This year's trip out to California was an adventure to say the least. Sarah, Callie, and Reese headed out early because John had to teach. And as often happens, delays turned into more delays and ultimately they didn't get to Zac's house until 3:00am PST, which was 6:00am EST. But true to form, the girls were awesome travelers. They had a brief power sleep and woke up to go ice-skating in downtown Sacramento.
Both of the girls enjoyed the experience, and Reese particularly liked the training walker/slider that got her comfortable with skating techniques. Callie preferred just holding hands with Uncle Zac. And Uncle Zac was very good to both of them.
One of the things different about this year's trip was that we stayed the whole time at Zac and Brandi's new house, which was awesome because we got our own bedrooms and bathrooms. And it also meant we got more time with both of them, which is always a good thing.
More time with Zac and Brandi also meant more time with the Herring family - Brandi's brother Brian, his wife Bri, and their kids Nathan and Caroline. Let it be known now that Callie has the sweetest spot for Nathan that we have ever seen. She loved playing with him and taking care of him.
Callie's love for Nathan was wonderful, and it also made hanging out easier because Reese and Caroline were definitely two peas in a pod. Reese continuously talks about her cousin Caroline, which is fantastic because we will be spending holidays together for years to come.
Did we say something about cousins? Do you want cousins? Because we have a whole mess of cousins in California, and GA is the pied piper of little ones. When we scheduled a day to go out and visit GA and GU, she had a list of activities to be accomplished by all eight of the little ones who were going to be there. It started with a golf cart trip up to the club for lunch.
Once the kids were properly fed, the scavenger hunt began. GA had a list of twenty-five different animals, sights, and items to find throughout their neighborhood. And we drove two two golf carts from place to place while the kids would jump out and look for whatever was next on the list.
We don't get to see these cousins as much as we would like, but it is great to see how quickly they all start playing together within minutes of seeing each other. They are a fun group and all eight of them are within eight years of each other, with Callie and Brady leading the pack.
Brandi's sister-in-law Bri has worked at the state capitol for over fifteen years, and offered to take Grammy, Sarah, and the girls on a behind the scenes tour of the building. We jumped at the opportunity. Although we took a tour of the capitol several years ago, that was just the typical public tour. This took things to a whole new level as you can see from this picture taken in a hearing room, inches away from bringing a new law into effect.
Another great perk about having connections at the state capitol is that your connections have connections. Bri hooked us up with Jody, pictured here, who had keys to everything. He showed us between the walls, literally - where the old capitol building meets the new construction. He also knew which senators had the best candy jar in their office, and took us on a tour to get jolly ranchers and m&ms. The girls thought he was pretty cool.
The great thing about this picture is that we have a similar one from about 5-6 years ago. Needless to say, Callie and Reese were much shorter in the previous version. But the joys of visiting the state capitol remain.
What has also become an annual tradition is getting together with Lauren and her girls for a day since they have the same holiday rotation visiting Lauren's parents as we do with our trips to California. This time around we went to Lindsay's Wildlife Experience in Walnut Creek.
This place has a lot of different rescue animals, most of which are birds. However, they do have a porcupine, and we had the opportunity to hear a whole presentation about porcupines and what makes them tick (or poke). The girls were captivated by getting to see a porcupine up close.
Even better they got the chance to pet the porcupine. Ashlyn is an animal lover, and she was over the moon about the whole place in general, but really loved getting the pet the porcupine. We must admit it was a pretty awesome experience and even Lauren and Sarah took their turn.
It's pretty amazing how quickly these four fall back into rhythm even though they haven't seen each other in a bout a year. They loved going from activity to activity and we couldn't resist taking a picture of the four of them in a giant nest.
This visit also happened to fall on Ashlyn's eighth birthday, which is hard to believe. We celebrated with lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and you can't leave the Cheesecake Factory without enjoying the dessert that lends its name to the place. It was a fantastic day.
John finally arrived the next day and quickly was put to work. He and Zac were given the responsibility of putting together and installing the new chandelier that Zac and Brandi had ordered to fill the space in their high ceilinged dining room. It all turned out very well thanks to the fact that Zac knows what he is doing and John is good at following orders.
Later that day Grammy took us on the long awaited tour of the California Museum where she has volunteered ever since she retired. One of the current exhibits focused on the idea of unity and inclusion, which is a great message all around. We had a great time looking around the whole museum, but really loved this exhibit.
Thanksgiving Day arrived and Zac and Brandi took their positions as the host and hostess with the most and mostest. There were a lot of great people and a lot of tasty food to go round. All told there were fifteen people gathered around one big table underneath a beautiful and functional chandelier.
One of many special treats that day was Mary Margaret's presence. She had made the long drive up from San Diego and though she had some car troubles along the way she brought her usual energy and good humor as well as lots of wine to make the occasion that much better.
Thanksgiving Day also meant more time with Caroline and Nathan. And since we were staying at Zac and Brandi's, it was good for the girls to also have more time to hang out with Grammy, shown here putting the big squeeze on both of them.
Grandpa Dan was also a part of the festivities, and was more than happy to hang out with the kids at their end of the table. He couldn't get enough of their giggles and his corny entertainment was a perfect fit.
By the end of the evening John and the fellas somehow ended up hanging out in the garage, watching football, drinking bourbon, and talking politics. The women had a much better plan that included staying inside the house, drinking cosmos, and avoiding politics.
Before we left town we got in one more visit with the Pedones and GA and GU. The girls enjoyed seeing Harper and Skyler again, and Sarah and John enjoyed some time with Ron, Teri, Haley, and Ryan. These trips go by way too fast, but we know we will see them again soon.
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