About a week ago Alex mentioned that Winchester — a city he works in occasionally — was a cute little town I might like. Within minutes of Googling the town I learned the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival was coming up so we immediately booked a long weekend away.

I was actually more nervous for our recent flight to LA than when we went to Park City because ever since learning to walk, Dakota can barely be contained in a shopping cart for our 15-minute grocery runs at Trader Joe’s. A six hour flight was definitely daunting.

Although we weren’t in San Francisco long, we tried to pack in as much as possible while we were there.

After LA we jumped over to San Francisco to meet with some of our close friends. Just minutes from our friends’ apartment in San Francisco is the California Academy of Sciences. It’s definitely geared toward children a bit older than Dakota but there was plenty for her to explore.

Parks and food. Two of Dakota’s favorite things and quite possibly where we spent the majority of our time in California. Here’s an assortment of photos from some of our favorite spots in LA.

WIth all of the plans we had for LA, I wanted to make sure we did something special just for little Dakota. A trip to the Zimmer Children’s Museum in downtown LA was just the ticket.

While Alex was working, Stephen and I took Dakota on quite a few adventures during our stay in LA. I’m pretty sure her favorite was our trip to the LA Zoo. Dakota has always adored animals (after all, “dog” was her first word and she barrels forward to get her hands on any furry animal we come across during neighborhood walks). Needless to say the zoo has become Dakota’s happy place.

When I found out Alex had an upcoming conference in LA I couldn’t have been more excited. It was an opportunity to venture out on Dakota’s longest flight to date for a week of exciting adventures with my brother and Dakota’s uncle, Stephen!

We couldn’t visit LA without showing Dakota the Pacific Ocean so we headed out early one morning to explore Santa Monica.

Having never been to Park City when there wasn’t snow on the ground, Alex and I made plans to meet up with our friends from San Francisco for a long weekend getaway at Alex’s parents’ vacation home.

After spending a few days in New York, we stopped off in Philadelphia for a few days as we worked our way back home (in truth Dakota generally can’t do more than a couple hours in the car without getting upset so it made the drive home easier).