Racing Fun!

Last Sunday, Helen and Erin ran in a 5K race for the Women's Fitness Festival in Sacramento.  The event was attended by over 4,000 women and is Sacramento's largest all-women run/walk.  Even though the race was in June, we've been having some unusual weather and there was a chance of rain but it held off during the run.

The race was a big loop around the Capitol and through the pretty tree lined streets of downtown/midtown Sacramento.

The weather was perfect, the company was fun, the t-shirts were cute and we had a great race.

The even was sponsored by Kaiser Permanente, Nike, Whole Foods and Blue Diamond Almonds so there were also a lot of yummy treats at the end!

Evan in Tierra del Fuego

Evan has been in Tierra del Fuego now for about 2 1/2 months. He is located on the ocean in a city of about 60,000 people called Rio Grande. He is a zone leader and is shown above with his zone and the President of his mission, President Gulbrandsen (back row). There is a senior couple from Temecula, CA serving a mission in Rio Grande (seated next to Evan).
He loves where he is located and says that it reminds him of Alaska. Above he is shown with his new down parka which he bought just in time because he is now going into the winter in Argentina. I just looked at the high for today in Rio Grande and it said 38 degrees Fahrenheit. . .and winter is just beginning. During the dead of winter, there will only be about 5 hours of daylight.
Evan is shown here on one of the downtown streets in Rio Grande.
Before it got too cold, Evan and his companion went hiking to an area called Cabo Domingo along the coast. He is shown here doing the "jumping" photo.
This was part of the hike along the coast. . .looks beautiful and pretty desolate.
Evan, with part of his zone, on his preparation day.
There was a zone conference in Ushuaia several weeks ago and Evan took a few pictures. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world and is located on the Beagle Channel
Another picture taken in the Ushuaia area.

A Weekend at Morro Bay

Since it was a long weekend, we all decided to go up to the beach house and play on the beach. It was sunny the whole weekend but a bit windy. The four kids are shown here just getting a little bit wet. . .except for Ethan who got a whole lotta wet.
Gavin and Coco stayed a bit drier but liked playing on the sand flats.
Ethan decided it was a lot more fun to just sit in the mud and soak up the local ambiance, as well as the sea water.
Coco got a big kick out of Ethan stomping in the mud and getting filthy. The next step was when they all started throwing mud. Needless to say, everybody was hosed off outside before they got to go in for a bath.
Brad and Steve enjoyed catching the crabs at Crab Beach, when the tide is low. Ellie took a real interest in looking at them, as long as she didn't have to hold them.
After everybody cleaned up, it was time for a trip to our favorite ice cream store in SLO, Bali's.
Coco liked to feed Ethan some of her frozen yogurt. . .and he obliged very willingly.
Another generation is eating at the little table in the family room.
The wind was pretty strong so we went out to the Rock to see how high the waves were.
On Monday morning, Steve and Alana went kayaking out in the bay. The conditions were excellent, with no wind and very calm water.
Next stop on the way home from Morro Bay was the Little Red Schoolhouse in Ballard. This is a schoolhouse that was built in 1882 and is still being used today. The rope swing there is a favorite of our kids.
Gavin enjoyed his first ride on the rope swing.
Coco loved riding on the swing also.
Next it was onto the miniature donkey ranch. . .the owner also had rescue animals, one of which was a pot bellied pig that Gavin liked to pet.
Brad helped Coco and Gavin become comfortable with being around the miniature donkeys.

Gavin's Birthday at F. McLintocks

It is a family tradition to go to F. McLintocks in Pismo Beach when somebody's birthday is close. So on our trip up to Morro Bay, we stopped to help Gavin celebrate - even though his birthday isn't for a few days. They are a kid-friendly restaurant and immediately upon arriving, Coco was given crayons and a cow picture to color.
Gavin wasn't sure that he wanted to have the waiters pour water into his glass, on his head (kind of a signature activity that the waiters entertain the customers with). This waiter, blindfolded, stood on a chair and poured into Meg's glass. . .she didn't even get too wet.
Then it was Gavin's turn - and even though he was hesitant at the beginning, he enjoyed it thoroughly.
The waiters and waitresses all came over and sang Happy Birthday to him - and he got a Brownie Sundae.
Another treat for the kids, which our children all remember, is getting to pick out some toys in the saddlebag if they eat a good dinner. Gavin and Coco are shown here rooting through every toy in the saddlebag.
There are a few stuffed animals at the restaurant. . .Coco and Gavin couldn't believe how big a buffalo was.
Afterwards, they rode the small horse toys outside - and they can't wait for Uncle to come home from Argentina in October so he can ride on them with him.
Coco learned how to ride with one hand in the air for balance.

The Final Days of our Croatia and Italy Trip

After spending the night in Austria, we drove over to Italy. The above picture is the valley that leads off to Cortina, Italy, where they held the 1956 Olympic Games.
We went to the Brenner Pass, as my Dad had always wanted to see the mountain pass that figured so significantly in World War II. All along the pass, there are small towns and villages and the one we had a picnic lunch in was Chiusa. Note the convent located high above us, clinging to the hillside.
We drove by Lake Garda, one of the mountain lakes that Italians like to vacation at in the Dolomites.
We stayed around Verona for our last night and here Pat, Alana, Helen and Donna are shown in front of Juliet's balcony. . .Verona was very crowded.
Finally, here we are shown in front of the arena in Verona where they have marvelous operas every summer.

Happy Birthday Ne!

Yesterday was cousin Ne's birthday and Jay helped to plan a surprise party for her.  Aunt Sue, Uncle Jim, Grammie and Grampie drove up from Southern California, Aunt Helen, Uncle Dan and Erin came from Roseville, Jay was already there looking at apartments and Tat flew all the way from Hawaii for the occasion.  Ne came home from work and had no idea we were all hiding out in her bedroom.  She was very surprised when she saw all of us!

But she was even more surprised when she went to take a shower and Tat jumped out of the tub!

We had a great happy hour at Ne's apartment in Oakland, a delicious dinner at the Lake Chalet restaurant on Lake Merritt and then back to Ne's for dessert and a fun slideshow of Ne's life made by Aunt Sue.  Happy 30th Birthday Ne!!

Croatia, Slovenia and Austria

Our days were coming to an end on the cruise and in this picture we are shown with Zlatko, the outstanding maitre ' d on our ship. He did everything for us at dinner. Zlatko and most of the crew were Croatian.
Here we are shown at the dinner table one night. We usually tried to move around to different tables as the people we were on the cruise with were from mostly Europe, with 3 from Canada and 1 from Australia. There were 24 people in all, with a crew of 8.
We had fish on most nights and it was excellent. On this night, we had sea bass that they had just caught.
Here we are riding on cobblestones on the island of Solta, which is known as the Island of Olives.
We toured a small olive oil factory and then had a taste testing of different kinds of of flavored olive oils.
In this picture we are shown, after our last ride, on the top deck of our boat.
Pat got us started shopping at the Aqua stores. They are a uniquely Croatian store, with clothing and accessories that have stripes like many of the nautical clothing lines tend to have.
On our last day, Helen, Alana and I walked around the streets of Trogir, an ancient city where our cruise started and ended. Because Croatia has been under Italian influence and governance for many centuries, the country looks very much like an uncrowded Italy.
Zlatko, Mom, Alana and Erin just before enjoying our final dinner of the trip.
Jenny, one of our tour guides, plays guitar on the last night while the crew members sing. One night in Skradin, Jenny took her guitar out to a cafe/bar with all of us and we sang for awhile that evening for the customers at the cafe.
After leaving the ship today, the 7 of us headed through Slovenia and stopped at the absolutely beautiful town of Bled. It was pretty crowded today due to it being a Saturday and many people from the capital city of Ljubljana were visiting. We decided to continue onto Austria where it wasn't so crowded.
We found a small town in Austria call Mollebrucke and saw that instead of people and cars on the streets, that we had to contend with cows blocking the road.
Here we are on the balcony of our hotel in Austria. It was a beautiful little village and had the best spaetzel I have had in a long time.
The town also had a real maypole in front of the city hall. It was a tree that had been cut down from the local forest.
This was the little hotel that we stayed at in Mollebrucke. Onto the Brenner Pass and Lake Garda.