Santa Rosa

We were so excited to get to the Reza's!  Judah wanted to play with his cousins and I was dying for some adult conversation.  I love Mark, but, surprisingly, he is not as chatty as he seems. We are having a great time, but I was really looking forward to talking to someone besides my husband, babies, and random snow birds.

Caleb and Dante's house was really fun, and it didn't take long for everyone to make themselves at home with one another. 

Caleb even let J try out his astronut costume. It was awesome!

The next day, Caleb went to school, Greg went to work, and the rest of us went to the park down the street.  It was amazing!

There was a ground squirrel there who really wanted to hang out with people. He was eating fruit snacks and trying to make a home in the baby old west town.  The kids were very interested.   

Seriously...the best park ever!

Beans was having a really fun time, until it was time to get in the stroller and move on to the next adventure.  Then he was pissed. And I finally got a picture of it!  Usually, every time I pull out the camera he instantly changes to sugar and sparkles.  But I pulled a sneak attack here and got evidence of angry Bean.

He felt much better when we got to the birds.  There were all kinds--even white geese.  White geese are something I have only seen at zoos and in movies about farms.  Silly as it is, I was pretty excited to see them in the wild.  So were the kids...

We hung out in Kate's beautiful back yard a lot because she has kitties, to whom I am allergic.  The yard looks amazing, smells even better, and is full of fun stuff for the kids.  It is even fenced for the dogs.  I thought H and K would be thrilled to stretch their legs.  Holden did love it--especially the part where he got to chase and terrorize the cats.  Kira...not so much.  She spent the first few times out there terrified and hiding behind some trees and bamboo in the back corner.  By the end she loosened up a bit, though, and barked right along with Holden as he chased the poor cats.

We had a lot of fun in the yard! (Doesn't Mark look thrilled?)

And inside.

Lala had sent a package to the Reza's on Friday.  We waited until after dinner to open it up so that everyone would be home.  The kids were very excited to see what was inside.

A little bag for everyone...

Judah got some band-aids.  Those will definitely come in handy!

And everyone got sugar pops and matching spider-man jammies! 

How adorable is this...

On Saturday we went to the farmers' market.  It was great.  There was fruit there I didn't even know existed.  And the best pita chips I have even eaten. 

After the market, Greg was at work and Kate went to get certified to use a local nature preserve, so Mark and I hung out in the back yard with the kids.  We broke out the rocket balloons, which were--as always--a big hit.

When Kate got home, we went to explore.  First we drove about an hour down a beautiful twisty road along a river and through sweet little towns and tall woody woods to a redwood forest.   

I found a nice tree that I wanted the big boys to pose in front of.  The ground was really slanted and Judah kept slipping down.  I laughed uproariously while Katie tried to get a nice picture. 

Eventually, I did offer some help.

Dante was getting a tooth.  He was fevery and sleepy and pretty out of it.  We took turns carrying him up the steep trail.  When he go on my back, he snuggled right in.  It was pretty sweet.

After the redwood forest, we hopped back on the road and drove through beautiful rocky hills to the coast.  We pulled over at a look out on the top of a cliff to scout for seals.  Saywer really wanted to walk off the edge.  Seriously, Sawyer?

SEALS!!!!!

Katie took some family photos of us.

Then she and her kids headed home to snuggle Dante. 
We stuck around.  I needed to get a closer look at those seals!  The whole scene was spectacularly beautiful.

We drove down to the beach

and the kids saw the ocean for the first time!

And I saw the seals!  I was kind of freaking out about it.  I just sat on a log and watched them for a long time.  That one who is swimming kept peeking his head up and looking at me.  I know he was just making sure I wasn't going to come over and harpoon him, but I pretended that we were communicating on some deeper level.  I loved it.

Me and Beans watching the seals.

The boys on the beach.

It turns out we were on one of the most dangerous beaches in California.  There are a lot of deadly things going on all at once.  You can click on the picture to get the details from the sign.  I though it was pretty funny that we brought the clumsiest kid on the planet and a baby who obsessively run towards all bodies of water and cliffs to such a high, wet, deadly location. 

That night I worked while Kate made dinner.  She got a great picture that really sums up my working from home experience. 

At dinner times, we had a couple of kids sit at the kid table.  It was usually one of my kids and Dante.  This time Sawyer wanted to sit down there.  It was pretty adorable.

On Monday, the Willackers went to San Francisco.  We drove down windy roads, checked out the trolley cars, went to the wharf, and ate fresh baked bread.

Judah stopped at every penny pressing machine he saw.  The seagull behind him followed. 

When we got back to the Reza's, the kids ate candy and reconnected.

My students had turned in papers on Sunday night, so I spent a lot of Monday and most of Tuesday grading. On Wednesday I finished up and we went to the market to hunt down the hummus/pita chip guy.  Sadly, he wasn't there, but I stocked up on citrus and salad greens.  And Judah danced in his fireman costume.

When we got home, it was time to get locked and loaded.  Caleb and Judah helped Mark hook up the car.

Then  Caleb and Dante took one last look at the Bounder. 

And we went to the back yard for a photo shoot.

I really wanted a nice picture of all of the cousins, from biggest to smallest.  You know how those usually turn out for me.  But we actually got some pretty cute shots.

Until Sawyer went tumbling backwards off the bench and pulled Dante down with him.

Kate immediatley went to comfort Dante while I made sure we had some shots of the disaster.  I am a jerk.  But I eventually did go pick up Sawyer and hug him better.

Then there were huggies all around, although Caleb really had to be persuaded, and the Willackers loaded into the Bounder.

Good bye, Kate, Greg, Caleb, and Dante!  We had so much fun with you all and we already miss you like crazy. I am so sad that we didn't take any pictures of the adults!  We will just have to com back again soon to keep the memories fresh.