So, this summer we took a drive to Utah where Matt did research while Jen and Abby began their vacation. We stayed with Jen's brother, Brent, and his wife, Nicole, and their dog, Crash.
We also fit in some time to visit an old friend. Below is Jenny Park and her daughters. Jenny and Matt grew up together. We've been friends for about thirty years. How many of you have known your own family members that long?
We also saw some of Jen's old college friends. Below (left to right) is Nathan, Collette, Katie & her kids, and Karen (along with Jen, Matt and Abby).
After Utah we only spent a couple days in Arizona before departing for California to see Matt's family in Los Angeles and Jen's family near Sacramento.
Above: Matt's sister sold her Mustang, and so her husband (Brandon) and I had to push it up to a truck that carried it up to the buyer in Canada.
Below: Matt's mom commented that she wanted a sprinkler system in the back yard, and had already hired a laborer to clear off all the old weeds and grass. When she mentioned there was formerly a sprinkler line in the back yard (20 years ago) I resolved to dig it up and restore the line. It turned out that Brandon and I had to dig up most of the back yard and put in quite a few new pipes and heads and basically built the system from scratch. Still, it was a good bonding experience for my brother-in-law and I, and now he knows how to do the job that his parents have also wanted done.
And since there was no grass in the backyard, we took the opportunity to build a bonfire and cook some BBQ. Mmmm.... Fire roasted food....
Jen and I also taught the family to play Mexican Train; they enjoyed it, but I think Brandon prefers to stack the dominoes (while Heather likes to destroy his efforts). We created our own domino based version of Jenga.
Matt also got to visit with an old friend--Jenny Wilcox (no relation to Jen's family). She has two cute kids who made great playmates for Abby. Abby really needs a sibling, if not for her sake than ours. Abby has too much energy for any two adults to keep up with; she needs an adoptive sibling to play with too. So when you see our happy little family, remember to think adoption and help us find the next member of our family!
We also fit in some time to visit an old friend. Below is Jenny Park and her daughters. Jenny and Matt grew up together. We've been friends for about thirty years. How many of you have known your own family members that long?
We also saw some of Jen's old college friends. Below (left to right) is Nathan, Collette, Katie & her kids, and Karen (along with Jen, Matt and Abby).
After Utah we only spent a couple days in Arizona before departing for California to see Matt's family in Los Angeles and Jen's family near Sacramento.
Above: Matt's sister sold her Mustang, and so her husband (Brandon) and I had to push it up to a truck that carried it up to the buyer in Canada.Below: Matt's mom commented that she wanted a sprinkler system in the back yard, and had already hired a laborer to clear off all the old weeds and grass. When she mentioned there was formerly a sprinkler line in the back yard (20 years ago) I resolved to dig it up and restore the line. It turned out that Brandon and I had to dig up most of the back yard and put in quite a few new pipes and heads and basically built the system from scratch. Still, it was a good bonding experience for my brother-in-law and I, and now he knows how to do the job that his parents have also wanted done.
And since there was no grass in the backyard, we took the opportunity to build a bonfire and cook some BBQ. Mmmm.... Fire roasted food....
Jen and I also taught the family to play Mexican Train; they enjoyed it, but I think Brandon prefers to stack the dominoes (while Heather likes to destroy his efforts). We created our own domino based version of Jenga.
Matt also got to visit with an old friend--Jenny Wilcox (no relation to Jen's family). She has two cute kids who made great playmates for Abby. Abby really needs a sibling, if not for her sake than ours. Abby has too much energy for any two adults to keep up with; she needs an adoptive sibling to play with too. So when you see our happy little family, remember to think adoption and help us find the next member of our family!
After southern California we headed up north to meet all of Jen's family. Most of them live in Washington but they came down and we all stayed with Jen's brother (Kevin) and his wife (Alix) and sons (Noah and baby Preston) in Vacaville. Jen's sister (Tiffany) and her husband (Mia) and three daughters (Brynley, Kennedy, Kylee) stayed in a tent in the back yard. Below you can see what happened to intruders.
Jen's extended family has a serious pool addiction. Anytime we're together they MUST spend at least one day in a pool. Here is the first pool of our little visit.
We also went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom while in Northern California. Above Abby spies a butterfly in the most humid building on earth (they have a lot of butterflies in there), and below we all watch a performance of Shuka, the amazing killer whale.
We also spent a day in San Francisco. We parked at the beach and the kids ran around a bit.
Then we went to Ghiradelli Square where someone thought it was a good idea to split a $35 pile of ice cream sixteen different ways. Matt was disgusted by the thought of slopping around bites of rapidly melting ice cream and passed on the activity. He also didn't think it was worth $2.00 per bite of melting ice cream. Maybe it was a good idea for those who'd never been there before.
While in the Ghiradelli Ice Cream restaurant Abby demonstrated her signing. She is actually better than this, but this is all I've got on film. She is speaking more and more each day, anyhow.
Then we all went down to Fisherman's Warf to see the sights. Below the Shakespeare's try on a few hats (these people are strange).
We also watched the sea lions sit on the docs. We spent almost half an hour there. Fascinating isnt it?
