Family visits

Our first stop after the resort was to visit Emily's sister, Megan, and her family in Valencia, CA.  It was only a two hour drive from the resort.  Months ago, we asked the kids what we should do for a sabbatical and they all said, "Let's stay at our cousins' house for a month."  Our kids are similar ages and they have grown up playing together at family get togethers.  The kids had nerf gun wars, skateboarded, went to the pool, saw Despicable Me 2, went to the Hurricane Harbor water park, and celebrated Kate's birthday.  The kids had a blast and were sad to go.

Mia and Zac after a busy day.

 A s'mores cookout after dinner in honor of Julies' visit.

Next we drove to San Jose, CA to see Emily's parents.  James, her brother, and his family were also visiting. The trip was 4.5 hours long.  Three minutes into the trip Mia smiled and asked, "Are we almost there?"  This was a good warm up for our scenic route home.  There are a lot of farms in California and we took a picture of a couple along our way.  It's always neat to see the power of water.  We passed dirt fields next to green luscious farm land.

Dirt vs. green farm.

 You can't see the neat rows in this picture, but it's neat to see straight rows on a farm.

 A cattle farm.  When we passed this location Brian asked, "Why is it starting to smell like a zoo in our car?"  It was pretty stinky.

The kids got to spend some time with their other cousins.  Gabe is Mia's age and Kiefer is their youngest. Our kids have enjoyed playing with them.  We relaxed and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  They have some good exhibits and the kids enjoyed seeing the fish.

Andrew, Mia, and Kiefer.  The kids loved playing on the wiggle cars.

 Andrew, Mia, and Gabe.

 Brian and Andrew at the aquarium with sardines swimming over their heads.

Tomorrow we leave for a big adventure home where it will just be our family.  We're looking forward to the journey.

Five updates

#1 - Before I completely shaved today I gave myself a goatee.  You can check out the full beard and the goatee here.  Emily likes the facial hair.  It's too itchy for me.

#2 - Here are two family pictures from the family photo shoot I mentioned in an earlier blog.

#3 - We have been keeping track of our mileage and expenses.  We've forgotten to give anyone interested the details in case they're contemplating driving across the country.  It was 2,900 miles and cost $508.37 in gas.  As expected, we've noticed our roof rack lowering our miles per gallon.

#4 - We found out Friday night that our basement flooded.  I guess our hometown has been getting a lot of rain.  Our sump pump has been working like a champ.  However it appears one of the clamps holding the check valve broke so the water wasn't being pumped out of the pit.  Our friend who is watching the house, and other friends, have tirelessly been working to get the basement dry.  The basement is now dry and the carpets are out.  We called a carpet place to install new carpets and that may happen before we get back. We can't thank them enough for their help.  It's been very hard for us not to be there to help.  It's been a weird feeling and we're grateful for great friends.

#5 - Andrew still loves spending money.  While at Target he wanted to buy a Star Wars toothbrush that lit up.  He didn't think he had enough money, but discovered it was on sale and could afford it.  He did restrain himself from spending the rest of his money ($4) at the gift shop at the aquarium in the hopes that he will be able to save up for something better later.  Brian continues to save all of his money.  I really hope these money experiences help them when they're older.