Roadtrip to California!

The pictures are in random order.  You can tell we did a lot!

 

 

Dave's hearty breakfast on the grill.  Life can't get better than this.

Dave's nephew Jacob who was just a teen when we last saw him.  Look at him now!  I can see why my kids are tall.

Kids and Dave at the zoo.  It was starting to get pretty hot (about 80s) and my kids couldn't wait to get back home and swim!

Kids spent hours and hours swimming until their skin were pretty mush all wrinkled up.  I asked Dave if it's ok for a person to stay in the water that long.

Marge, she retired once but went back to work when she was given an offer to work as a director of imaging department overlooking 150 employees!  Way to go, Marge!!

We really liked Debbie and Tony's house, too.  I wonder if Sean got the design talent from their great-grandmother's family.

Flower girls - they cannot resist picking flowers.  Marge gave in to their persistent attempt to pick her flowers.

Saya and Debbie.  She really enjoyed being with Debbie.

Happy time around the campfire.  Sean now wants one in our backyard.

Sean and a chicken at the zoo. 

Beachy kids.  They could have spent hours playing on the beach,

 

Wow, what an adventure it was!  One day in my deep thought decided that I wanted to go visit Mike's cousins in Northern California.  After much planning, the best scenario that worked for us was for  me to drive with three kids, Sean, Aly and Saya,, the total of whooping 780 miles each way!  There was no way I can drive it in one day, so we stayed overnight at Medford, OR in a nice little motel by the highway.  Mike decided to take four days off and spend quality time with Noah.  I wanted to take Noah, too, but he will require my full attention and it wasn't just safe.  Maybe next year!

The drive part wasn't too bad.  I think it's easier to be the driver than the passenger.  The children were fine watching their favorite DVDs and whined minimally.  I planned out the trip like a tour guide and picked out several parks to stop for breaks.  I made sure there is a playground to get those energy out of kiddos.  I think it worked beautifully!

I was quite impressed with myself that I knew the way to get to Dave's once I got off the highway.  Mike and I used to visit them very often and I guess my brain remembered.  I smiled big once I saw their terracotta colored vacation style house jumped in my sight.  Cousin Dave was standing by the garage and Jake, his nephew, greeted us with a big hug (literally a big hug as he is nearly 7 feet tall)!

The kids greeted their uncle Dave and they scattered into Dave's beautiful backyard.  They were excited to finally arrive after the long two day journey.  They immediately wanted to get in the pool, so they changed to their swimsuits and splashed around until dinner time.  Dave and his wife Marge have a beautiful home.  Dave is a talented builder and built the house 12 years ago.  It was perfect back when we last visited, but he made more improvements such as building a stone-walled gas fire pit and working on building a new workshop, kitchen, and office.  I guess a great craftsman never stops their pursuits. 

We had a fabulous dinner grilling chicken on Dave's famous grill and the warm weather, purple sunset, great wine and company were just so perfect.  The children got a lot of compliments from Dave that they are good eaters for eating the chicken and rice.  It was just all round a pleasant evening, seeing the cousins we love and feeling good about getting out there doing things I've never considered doing - driving 1500 miles by myself with three kids!!  The night ended with the classic smores over the fire pit which became Sean's highlight of the trip. 

The girls slept together on a queen bed where Mike and I used to sleep when we visited.  Sean and I slept in a room next door on a separate twin bed.  I was tired, but I couldn't sleep all night.  I was unreasonably worried about the kids falling from the bed and I ran to the girls room whenever I heard a noise.  When Sean changed the position, I jumped out of bed ready to catch him.  I must have been overtired! 

The next day, Dave and Marge took us to the Folsom Zoo, a small well-maintained zoo in the city next door.   It reminded me slightly of Boise Zoo and Issaquah zoo, but it certainly looked better funded.  The animals were mostly native to the area and the main attraction was the black bear.  They looked innocent in the peaceful cage setting but one of  their free roaming peacocks got in to their enclosure and the bears quickly changed to the wild mode and started to attach the peacock.  The lucky peacock got away, but that must have been the excitement of the year for those bored predators.  The girls held Dave and Marge's hands as they walked and looked very cute together.  We enjoyed the visit to the zoo.

We spent the afternoon swimming and napping and I bragged to Dave and Marge later that I napped three times, by the pool, on the couch and up on the bed.  A tad different from my home life!  The time seemed to pass a little slower and it was nice to not matter about what to do next.  I guess a true vacation should be like that.  We had another nice dinner, Dave's famous tri-tip on his grill.  Perhaps 10% of the reason I wanted to come was to eat Dave's grilled meats.  He is a killer grill guy and I am wondering how I could train Mike to be like him.  I had a restful sleep that night, my body finally surrendered to the fatigue of several sleepless nights. 

On the final full day in California, we drove up to Lake Tahoe to see Dave's sister, Debbie and her husband Tony.  Debbie and Tony built a beautiful house up on the hillside of south Lake Tahoe with a view of the endless rows of pine trees and the lake.  The cabin-like design and décor of their house beautifully matched the surrounding and it was another eye-opener for our little architect, Sean.  He was just amazed how his uncles could create something so complex and complete.  They became inspirations to him, I am sure.  Aunt Debbie was so sweet to the kids.  She bought some toys for them in advance and played with them talking to them with her gentle voice.  The children quickly felt comfortable with them and had lots of fun playing.  After the delicious chicken and roasted vegetable quesadillas and uncle Tony's yummy guacamole, we headed out to the beach.  I followed Debbie's car to the touristy area of Tahoe and she swiftly guided me to where I should be parking.  Dave thoughtfully paid for my parking fee, too, and I felt so much cared for. 

The kids had a blast at the beach.  They slowly shed their clothes off as their little clothes got wet.  We didn't take their swimsuits and alas they were in their undies in a short while.  Aunt Debbie went in the water with them and they were squealing as the wave splashed up.  Saya found a bunch of little seashells.  I didn't expect to be hanging on the beach of Tahoe and it was such a big bonus.  Thank you, Debbie and Tony, for planning a fantastic day for us.  The drive back to El Dorado Hills took a while since there were many vacationers returning home.  It was another feel good day and felt a little sad that it was our last day in California.  I was so happy to finally make it back to California after the long 8 years.  They are Mike's cousins, but Dave and Marge are like my aunt and uncle.  I promised to come back more often and bring the whole family the next time.  Thank you so so much, Dave and Marge.  It was so nice to see you and spend time in your beautiful home!

The drive back wasn't so eventful, which is a good thing.  The kids were well-behaved for the most part and we arrived ahead of the schedule in most pit stops.  I was a little disappointed by the restaurants in Medford.  The service at both Applebee's and Red Robin were awful and it ruined my image of the city.  The hotel was OK for the price, but the whole city seemed a bit tired like it had seen a better day.   And... I felt like I am the only Asian out there.  People stared at me a lot like when I lived in Pocatello Idaho and that made me feel a little uncomfortable. 

Well, I learned that there is a whole wide world out there to enjoy if I am willing to be brave and suffer a little.  No pain no gain has been my life's motto unlike those optimists, but I get a firmer step forward when I do take the leap.  I feel energized and ready to tackle the rest of summer and the new school year.  Bring it on!!

Renaissance Festival

We decided to do something different and went to the Renaissance Festival on Saturday with friends.  I have so many pictures and they speak better than words!  We had a super fun day as you can see.

 

A Visit to Carnation

I felt like taking the kids for a drive while Noah was in therapy.  Now that I started to take pictures of people, I also wanted to go look for good locations for photo shoots.  It was raining and gloomy, but I decided to go anyway.  The weather was a sheer reminder of what it is like usually in the Pacific Northwest.  Yes, I remember how it goes, the wipers on my van go swish, swish, swish! 

The low lands between the Sammamish hills and Cascade are very pretty.  I like visiting Carnation since there are farms, creeks and charming old downtowns.  I love taking pictures of old buildings as much as I like taking pictures of people.  Their era specific designs are interesting and I like to imagine the life back then when it was newly built.  I think those 60s to 80s style awkward looking buildings are beautiful even though those are considered eye sores in general.  I was lucky to capture the images of the demolished buildings in Lake Hills Shopping Center before they began the construction.  It's a shame we are losing so many dated buildings even though they are still good to use. 

So where were we?  Yes, so we drove down to Carnation from Redmond to visit John Tolt State Park.  We got lost on the way and ended up in Duvall, but got to see its century old downtown.  There is a value to living away from big cities, I thought.  I would have loved to stop and take pictures of the old downtown, but I had three squirmy kids with me.  Maybe, next time.  We stopped at the main street in Carnation before going to the park.  The street was lined with vintage store signs and façades.  I could not pass on the opportunity to capture those.

We've been to the park before about two years ago and had taken some of my favorite pictures there. The bridge is an old suspension bridge and it adds earthy charm to the scenery.  The greens of the trees were deeper than I remembered from the last time and it was very beautiful.  The river was clear and we could see the round river stones resting on the bottom.  We did not see any fish, but I am sure it will be jam packed with salmons in the fall.  We took some nice pictures there and kids had fun crossing the bridge.

It started to rain harder, so we ran to the car and went back to Redmond.  It was a short visit but we enjoyed playing tourist, photographer and models together.  It will be fun to explore other areas and we might just do it once every week!