Dinner @ the Lake

Today we met our friends the Thompsons & Vrabels for dinner at the lake. We BBQ'd and introduced Annik to the american tradition of Smores. Annik & I had been shopping earlier in the day and brought a special table centerpiece made out of an Abercrombie & Fitch bag. It was a fun evening. I cant remember anything particularly special about it, just laughing the entire night.

Beach Day

The water this summer has been unusually cold. Matter of fact, the weather has been unusually cold too. I have ran the a/c once so far this summer. My only hope is that in November the surf will be warm.

Reed Gives Back

Last spring we saw an opportunity for Reed to volunteer at the Library. So he signed up to work over the summer. He volunteers mostly in the evenings because of his schedule. The evenings are really slow so the librarians have given him sections to organize. He has done so good that he was given a certificate to work at the library when he is 15 (paid).

Vacation 2010 San Francisco

There's a reason the kids have not ever been to San Francisco. It is the filthiest, hobo infested, no parking places city I know. However, it is a super fun place to visit.... for a tourist. So we put on our tourist faces and enjoyed the city for what it is.



The next leg of our vacation was in San Francisco. We started out our day with a stop in the ghetto, trying to find a bathroom for Mike. (Evidently the rubber bands were not holding and he was willing to risk his life, the lives of his family, and the lives of his friends in order to find a bathroom ; ) We then ascended onto the Bay Bridge and were happily surprised that our Fastrak responder for the toll roads down here, worked for the bay bridge as well. We drove across it as fast as possible, knowing that if there was an earthquake... we would likely end up on top of the cars under us.
We drove around and found steal-of-a-deal parking for $20/a day instead of $30/a day. (sarcastic) Then we made a mad dash for the Alcatraz tour we had booked ahead of time. (Word to the wise....the tours can fill up weeks in advance.)
I didnt think that the kids would enjoy the headphone tour that much...and quite frankly thought they would be bored out of their minds... but I was mistaken. The girls LOVED the tour and Reed was interested the majority of the time.

After we arrived back to the wharf... we were starving... so we ate the traditional clam chowder bowls at Fisherman's Wharf. MMMMMmmmmmm. We then met up with Mike & Erin and explored the shops on our way to Ghiradelli Square.


At Ghiradelli Square, we went to the packed Ice Cream shop and ordered assorted desserts. (oh yes, if I forgot to mention it, San Francisco is notoriously expensive too.) To take the family to ice cream it was $45. So we wanted to enjoy the ambiance we paid for to the fullest. Taking advantage of a foreign tourist packed room (standing room only) we started to sing "Happy Birthday" to Mike at the top of our lungs. The entire restaurant joined in and, lucky for us, an Asian tourist caught it all on video. Mike says its up there in his most embarrassing moments. (By the way it was not Mike's birthday)Erin & I then retrieved the cars.... mingled with shopping on the way back..... And we headed to the golden gate. Dan made a few suicide attempts since there is one off of the bridge almost every day..... but he never succeeded.
The entire trip Reed was mimicking Heidi's over-the-top picture posing, so we shot some pictures of both of them. (All poses were selected by Heidi, of course)

We shot some pictures and headed to Sausalito in search of Fish-n-chips. After a diligent search and finding nothing, we settled for a Mexican restaurant. We said our good-byes to The Johnsons and headed for our hotel. In the morning we stopped in China Town to get some pastries and I got a 4 foot long baguette. (simply for the fun of it.) As I was getting pastries, Dan turned the car off. And since it had a volatile battery the entire trip.... it wouldn't start when we got back in. Theres nothing funner than trying to get a jump-start on a one way street in the middle of china town. This picture is of a china man that simply walked up to the car and stared at the engine for at least 10 minutes.... he never said a word to us or looked at us. (I don't think he could have fixed it since a Honda is Japanese and he was clearly Chinese.)
Eventually we got a jump-start and headed to Lombard street. We went down the street, lined with tourists at the top and bottom, and once we were at the bottom Dan announced as loud as he could to at least 50 tourists......."Boy...That street sure is crooked!". There were a few chuckles and a few blank stares. We then drove through the city looking for hobos to poke with our 4 foot long baguette ;) We found one screaming preacher but after we circled around the block to actually poke him, (or offer him the baguette) but he had left. So we ate the baguette.

Vacation 2010 Sacramento

After a few adventurous days in Yosemite we headed north to Sacramento. These are our old stomping grounds from Law School days. We lived just 10 minutes west of Sacramento in a town called Davis. This is where Reed was born...but we moved down south when he was 2 1/2. We stayed with our good law school friends Mike, Erin, Kayla & Brooke Johnson. Our first day in Sac was spent going around Davis showing the kids where we lived and where Reed was born...and eating all the good food we have missed while away. Especially the Cookie Company Cookies....mmmmmmmmmmmm!
The next day we headed to the Capitol.We had a private guided tour through the Senate & House and were able to go behind the ropes into the Treasury Office and Historic Governors Office.We did'nt get our private appointment with Arnold to voice all of our concerns about the State's education system or how WE would balance the budget. The guide said that Arnold is never there. But we were impressed that he only draws a salary of $1 a year and when he does go to Sac he pays all of his own expenses. The guide also said that the "folks" who are discussing the budget crisis "behind-closed-doors" are not discussing it there, because the parking lot is empty. We did...however....get this lovely picture (above) with the giant Grizzly bear that is right in front of the Governor's Office doors.

We then went in to Old Town Sacramento for a little while and looked around the shops.

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Around lunch time we met up with Erin and had some burgers. We popped into Mike's work to see where he spends 85% of his life.... and then headed to Sutter's Mill. Where gold was discovered.

The mill is actually a replica :( But you get the "jist" of how it worked and why they needed the power of the river to run it. The actual site of the mill is where we are standing in front of the rock monument. I guess the real mill would be washed away over time if it was put where it originally stood.
We saw a blacksmith demonstration where they showed us how you can bend hot metal. (this may be the next hobby I take up...just for the heck of it. Maybe one day I can shod my own horses....when I get horses.)


The day was a scorcher so the kids played in the American River and on the way home we stopped into a store and bought ice cold draft rootbeer. Ahhhhhhh! The kids really got the sense of the old west and for the rest of the night they played Wild West.

Vacation 2010 Yosemite

Vacation 2010
Yosemite/ Sacramento/ San Francisco

This year's Vacation happened by circumstance. The bottom line is... we pretty much invited ourselves on our friends, the Vrabels, family vacation. When we met them, they were just starting to plan their trip. And being the "Yosemite Experts" we are, we sat down and told them everywhere to go and what to see. Then Stephanie made the mistake of saying "you guys should come". And Dan took it as "we should go with them on their vacation". So we did. Maybe next time Stephanie talks she will be more specific and careful with her wording.

Since we could'nt check into our condo until the afternoon, we started our trip with a hike in Mariposa Grove.
We saw the huge Sequoia trees and had a fun little hike. When we got back from our walk/hike the Vrabels notified us that the giant chocolate birthday cake they had brought for my birthday, to be eaten 2 days later, was melting and we needed to get rid of it NOW. So we found some forks and napkins and ate birthday cake on top of a bear locker. We still had tons of cake left and couldnt take it with us, so Dan started offering it to hikers and people in the parking lot. Its amazing how many people will take food from a stranger. I would like to think we also did our part in helping racial relations within the National Park System, because we fed some gang members.

Once we were done with our cake, we headed to Wawona to see the History museum (which was closed) and the hotel. We dipped our feet in the river and pumped an old fashioned water well. The kids hung out in the jail for a few, and then we headed to our hotel.When we go to Yosemite we like to stay in a little area called Yosemite West. It is located out of the park but is only 20 minutes from the Valley Floor. Our condo was decorated in 1980's wolf theme. Everywhere we looked there was wolves, down to the switch plates. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture so everyone could enjoy this retro-decor.The next day, we went to the valley floor.

The kids climbed the slippery rocks of Bridal Veil Falls and dipped their feet in the stream on the way back to the car.

We then stopped at Cathedral Beach Picnic area and had some BBQ sandwiches and enjoyed a picnic, mingled with keeping an eye out for bears. Then we went to Curry Village and put in our rafts for a fun day of floating down the river.
The next day, we had planned to rent bikes and ride around the park all day. But upon finding it would cost $150 to rent the bikes, we decided to take the shuttle around. (Which worked out fine, because we had never ridden the shuttle system.)

We hiked up to Mirror Lake (taking the horse trail, not the road) and then had a picnic at the Village shops. (Notice security closely watching Dan, Mark & Reed. Perhaps they were recognized from previous trips. It would'nt surprise me if the park system had their own "Most Wanted" list.) At lunch, the girls got a huge kick out of the squirrels, who were quite forward.

For dinner that night, Stephanie & Mark made yummy tri-tip for my birthday and decorated their condo with streamers and balloons. After dinner, we went up to Glacier Point for sunset.


The next morning we got up and headed for Sacramento for the next leg of our trip.