Reese Hits the West Coast

It is clear that so far Reese lives a deprived life. Callie had her first flight at the age of three weeks. Reese had to wait until she was six weeks old. Tough life. In both cases, however, they visited California in style. Reese, Callie, and Sarah went to Sacramento in January to introduce the newest member of Team Bowes to her California family. Needless to say, Sarah snapped a few pictures.

The first stop was at the home of Great Grandma Lucas. Crazy enough, at six weeks Reese wasn't the youngest great grandchild, but we'll get to that in a few pictures. Great Grandma enjoyed bonding little Reese, and Reese couldn't take her eyes off of her great grandma. Fortunately, this was just the first of many visits the two had during the course of the trip.


Callie also enjoyed her time with Great Grandma. In fact, we took a trip to the park so Callie could show off her running/sliding/swinging/climbing skills. But before she did that, she insisted on helping Great Grandma to the bench by holding her hand. They were so good together.



And the picture above shows how cute all of them are together. That picture captures one of the main reasons Sarah was willing to fly by herself with the two little ones.

However, getting some additional time in with Grammy Gayle was very important as well. One of the first stops was Fairytale Town. As Reese hung out with Grammy, Callie and Sarah hit all the main attractions the place had to offer. You haven't lived until you have gone down the slide made out of the shoe of the "old woman who lived in a shoe" fame.



We finally stopped for a bite to eat in beautiful Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood and his Merry Men had thoughtfully placed some chairs for us to eat lunch on.



Although it was a little chilly, it was still better than the single digits and the snow of Kentucky. And the next item on the agenda was a visit with GA, GU, and an abundance of cousins.

Our first pictures shows Callie and Skyler taking the mini-F150 out for a spin. Skyler has a look on her face that John expects to have when he teaches Callie how to drive. We were cracking up watching Callie so passionately drive the F150 all over the place. She was truly enjoying herself and we are lucky she hasn't asked for one of her own since she has been home.


Callie and Brady are at an age where they wanted to play together as opposed to just playing in the same vicinity. We can only imagine that this will get better and better as the years go by and all the kids get older. Here, Brady and Callie shared lunch at the Lucas Diner, conveniently located in GA and GU's living room.


As we mentioned, Reese is not the youngest grandchild. Chase Lucas was born on Christmas Eve to Tyler and Sara. It is crazy that the youngest two are only two weeks apart, and there are now five grandchildren who are all within three years of each other. Family gatherings over the next decade or so are going to be fun but chaotic, that's for sure.

Because the two little ones were photographed together, we insisted that the three older ones also get together for a picture. This was a little trickier, and honestly, this was the only time the three in one spot long enough to get out the camera and snap a shot. National Geographic probably has an easier time taking photos of cheetahs in the Serengeti.


Speaking about getting the impossible shot, below is our attempt to get Great Grandma's four grandchildren and six great grandchildren in one photograph - looking happy or at least looking at the camera.



Great Grandma Lucas was in seventh heaven. Although these opportunities don't come often, we are happy to admit that we maximized the opportunity by spending the entire afternoon together.


The last big event of the visit was a trip down to La Selva to visit the Nice family. But such a long journey needs to be broken up by a cool visit here and there. The time was clearly ripe for a tour of the Jelly Belly factory. We were given the factory hats that we had to wear the entire time. This was made tolerable by the multiple stops where we got to taste jelly beans at each stage in the process.


It is unclear which sweet tooth enjoyed the factory tour, or at least the free samples, more. All in all the trip was a success, and it was great to see our West Coast family. We will be back in May, and this time John gets to come. This time the focus of the trip will be Uncle Zac and his graduation. We cannot wait!