeness we had when we were little.

I remember going back to visit and Megan and Joey would be talking about school and friends and stuff they'd done and I was just so sad that I wasn't part of it! But that's life I suppose. I hated moving at first but in the long run am SO glad we moved to Missouri! I know, I know, some of you are thinking I'm crazy for actually liking Missouri but I do! It's my home and such a HUGE part of my life/growing up/learning/etc. I've got the greatest friends there and wouldn't trade any of my experiences growing up there for anything!

Anywho.........back to my visit! :) Evelyn and I stayed with Nonni Barbara (Annie's mother-in-law) because Annie and Andy were arriving in CA on Wednesday, which was great! She's such an awesome lady. Her backyard has a nice big pool and behind that a vineyard! I always loved that about her house.

So Tuesday we spent some time at Nonni's before heading over to the hospital so visit Grandma Fredrick. She's been at this particular hospital for quite awhile which is good for all the fam since it's really close and all her daughters, my grandpa, and her sister Mary can get their easily to see her. It was hard to see her there though and very sad! She wasn't awake very much when we were there but when she was she smiled at us and held Evelyn's hand and seemed very happy we were there. So I'm very, very glad that she got to meet Evelyn and that I got to come visit her!

After visiting Grandma, Evelyn and I met up with Terry, Mitch, Marcus, and Katherine for lunch and went back over to Aunt Pat's to visit. We actually saw them all pretty much every day we were there, which was wonderful! Wednesday was pretty chill, Evelyn and I just went around the area checking things out. Then we went to the Wednesday Night Market downtown to say goodbye to Megan and Aunt Pat. Then we went back to Nonni's where the Bidia fam FINALLY got there :) So I got to spend a little time with Annie and her fam before Carmen and I headed back down to SoCal.

Thursday I spent some time with Carmen and Natalia shopping and then we went to visit Grandma so Carmen could see her before we left. Then we went back to Nonni's and went swimming and had a yummy dinner with the Bidia's and some friends. It was so great! Dinner at Nonni's is always delicious and wonderful and loud, so feels just like home! :) Unfortunately our visit had to end and Carmen, Evelyn, and I packed up and left EARLY Friday morning.

We had a long drive ahead of us so I decided to leave early so we could get as much driving done as we could while Evelyn was sleeping and it worked pretty well! We had a lovely drive down on the 101, drove over the Golden Gate almost at sunrise, saw more vineyards and beaches and hills...so pretty! Carmen entertained me while I drove and helped with Evelyn when she was awake and we got back at lunchtime so we could just enjoy the rest of the day and relax! We've been having a grand ol' time since but that'll have to be saved for another post cuz this one's already way too long!

(Evelyn had a little taste of hummus at Aunt Pat's and LOVED it! It was so funny)

(I couldn't help taking this pic! How sweet is this? :)