We leave in a few weeks to for our summer vacation to visit family in Italy and Albania. I started thinking about all the places Siena has been...especially in just her first year. She is quite a world traveler with an impressive passport already.
Her first mini trip was when she was only 1 month old. We went to San Francisco for a "staycation" to celebrate Baba's birthday. I think most of the sites of San Francisco were lost on Siena but she sure did love the bathtub in the hotel room.
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| San Francisco, CA February 2010 |
Her next trip was a big one...Louisiana and Albania! She was only 3 months old when we hit the road to introduce her to all of her family. Our first stop was Baton Rouge. This is where Siena was baptized.
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| Baton Rouge, LA April 2010 |
We stayed in Louisiana longer than we expected. There was a huge volcano erupting and we could not fly to Albania until all the smoke and ash cleared. While waiting we took a road trip to the beach. This was Siena and Baba's first time to the famous Gulf Coast!
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| Gulf Shores, Alabama April 2010 |
Mama and Baba will never forget this trip. Siena slept the longest she ever had in Pensacola, Florida. I guess all the sand and water made her very tired.
After many plane rides and long hours of flying, we finally made it to Albania. Gyshi and Nonna met Siena for the first time. While we were in Albania we visited Baba's hometown of Shkodra. He took Siena to visit his famous lake. One day he will have many stories to tell Siena about Lake Shkodra.
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| Tirana, Albania April 2010 |
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Lake Shkodra, April 2010
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Finally we made it back to California. We didn't stay long before the 3 of us took off for Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We relaxed, slept and went to the beach.
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| Cabo San Lucas, June 2010 |
After our trip to Mexico we stayed in California for a while but once the fall season came we were back on the road.
In September we met Mamere and PawPaw in Orlando, Florida. Siena stayed with Baba and her grandparents while Mama had a work meeting. They took advantage of the warm Florida weather and went swimming!
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| Orlando, Florida Sept. 2010 |
Then in October we had a our big Raider football weekend in Denver, Colorado. Even though the Raiders lost, I think this was Baba's favorite trip.
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| Denver, Colorado October 2010 |
We spent Siena's first Thanksgiving in lovely Las Vegas, NV with Nanan, Uncle Grump and Cousin Isabelle. Who would have known that an 11 month old and a 4 year old could love Vegas so much. We even took a gondola ride thru "Venice" at our hotel.
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| Las Vegas, NV November 2010 |
For Siena's first birthday in January, we all flew to Raleigh, North Carolina. Mama had to go for a work trip and the rest of the family tagged along. We had a special birthday cupcake in our hotel room and while Mama was in meetings, Baba and Siena took a trip to the children's museum.
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| Raleigh, North Carolina January 2011 |
Not too bad for just one year! Mama and Baba love to travel and we hope that Siena shares that passion with us as she grows up. We look forward to taking her to visit her "homelands" of Louisiana and Albania to learn more about her heritage but we also hope to show her many new parts of this wonderful world we live in.
