California: Davis and Jelly Belly

 Our first full day in California, Uncle Chris showed us where he works at UC Davis, and we went to the Jelly Belly jellybean factory!

 Isaac and Papa took some pictures with a palm tree. Papa really likes palm trees. Someday when we build our house in Burkina he would like palm trees. Given the climate of Burkina, I would say that is definitely within the realm of possibility.

After we had a good look at the lab, we got a tour of the greenhouses. 

I don't even know if I should be showing these pictures, they are so top secret. 

Just prepare to be astounded and blown away by what is inside.

 What kind of plants are these? 

 Well, there was a variety, but the one to pay the most attention to was the alfalfa. These are some experimental ones, I think. Uncle Chris is doing lots of alfalfa research. I would attempt to elaborate, but I would probably get it wrong. Ah, heck, I'll try to elaborate anyway. If I get it wrong, Uncle Chris can send me an email. Why is alfalfa a big deal? 

 Well, apparently the cows eat it (and did you know that California produces 21.3% of the nation's milk?) so they are looking at ways to produce more alfalfa to meet the need to feed all those dairy cows.

 Another bonus is that Uncle Chris has all the ag hookups so gets lots of free fruit and veggies. In fact, I believe it is quite rare that he actually has to buy fruit or veggies between his garden and his work connections. :) We enjoyed some delicious cherries courtesy of said work connections.

And now for something completely different. 

 We went to the Jelly Belly factory, which was somewhere down there (how bad it is it that I can't remember the name of the city) close by. Uncle Chris had never been and neither had we, so we figured it would be fun and potentially interesting for Isaac. I also had absolutely no idea how they made jelly beans so it was educational for me too. 

We had to wear paper hats on the tour, even if we had no hair.

 We learned that Ronald Reagan liked Jelly Belly jellybeans and probably helped make them famous. As a result, there are multiple jellybean mosaics of President Reagan around the factory.

 Here we are, ready to go on the tour!

 Oh no, a line. We have to wait in it. What shall I ever do? says Sonia. I shall just have to resort to eating my hand.

 We couldn't take any pictures on the tour but it was informative, plus they gave us each a pack of jellybeans on the way out. We also bought some fudge. Yum, yum! I need to learn how to make fudge. 

Afterwards we were pretty hungry, so we went to this favorite Chinese restaurant of Uncle Chris's: Golden Dragon. Much unlike the "Hungry Tiger" of Portland infamy (which does not exist anymore), the Golden Dragon had some good food. I ordered something with a really yummy black bean sauce.

The waitress there is very unique - she has an amazing memory and remembers facts about every person who comes in. By the end of the meal she had figured out who my mom was (from when my mom and dad came down before) even though Uncle Chris only said that I was his niece. I wish I had a memory half that good! 

hair

"Oh my gosh, Mama," you are probably saying, "Not another post about Isaac's hair. We know he has hair already." No, this is not actually a post about Isaac's hair.

This is a post about my hair, which Isaac takes time to style for me every day. I generally put it up in a bun, and he pulls it around until it is just right.

Here I am with my personal hairstylist.

Suave, no? Actually, this time it didn't look too bad. Some people do the poofy thing on top on purpose. Isaac got it pretty darn close.

Isaac has also taken an keen interest in my hygiene. Here he is making sure I brush my teeth well. He is fascinated with toothbrushes and toothpaste. We would let him have a toothbrush, but it would have to be a gumbrush for him. We just love this little hairstylist.

Celebrity transporter

Just for Uncle Doug, here is a blog update with some nice pictures. We went to Newport for a little visit, and so that Isaac could meet Uncle Doug and Uncle Chris. Also, his great-grandparents hadn't seen him for quite awhile. He almost rolled over for everyone, but we decided that he was getting too mad and that it wasn't very nice of us to let him get frustrated anymore. So, that was that. Uncle Doug asked if I feel like a celebrity transporter now. That's about accurate. Yay! I have a fancy job title again.

Isaac and Great-Grandpa

Isaac and Uncle Doug

We spent the night at Grandma's house, because she wasn't working today. In the morning, Isaac took a bath, then selected his outfit, which you see him wearing in the following pictures. I actually showed him three outfits and held them up, and he pointed to this one. I guess he wanted to wear the new outfit and try it out. Then Grandma found a bib to save the outfit from copious amounts of spit-up.

How could she say no to a face like that?

Isaac got bored because the internet was too slow as Mama was trying to find out when her final exams would be Fall Term.

This is how Isaac spends a good portion of his time if Mama has her way. I think he sleeps much better this way, and then he can wake up when he is well rested.

He actually napped in his special crib at Grandma's house for a couple of hours, and Grandma and Mama washed the car. Before leaving to come back to Corvallis, it was time for Isaac to have a refill.

And this is what he says to anyone who thinks breastfeeding isn't a manly thing to do. Don't make fun of this little man.

Finally, at home, Isaac found his fingers during tummy time.

He makes a lot more sounds now. He's been making this "hegu" sound a lot in the past few days. I repeat it as "Hello" although I know he's just playing with his mouth right now. Still, it is really fun to expand on his utterances! Sometimes we swear he's saying something. There was one thing he said the other day but neither of us can remember exactly...

The only thing I have to add is that we walked to Grocery Outlet this evening and whoever owns those cherry trees is cutting down some of the limbs and leaving them in his yard with all those beautiful cherries still on them! It is shameful - so I stole several more handfuls of cherries for Isaac on the way there and back. Obviously the cherry tree guy doesn't want his cherries.