The day after my sister left, we went on vacation to California to visit my parents and sisters and their families. It was such a great trip. We live so far away from my family, I cherish every moment I get to be with them. It was so great to go talk and relax and remember who I am and where I come from! My parents were so great... we got to their house at 11pm and they were up waiting for us. My mom had made the yummiest strawberry cream cheese dessert... we literally had a midnight snack! They have such a fun house with a huge backyard with so many fruit trees, a swing set, and a gazebo... It was so fun to see Grandma and Grandpa make memories with the kids like picking and eating fruit from the trees with them, eating breakfast in the gazebo, etc. We also got to go to both of my sisters' houses to hang out. I feel like we got to spend quality time with everyone! Thanks for making our stay so enjoyable! Steve got sick for 3 of the 6 days we were there, so we didn't get to go to SF, but we went everywhere else we wanted!
Boarding the Airplane (my kids were sooo excited to fly)
The boys got their own row!
Big boy, Austin kickin' it by himself on the plane
(Dad and Noah were in the potty)
First Day: Train ride & Merry-go-Round at the Park
Grandma, Aunt Stef, Aunt Kris, Mom, Austin
The "big" cousins riding the train
Spencer, Parker, Kelsi, Afton, Emily, Taylor
(Grandpa, the loaner :), in his own car, so he can take pics)
Trevor and Noah
Riding the Merry-go-Round
Kelsi
Emily
Second Day: Santa Cruz Beach & Boardwalk
Emily and Spencer playing in the water
Grandma & Austin building sandcastles
Emily's shell from her shell hunt with Grandpa
Austin, a little leery of the water!
mom, Austin, Grandpa
Digging for sandcrabs... check out the big one in someone's hands
Wading in the water: Emily, Afton, Spencer, Taylor
Cute cousin Brenna
Emily, Austin, Dad playing in the water (Austin finally decided he like the ocean)
notice there are no pics of Noah anywhere near the water... he was afraid of the "sharks"
The Boardwalk
Emily
Noah
Dad and Austin on the log ride
Third & Fourth Day: Hanging out at Grandma's & Grandpa's
Picking apricots: Grandpa and Emily
Em helping Austin on the swing set
Grandma and Noah showing off their "roly-polies"
Drying Apples with Grandpa
Washing the apples: Em, Noah, Austin
Peeling & coring the apples: Austin and Grandpa
(Each of the kids got to take a turn)
cool apple spiral
Em dipping the apples in the cinnamon sugar
Grandpa and his apple dryer
Noah and Austin "washing" the windows.
It was like 104 degrees in California while we were there... the kids played for hours in the backyard with spray bottles spraying each other and the windows and any and everything else
Taylor, Austin, Spencer watching a movie
Noah and Austin taking a bubble bath in Grandma's jetted tub
Fifth Day: Hiking and geo-caching at Bel Gatos Park
This was Steve's first day back among the living, but there are no pictures of him...
he obviously had the camera on this excursion
Grandma, Mom, Austin, Grandpa, Emily, Noah
Cute Austin
Beautiful view of where I grew up: San Jose, CA
looking at the view
Grandpa, Noah, Grandma, Mom, Emily
6th Day: Castle Rock
Castle Rock is this cool rock formation with lots of caves and high rocks to crawl around on
Shelf Em found to sit on
Mom and Aunt Kris
One of the Caves:
Brenna, Austin, Noah, Parker
Noah and Trevor being monkeys
Monkey Boys: Noah, Parker, Trevor, Spencer
Leaving
Shuttle at the airport
Noah, Austin, Mom
Emily got to stay in California for 4 extra days at Grandma and Grandpa's house! It felt so crazy to leave her there. It also was so weird to only have 2 kids for a week! She had a blast and got really spoiled with all the 1 on 1 attention she got from Grandpa and Grandma. They at breakfast in the gazebo, went miniature golfing, went to the children's museum, went geo-caching, watched movies, and she got to choose a toy at the toy store... and got to hang out with cousins!
Here's a cute one Em at the Museum with Grandpa and some of her cousins
The hardest part of leaving her in Ca was she had to make the 4 hour plane trip home all by herself! She did great and the flight attendants took great care of her. Grandma and Grandpa walked her to her gate in Ca and had to stay at the airport until her plane took off. Steve, me and the boys got to meet her at the gate here in Austin.
Here she is walking off the ramp after her 4-hour flight all by herself! So BRAVE!
Suzie, Karen, Me
Baby Catherine at the pool
Cousins
Eating at Whole Foods Market
Austin skyline
And of course no trip to Austin would be complete
