Archive for June, 2009

California Trip: Day 4

June 28, 2009

Saturday was spent visiting old friends and neighbors and checking out what has changed since we moved away.

In the evening we met several families at the park and had dinner and caught up while the kids played.

Maddy hijacked the camera.

Don’t you just love seeing what your kids catch on camera?

me-jan

Even 5 months pregnant, you look fabulous Jan!

mad-savmaddywill-sav

Will doesn’t look thrilled to be sitting with a beautiful girl or anything, does he?

I had to include this picture of our wonderful hosts David and Carol even though they might very much dislike me for it.  As I’ve said before, it’s hard to find couple friends that you thoroughly enjoy and feel completely at home with.  David and Carol are just those kinds of friends.  We enjoy their company even when we’re doing mundane, everyday tasks like washing dishes after a dinner together, or watching the kids swim in the pool and even watching Carol cut David’s hair the night before his Father’s Day talk at church.

We love you guys!

haircut

Happy Sunday!

Dinner and a movie…

June 27, 2009

AFTER:

2 dogs

3 states

4 kids

5 zip codes

6 houses

9 job changes

12 cars

23 years of friendship

5,841 days of marriage…


we’re still together


Happy 16th Anniversary Ralf!

anniversary

What do you say?  Dinner and a movie?

(California Trip: Day 4 coming tomorrow)

Happy Weekending!

Soon after heading out of Tahoe, our surroundings began looking familiar.

Three hours later we arrived in our “hometown” of Danville and to the home of our good friends David and Carol.

They were more than generous (and perhaps a little crazy) to house, feed, and entertain our party of six.

Not only did they provide beds, kids to play with, and sustenance, they also had a…

POOL!

pool-jumperik-eyeswill-jump

Hours were spent in that pool while the grown-ups sat around visiting and playing catch-up.

The next day we headed out to Mount Diablo to do a little hiking at Rock City.  (All of us except a certain 14 year-old who chose instead to visit old friends.)

I forget how beautiful the hills are, even in the dead of summer.

hills

i-love-thiserik-rockkack-in-treekatiekids-rocklizzywill-beewill-ralf-rockwill-smile

Is it just me or does the baby of the family hold a monopoly on pictures?

That night we attended an open house for Phil and Candace’s son and his fiancee who were married the following day.  It was so fun to see so many old and dear friends we hadn’t seen since we moved away three years ago. 

Boy, how fast kids grow when you aren’t around!!!

Although it was close…I didn’t actually die from 7 days of no carbs.

But I hope to never do that again.

My blog has been neglected, this time, because we were out of town

We just got in last night.

I’m afraid this is going to turn into Travel-Log-Blog this summer with all the trips we have planned.  That’s just as well since I’m a little burned out of coming up with intriguing, thought-provoking, clever topics.

What’s that?

You’re right.  This blog has never been about intriguing, thought-provoking, clever topics.  So why start now?

After deciding spur-of-the-moment to leave a day early, we rushed around like mad washing, packing, and cleaning and we headed off to California last Wednesday.  Armed with a gazillion and one DVDs, some junk food, some books, and pillows, we were ready for the 11-hour drive.

van

After trekking through the sparcity (a made-up word.  I think.) of south central Idaho and south east Oregon, we hit Nevada and made a B-line to Reno and all its kitchy glory.  My husband had found us “a deal!” online so we could rest from our travel labors and continue on our journey in the morning.

Well, we got what we paid for.  Two rooms at the Sands for $35 a night.  We only had to shield the kids’ eyes as we waded through the smoky casino to the registration desk and up the elevator to our floor.

reno

feet

As hard as it was to pry ourselves away from the ancient chain-smoking regulars at the slot machines, we set off on the road early the next morning and headed to Tahoe.

tahoe-sign

olympic-rings

Although we lived in the Bay Area for almost 10 years, we had never taken the kids to Lake Tahoe.  So we got off on a tangent and spent some time at the lake.  It was the perfect day for it.

lakepineconeskipping-rockstoe-diprock

Just to prove I did actually go on this family trip, here’s a shot of myself I took in the rest room mirror.

me

One of the things I miss most about living in California is the fresh local produce.  We lucked out because there was a farmer’s market  down by the lake that day.

marketWe wandered around sampling the delicious California fruit and bought a basket of plump raspberries and a bag of juicy nectarines and plums to fuel the rest of the drive ahead of us.  Yum!

berries

I'm such a slacker…

June 16, 2009

I’ve been neglecting the blog this week.

My excuses:

  1. It’s summer

  2. With all 4 kids home, there’s a lot more to clean up

  3. We’re getting ready to head out of town

  4. I’m on day 6 of NO CARBS!

Do you know what happens to you when you don’t eat carbs?????

You get TIRED.

And CRANKY.

And WEAK.

Holy Cow!  I think I might just die.

Right… Here……… Right………………  Now. ……………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

One more day and I can start eating carbs again.  (weakly waving my hands in celebration)

Yay…

In the meantime, here are some pictures I managed to shoot in my sad and sorry state this week:

racing-2

jack underexposed

will jumping

will portrait

wendys toes

erik pool

Now Excuse me while I  take a nap fold laundry, take a nap pack suitcases, take a nap print out itineraries, take a nap eat more plain,  tasteless chicken breasts and choke down some more cucumbers.

Happy Tuesday!