Sacramento...again (days 9&10)

After a relaxed morning with me finding future meeting space for work, we headed to Sacramento on our way to the airport in Reno.  We stopped at Jeff and Liz's house while they were both at work and Ethan and Sydney were so bummed to see that Argos went to work with Liz.  They love her.  They ran through the house looking for her and then to the door to the backyard to try to find her.  Too cute.  I'm glad they got their fill of dogs because Doug and I both agree we will never have a pet--maybe a fish, but that's pushing it.  :-)

We spent the afternoon at the park and Doug played tennis with Jen, Bennett and Marley.  I pushed E&S on the swings (Syd would stay there all day) and then we took a walk over to the large pond.  We saw TINY turtles swimming in the water and brought some bread to feed the geese and ducks.  After throwing just two pieces, I was running with Ethan in my arms when the herd started to swarm us...laughing at myself for being so afraid.  That 'mother bear' instinct is something powerful! 

We flew home the next day after a great vacation with family and friends.  What a great time!

Santa Clara (day 8)

In the spirit of a true tax write-off, I spent the day touring property with an agent who is identifying good deals for our clients for investment property in California.  It's crazy to see how much a simple home can cost in the Bay Area!  Made me glad I live in Utah where it's realistic that Doug and I will own a home!  A tiny town home like this sells for over $400,000!

Here's a few photos of my tour.  I even got to see the famed Blackhawk subdivision with Californian mansions that seem somewhat average compared to my neighborhood.

Monterey (days 6&7)

When Jeff said Monterey was one of his favorite places, we had no idea how excellent it would be!  We left Merced early Tuesday morning and decided to take some side roads to shorten the trip through the countryside.  We didn't anticipate passing 8 or so of these farm equipment things on a two-lane road.  Doug was thoroughly irritated.  I always laugh at Doug when he's that frustrated because it is pretty rare.  He is so mild-mannered while I am so...passionate.

We arrived at the Monterey Bay Aquarium after stopping at our hotel and getting the kids down for nap.  The Aquarium was amazing. We spent the next morning at the aquarium as well.

E&S sitting on a glowing Jelly Fish.

A little 'light show' in the middle of the exhibit.

We danced whenever we had the opportunity with music playing.

Including while Doug was changing Sydney and Ethan busted out some dance moves like he had an audience.  I love this kid.

We stopped at the gift shop to see if there was anything worthwhile to take away as a souvenir, but there wasn't.  Sydney started lining up these fish while I glanced through some books.  She has never done that before, so I was a little excited for her.

Wednesday after the aquarium, we stopped at a nearby park that was equally amazing and let the kids play and eat lunch.  It was a Charlie Brown park or something that was huge!

We pulled away later in the afternoon wishing we could spend several days there.  It was like a little San Francisco.  On the way to San Jose, we drove through Santa Cruz while the kids were asleep.  We both agreed we would vacation here in the future when our kids were a little older.  What fun places!
Monterey + Santa Cruz = Marchant vacation 2020.  :-)

Yosemite! (day 5)

What a spectacular way to spend a Monday in California!  Doug's sister, Jenn, got the day off work to play with us in the National Park.  It was breathtakingly beautiful and the kids had a great time.  We could have used to spend more time there, but fit in most things we could do with two small children.  

Jenn found a great hike for us to a Vernal waterfall.  It was just steep enough to keep us winded and just long enough for the kids to enjoy. Again, the kids weren't too excited to be in the hiking backpacks, but it was much easier when they were!

The kids were excellent hikers.  Ethan took a good tumble enough where we needed a bandaid and antibiotic ointment, but just kept on going.

It's sad when you get a photo of everyone looking (at least) toward the camera, and I close my eyes...really?

 Jenn was so great with the kids.  They were in heaven.

We ate lunch at the top with the spray of the falls.  It was beautiful, but steep and made one mama a little nervous.

After that hike, we thought the kids would nap in the car but Ethan fell asleep with Jenn carrying him in the backpack.  So, we took a short half-mile hike to Yosemite falls.  Ethan and Sydney took a rest along the trail on the cement walking path. Nice.  :-)

Ethan was having so much fun that day and it showed on his little bum.

Yosemite falls was low enough that we scrambled down some rocks for the kids to play at the base in the water.  The water was freezing (so I hear...notice my shoes are on) but Ethan and Sydney seemed to barely notice.  Doug and Jenn couldn't keep their feet in the cold water very long but we had to pull E&S out of the water to go after they played for a half hour or so.

Their clothes were wet and I hadn't brought some not he short hike so Jenn let Ethan wear her jacket.  He began to dance (anything that feels like a dress sways so beautifully when you dance, you know?) and he looked like E.T. to me.

We let the kids nap while we drove to Glacier Point (45 minute drive along a windy road).  It was a gorgeous view of Half Dome and the rest of the park.

We could see the Vernal falls and the larger Nevada falls from Glacier Point as well.

As we were preparing the leave the park, we spotted this wolf nervously pacing by the edge of the road.

Although we spent several hours in the car that day, E&S had a great time!  Thanks Jenn for coming with us.

Off to Merced (day 4)

Today was pretty relaxed with 1 pm church and the kids up oh so early again.  We lounged most of the day and Jenn came to pick us up to caravan to her house in Merced.  

Hike + Pool Party (day 3)

Doug's brother, Jeff, and his wife, Liz were excellent hosts!  We woke up Saturday morning and packed up some lunches and Jeff took us to a beautiful place for a 1.5 mile hike to a dam.  It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time.  Now if we could train them to stay in the backpacks we recently purchased...

Ethan and Sydney LOVED Jeff & Liz's dog Argos.  Poor Argos had recently had surgery and was recovering well but Sydney gave her a run for her money!

Doug's sister, Jenn, was kind to give my arms a rest from the "Mom, hold you." I was getting from two little 30+ pound kids and took several turns carrying kids.  She bounced with Syd on her shoulders and she had a buddy for life.

After hiking, we went directly to some family friend's home to swim. The Mantz family made us feel right at home and we had a great time swimming and jumping on the trampoline.  Marly was so great to play with E&S and push Sydney on the swings forever.  :-)  Lisa made us a delicious BBQ and Ethan and Sydney were in love with all the dogs there that day--I think 5 or 6 dogs in total plus a turtle.  What more could a pair of kids ask for?  It was a great day.

Sacramento (day 2)

Being Friday, everyone was working, so we hit the Zoo in Sacramento.  It was really a wildlife refuge with animals that were not meant to be kept as pets taken from their owners or else animals that were wounded and rehabilitated here.  There were some crazy examples of pets--wolves, deer, etc.  Who would keep a deer as a pet?

We snapped a few fun photos.  It was a little cold that day, so we moved quickly.

There were several bears on exhibit.  I think this was the Grizzly bear.

Me trying to hold Ethan in the hole as well as myself.

There was a great park next door to the zoo where we ate lunch.  It was a great day.

Vacation Day One

We took a family vacation to Northern California. We had some airline credit and I had some work to do in the area which would pay for other expenses of our trip.  It ended up being a super cheap, 10-day vacation that was so fun!

Ethan and Sydney were mesmerized by the plane ride.  We got them each a new drawing toy that they both loved.

We did NOT travel light.
1 HUGE duffel bag, two suitcases, 1 regular duffel bag, 2 pack-and-plays, 2 strollers, and 2 car seats.  Good thing we were flying Southwest airlines!

We drove to Sacramento to stay with Doug's brother, Jeff, and his wife Liz via Lake Tahoe.  We spend the afternoon at the beach and playground.  The kids had a great time and I took in the beautiful scenery.  It was not warm enough to get in the water, so we just relaxed a bit and enjoyed the day.

We threw rocks into the lake.

And met some new dog friends.

Then headed to Sacramento to see Jeff and Liz.  It was a fantastic start to a great vacation.