The Hochmuth Adventures 2018 - CAFE - California, Australia, Florida and Europe: January 2018

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Trip to Sacramento - Week One - Friday, January 5 - Friday, January 12, 2018

The weather in Buffalo was not very nice - snowy and 6 degrees when we left - but even though our flight was delayed in leaving we were able to make our connection in Charlotte. On our flight there were many Bills fans making their way to the game on Sunday - too bad that they would go home disappointed. We arrived in Sacramento on time and were greeted by Christine, Jason and CJ along with the 50 degree weather. We went to their house and had a delicious dinner.

Usually I blog daily about our sightseeing highlights but this one will be different. We have mostly had quiet days trying to help out Chris and Jason with any projects around the house and trying to make their days easier helping with CJ. For the most part we have taken and picked Carol up from daycare. It is only 3 blocks away so when it's not raining we walk her. We take her later and pick her up earlier so that we have some extra time with her and we even kept her home on Friday. We are enjoying having the chance to read to her, play peek-a-boo, teaching her to know her toes, nose, ears, etc. It's those little things that we miss being so far away. We have taken CJ to the store (Costco and Food Source) to buy our groceries for dinner and she likes to be in the kitchen while Grandma is preparing it.

On Sunday we watched the Bills game - unfortunately the result wasn't what we wanted. Ron and I will be in Australia for the Super Bowl anyway so we won't have to worry about missing anything. Jason cooked corned beef and cabbage and Alex and Jason's Mom, Brenda, came and joined us for dinner.

On Thursday Ron and I walked to Maya Taqueria and had a delicious lunch. It is one of the many
nearby Mexican restaurants. We kept going and went to the iconic Tower Theater to see the movie
Lady Bird. As it had won some Golden Globe awards, as the director was from Sacramento, as it
was set in Sac and showed some of Sac's famous landmarks it seemed like the perfect movie to se. We enjoyed it and I could also relate to the Catholic High School references.

Friday we took a short trip to Target. We try to work our trips around CJ's nap schedule. Only bought a couple of things but that was fine.

Always a happy baby

CJ is busy all the time

Well - Almost all the time

Enjoying some Mexican food

The iconic Tower Theater

CJ loves the new chair that Daddy bought for her!

This chair does so many neat things

I told you I know where my nose is!

How do you like my outfit?

I may be a little peanut but it doesn't stop me at all!

Trip to Sacramento - Week Two - Saturday, January 13 - Friday, January 19, 2018

Saturday we took the train to Berkley to see our niece and my godchild. We couldn't be so close and not go and see Danielle who is working on her PhD at UC Berkley. It was about an hour and one half ride and CJ did a great job on her first train ride. We met Danielle at the train station (she had her bike) and then took the bus to near the entrance of UC Berkley. We walked around a bit and then had lunch at a nice restaurant called Eureka. CJ loved their fries. From there we walked a little of the campus and saw where Danielle's lab is. She and Chris got a chance to talk fruit flies and the rest of us just listened and pretended to understand. We had a nice train ride back to Sacramento and arrived about 6:30. It certainly beat driving through the California traffic.

CJ's first train ride

Fun on the bus with Danielle

Lunch at Eureka

Good food - Good company

Nap time

Waiting for the bus to go home

Views of UC Berkley

The clock tower

The library

Danielle's lab

Sunday Chris and I slipped off for a little bit to get pampered. A spa not too far from her offers packages of "foot massages". It ends up being only about $25 for a one hour massage. The reason I put foot in quotes is that they do soak your feet and massage them but they also do an entire body massage. If I lived here this would be a weekly event. Today was Ron's 65th birthday but he likes to be low key in his celebrations. Jason cooked us delicious steaks and we had carrot cake - Ron's favorite.

Monday Christine was off so we headed off to Fairy Tale Town. We didn't stay too long because CJ was ready for a nap but she had a great time while there. She loves animals and had lots of fun as you can see from the pictures.

At Fairy Tale Town

It's a little chilly today

What's this?

I want to touch the chickens and roosters!

Fun with Mommy

What are we sitting on?

What? This isn't like the train we were on the other day!

So many things to explore!

I'm a lucky little girl.

The rest of the week was pretty normal but Chris worked from home on Thurs. Ron and I took the baby in the afternoon and got out of her way by going to the Oak Park Brewery. They had great $3 pints and happy hour specials. CJ was perfect. Chris had outpatient surgery on Friday which went well. They live only 5 minutes from UC Davis Medical Center so it's very convenient. It was another good week with lots of CJ time for Grandpa and Grandma.

Monday, January 29, 2018

Trip to Sacramento - Week Four - Sunday, January 28, - Thursday, February 1, 2018

Since the girls went out on Saturday it was the guys turn on Sunday. They decided to go to the Sacramento Home Show to check things out and to get house ideas. After that they met Alex at the Tank House for lunch. While they were gone Chris and I decided to do some make ahead meals so that they'd be set for next week when we are gone. We made a huge batch of chili which we had for dinner and two different lentil dishes. They will be set for awhile with that and the ham that I baked on Monday. We also took a walk to the store and stopped at the playground for a little while. Alex came back with the guys and had dinner with us.

Monday we were going to go to Old Town Sac but it was a bit foggy and cool and Ron wanted to do some yard work. I did some things around the house and went to Target to pick up a few things we needed for Australia while he worked outside. Tuesday we kept CJ with us and took her to Old Town and she enjoyed seeing the horses, eating her first Tootsie Pop and just walking through the town. We came home and I made Au gratin potatoes with ham.

Wednesday Ron completed the last of his house projects doing some work on the garage and in the back yard while I cleaned the house and did wash. Have to get ready to leave tomorrow. Jason and Chris took us to El Novillero for some great Mexican food with a stop on the way home at Gunthers for some ice cream.

Today was hard. I walked CJ to Ms. LaDonna's and tried not to cry. I don't know when I'll see her again so it was hard to leave her. We also said our goodbyes to Chris, who left early for a meeting Palo Alto and to Jason when he left for work. Came home, ate breakfast, took a shower, finished packing and we'll call an Uber or Lyft to take us to the airport. Trying to get myself psyched up for the 15 hour plane ride but since we've been getting up earlier than usual I think it might not be too hard. I'll let you know how our flight was in our Australia Blog. Until then . . .