Gilroy Gardens

I didn't get around to posting this last night--and then as I went to bed, I heard about the shootings in Gilroy on Sunday.   The youngest victim was the same age as Alaina--6.  So tragic.

But before all that.....

On Saturday, we headed down to Gilroy Gardens.   Gilroy Gardens is an amusement park, geared for younger school-age kids.   I had won some tickets to the park in a school raffle, and this weekend worked well for us to visit.   Unfortunately, we found out on the way there that it was also the Gilroy Garlic Festival weekend--meaning we had a lot more traffic than usual to contend with on a Saturday.   Gilroy is a town about 45 minutes south of San Jose, that doesn't normally have much going on.

The park was actually quite nice, and well maintained with many trees and flowers, which is impressive for Gilroy, because it is kind of desert-like, naturally.  Also the rides have fun farming themes like the "artichoke spin" and the "mushroom swing"   It is cool to find an independent park like this in this day of age.

Most of the rides were "boring" for Ethan, but Alaina had a blast.   Thankfully, there was also a small waterpark, which was much needed as the temperature topped 100 degrees.

After enjoying the park, we stopped for dinner in San Jose, and Sue, Ben and the kids were able to join us, which was great.

We got home late Saturday night--but it was nice to have a day to play!

Alaina is 6.5 (!) and our trip to Mountain Meadow

At the end of last week we celebrated Alaina's half birthday--6.5!   She requested Oreo cupcakes, which i made out of mix....they turned out ok.

On Saturday, we left for our annual trip to Mountain Meadow in the Trinity Alps with the Cortez family.   This year, we were also joined by a colleague from Jason's work, Tina and her family.

We had a great time, other than the fact that I came down with a cold on Tuesday and was under the weather for a good part of the trip.   We made the best of it though.

As the kids are all getting bigger, we were able to do some more family hikes this time around which was great.   Alaina made it almost to the top of Preachers Peak, and did Little Caribou Lake with us--which is almost 10 miles and involves some serious rock scrambling!

Jason and I repeated the Three Lakes hike this year, but had to go the "long way"over tri-forest peak, as there was too much snow to take the shortcut.  It was a lot tougher than last year.

The kids had so much fun running around the meadow, playing games, building forts etc.  Such a fun time for them too, when we are not hiking.

On the last day, Jason went on a crazy hike, called the Five Lakes that traversed over 6000 vertical feet, almost all off trail.   All the snow apparently made it technically challenging and kept his adrenaline running.

Ethan and I did the Caribou Lake Trail that day--which was beautiful too.

Now back to the internet, reality and work.   It sure is nice to get off the grid once a year!

4th of July

Still Catching Up....

We had a fun 4th of July weekend.

We spent the holiday in Sonoma with Jason's family.   The kids enjoyed the parade, and we had a great BBQ dinner.   Then, off to the fireworks.   The show was good, though slow (i.e: 1 firework shot off at a time).   By the time we left and drove home it was nearly midnight, which led to a very rough Friday work morning.

On Saturday, Ethan played at the junior piano competition at the Marin county fair.  He played a piece called Saint Louis Rag, which he honestly was not quite ready to perform.   The judges generously gave him a second place ribbon.

After the competition, we spent the afternoon at the fair, which was pretty miserable as per usual.   The kids, of course, loved it.

First swim meet

The kids joined a swim team this summer--a low key one with only one home meet. 

That home meet was last weekend.

The kids had a lot of fun, even though it was a cold morning.

 

Here is how they placed:

Alaina:

 1st for 6U 25 yard free in 34.49

2nd for 6U 25 yard back in 51.82

1st for 8U 100 M freestyle relay in 2:04.84

Ethan

2nd for 10U 50 yard free in 52.95

3rd for 10 U 50 yard back in 1:07.49

2nd for 10U  200 M freestyle relay in 3:33.45

So, a good sport for summer, for sure.

40th Birthday in the Dells

So, I am a bit behind on posting....but 2 weekends ago, I headed back to the Midwest.  My college girlfriends and I all turned 40 this year, and we planned a long weekend getaway in Wisconsin Dells over a year ago.

It was a lot of fun seeing everyone and to catch up.   We took a boat tour of the dells--which are really quite pretty, and also did some of the other obligate cheesy tourists stuff such as mini-golf and the Tommy Bartlett waterski show.

  

I also insisted on breakfast at Paul Bunyans.

I ended the long weekend back in Chicago, where I got to see my dad, visit my grandma, and also meet my new nephew, Gregory Alexander, who was born on June 10.

So, a nice little trip.   Meanwhile Jason did an awesome job holding down the fort with the kids!