The Great Sosini takes on California

....or at least the LA area. We flew to Thousand Oaks, CA for a short visit this past weekend, and Sonia had a fabulous time with her Grandma JoAnn and Grandpa Spike! It was positively exhausting flying all the way to and from the west coast with a gregarious 9 month old baby, but we're so glad we did. Sosini did pretty well on the flights and in the airports (good lord, LAX has the most ridiculous lines), but I'm still very glad we currently have no plans to fly her anywhere until this summer. All of the families we talked to about flying with babies said the same thing-- it starts out pretty easy in the first few months, and then it gets harder as the baby gets older and sleeps less during the flights. Hats off to the people who travel to overseas destinations with babies.... You are made of stronger stuff than me!

Anyway, we had a wonderful time, and Sonia absolutely loves her Evans grandparents. The flight there started out rocky (she was pretty unhappy that we had to wait on the runway for a half hour before taking off), but when her daddy read her Cookie's Week (best book ever!), she cheered right up.


On Saturday morning, Sosi took a swim in Grandma Jojo's big tub. I had been suspecting it was nearing the time to stop bathing her in the inflatable yellow ducky tub (she has been trying to climb out of it lately), and seeing how excited she was to splash around in a bigger space convinced me.


Is tummy time in the tub called "tubby time"? Look at that baby booty!


Daddy and Grandpa Spike tried to teach Sonia how to play "Heart and Soul" on the piano....


Later that day, we drove to Santa Barbara, and we just left Sonia sitting on a curb while we went off to have some fun. Just kidding!


We met up with my aunt, Kim, and my two cousins, Abbey and Cady Lane. Sonia was jealous of Cady Laners's fabulous curly hair! Unfortunately, Uncle Jerry couldn't come because he was feeling a bit under the weather. Feel better soon, Skunkle.


After lunch, we all went and rode the carousel. Sonia loved it! She and I sat in this little sleigh seat, and Sonia would not stop trying to touch (and nom) the pretty lady who adorned the side of the sleigh.


On Sunday, we took Sonia to the beach (about 15 minutes away from my parents' house), and The Great Sosini made a break for it the second we turned away. She wanted to go join the rest of the baby belugas! Luckily, she still can't really crawl forward, so she didn't get too far.


We had been trying to put these sunglasses on her when we were in my parents' house, but she kept taking them off. When we put the sunglasses on Sosi while we were at the beach, she left them on without any fuss. It's like she knew that it's silly to wear sunglasses inside!


My husband and daughter-- ready for a magazine cover, if you ask me....


I love this picture soooooooo much!


3 generations of Scott/Evans/Malahowski women


Sonia finally got to swing for the first time in months! Predictably, she had a blast.


Thanks for showing us such a good time, Mom and Dad! We love you!