Trip to Northern California

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip up to No. Cal. The main purpose of the trip was to see my brother, Scott, while he was on leave before going on his next deployment (he's in the Marines - HOO-RAH). Unfortunately, I was pretty bad about taking pictures until the last couple of days, so there were quite a few festivities that didn't get documented. I think there's still enough pictures for you to get the idea.

Caleb posing with Uncle Scott and Auntie Remy

Lunch with Grandpa Steve. Unfortunately Caleb was in a bit of a foul mood at this point and didn't want his picture taken.

Still a bit photo-phobic while reading with Emma (whose house we stayed at while we were there, along with her parents Christina and Ben, whom I failed to get a picture of).

Playing in the bumper boats at Christina's parents house...I don't think we can go to the pool without one of these ever again. He absolutely loved it (see video below).

Don't shoot!

This was a really good trip for getting Caleb acclimated to dogs. We started out pretty small with Hershey, whom he loved to chase around the deck.

Then we took a sidetrip to San Jose to visit a couple of people, both of which had some smaller dogs. By the end of the below visit, Caleb was saying, "I want the doggie to kiss me!" This is HUGE, since he has NEVER liked dogs to get near him.

Posing with my buddy Angie. She's a dear friend from Undergraduate school at San Jose State. This was the first time she got to meet Caleb. She's, of course, heard and read all about him over the years, though.

We also met a new friend, Robyn, who also has Ullrich CMD. Her parents recently renovated their home to make much of it accessible for Robyn. I left with many great ideas, and Caleb had a blast playing with her.

Here they are playing in her accessible play house.

Here's the video of Caleb playing in the bumper boats.

It was a great trip visiting with family and friends, but we did leave with somewhat of a heavy heart. It was difficult to say "See ya later" to my baby brother this time (sorry, dude. I know you could probably kill me with your bare hands and stuff, but you'll always be my baby brother). It was also hard for Jeff and I to realize that it is just becoming more and more difficult to travel with Caleb. He requires so much equipment and modifications of his environment that it's just getting more and more challenging to be away from home. We did have lots of fun, though.