Curly Haired Cousins Come to Visit

Growing up my cousins came every spring break to visit us.  They were blessed with amazing naturally curly hair.  This caused unknown amounts of jealousy and perm after perm after unadvised perms.  I never did get their hair, but I still love them!  This spring break my cousin's girls came to visit for spring break.  The NOSTALGIA!  Tricia and Darren has to stay home and work on the house in order to get it sold, but we had a great time with the girls.

They started at Grandma Ann's and saw all of the highlights.

The pine tree.

The waterfall hike with Rilla.

Down at the river.

A VERY cold pool.

Warming up in the hot tub.

Then off to see Cousin Cyndi and Chinese food.  Yum Yum Yum.

Love Ho's!

Dessert at Ghirardelli.

Fun with Renato.

Are these girls photogenic or what?

Off to the de Young to see King Tut.

Our own King Tut.

In the tower.

At the playground.

 

Off to the tea gardens.

The windmill and more flower pictures.  honestly, are these girls models?  That is what people asked me about their mother when she used to come and visit me.

It is possible that Grandma Ann ran these girls a little hard!  At the beach.

No, we are not done yet!  The Legion of Honor.

Shopping in Chinatown.

On the way back to Grandma Ann's they stopped at Marine World.  I somehow have not uploaded those pics yet, but they had a great time. 

Come back soon!  I loved having you.  Dad said they might have been the best kids that have been to the house.  We love you!

Meeting Ana and Juan

Some people might think that I have slacked off on blog posting, but what do they know?  A few weeks ago Renato and I went down to visit his sister and brother-in-law, Ana and Juan.  They are fabulous! and were so welcoming.  I had a terrible cold and coughed and hacked and generally infected them, but they were still very kind and let me in their house and let me wake them all up on Monday morning with my coughing.  Honestly, what a house guest!

We arrived on Saturday and I was introduced to two card games - Kings and Barraco (?).  Kings is different every hand, so you have to stay on your toes and Barraco is more like Canasta.  I picked up a few skills, but mostly it was just fun to see the three of them playing.  Renato and his sister are the only two siblings and they are very close.  He teases her something terrible, but she likes the ribbing and games.

We went to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate Juan's new Masters degree.  Yeah Juan!  It is his second Masters, that makes you really the master - right?  I was particularly pleased because it meant we got to go to Claim Jumper AND Cheesecake Factory.  And I wonder why I am on a plateau  and not loosing more weight!

We had a wonderful Sunday.  Ana was in charge of a choir sacrament meeting to celebrate Easter.  It was so lovely and the spirit was very strong.  I can't say which was my favorite, because they were all so beautiful but I did love when all the men in the ward came up and sang Rise Up Oh Men of God.  They have a very friendly ward and are clearly loved.

Sunday afternoon we took a walk down on of the washes in town.  We took Toby with us, the family dog and Renato's best friend.  Renato insists on getting the dog all worked up at any time.  Juan says - don't tell the dog we are going for a walk.  So what does Renato do....tells the dog!  The dog (a HUGE golden lab) is running up and down the stairs and in circles and attacking Ana and Juan while they try to change their shoes.  Then Juan can hardly get the dog in the car.  I go out to the garage and Juan (a very kind and patient man by all accounts) mumbles, I am going to kill Renato!

It was a beautiful and relaxing walk, and poor Toby was so tired by the time we got back to the car that he could barely jump over the seats to play with his chew toy - Renato.

On Monday after I had woken everyone up with my coughing, we got up and ready for a hike.  It was a beautiful place - Red Rock.  Tons of different rock formations and colors.  A geological dream!  We picked a hike which turned out fantastic.

It was to a "tank" which you can see on the left on this picture.  It fills up like a water tank when the big rains come.

From the top you can see a great view of the city and valley.

Beautiful Ana.

Ana and Juan looking back on where we had come form.  See that mountain behind them with the stripes?  Just cool.

More interesting formations
.

Do you see a very tiny speck between the top of the rocks in the middle.  Yes, that is Renato.  We were sitting resting enjoying the view when Renato says I am going to climb a little.  I say ok and don't think another thing.  Then Ana's phone rings and it is Renato telling us to look up.  He went clear to the top.  I could not get the bottom of the mountain in the picture so you can't see how high it is, but believe me he is on top of the world!  He was loving it.  I just did not look when he came down and pretended it was not at all dangerous.

A littler purell after the outhouses.

We drove around the park and found a nice table for a lunch.  Yummy sandwiches and treats.  Then back to the house for a few more rounds of card games before we had to get to the airport.  It was a fantastic weekend, family, fun, food, relaxing (or as Elise would say belaxing), just spending time together.  Perfect.  Thanks Ana and Juan - I loved the trip and I love you!  Come see us soon.

Weekend updates

Wow, where does the time go?  Here are some pictures from several weekends with the kids.  We continue to spend every other weekend  all together.  I wish I had written and posted about these pics when I took them, I'd remember more!

Clearly these are my Valentines flowers.  We had a fun Valentines weekend with candy for the kids.  It ended up being a big auction of candy bags.  I have cinnamon bears, and I will trade you for all of your gummy hearts.  Quite the negotiations.  Renato's ward had a party for the adults, it was a nice dinner and some games with your dinner group.  It was fun to get to meet more of his friends.

Renato's stake plays soccer - like church basket ball.  He is a HUGE soccer fan and a pretty good player.  He was complaining about aches and pains for days after this!  Unfortunately that yucky long long cold kept him out of most of the games this year, but he and Jared played this weekend together and had a great time.

My close up!  Audrey and Elise and a bunch of other kids watched the game and played with the camera.

Serious soccer strategy.  And by the way,  I decided not to play soccer due to my knee, but I was feeling pretty nostalgic about my soccer days back in Plesanton.

Drew's birthday was a few weeks ago.  German Chocolate cake is his favorite.  I had never made it before, so I went into research mode.  Thanks to Aunt Marilyn and all her girls for getting me the recipe and all the needed tips.  On our way down to the house I said - do you have round cake pans.  He says - I think so I'll check when we get home.  He looks in the cupboard and says oh yes, look we have round cake pans.  Then we start to make the cake (just when we have just enough time to get it done - no wiggle room).  I try to pull out the round cake pans to find that they are all pie pans.  Renato says he will run to Winco - right across the street.  I say great - get me 9in pans.  He comes back with two square brownie pans.  :)  I love him!  Thus you see a square German Chocolate Cake.  Drew was a good sport - he leaned over to me and said, "why is it square?"  Oh well, it tasted good and Drew had a fun family party.

Audrey with the birthday bow.  Isn't she beautiful!

The presents.

More presents.  Lots of presents - yeah!

Kim was at the soccer game with us.  This is the week before she was baptized, and she was so excited.  We did not get any pictures at the baptism, but it was beautiful.  Kim and Jared have been dating for a little while, and she has been investigating the church for a few years now.  She wanted to get baptized before, but her parents wanted her to wait until she was older.  She is on fire, and has a beautiful testimony.  How great to see her grow in the gospel.

Another weekend - and great weather!  Elise and I roller skated around the apartment.  She had no need to worry about falling.  The safety gear was very through!  She is really good - and I saw a marked improvement from our trip to the roller rink a few months a go.

Renato and Audrey cleaned out the entire back of the car.  Renato uses the truck for his work tools etc, so it was a big job.  They got it all organized and clean.  Isn't this the perfect Saturday?  Nice weather, we are all together, and doing a Saturday job.

I don't have any pictures - but one weekend Renato took me to the Brazilian BBQ.  First, it was the best Brazilian BBQ I had been to, plus we got the best service since he was buddies with everyone in the place.  I will have to save up weight watchers points for another year to be able to go again, but it was amazing!  His friend told me I would know it was serious once Renato took me to the Rio grill.

Another weekend there was an Elders Quorum party.  Renato made black beans and rice - Brazilian style.  Very very good.  The party was in one of the counselors back yard and all the kids ran around and all of the adults ate yummy food.  We had a great time.  That weekend was Drew's first dance - he was very excited - and despite Renato's predictions that he would be shy all night he reported dancing a lot and with a lot of different girls.

Lots of fun times with the kids.  Tons of Wii and lots of legos.  Lots of reading books, and making dinners.  lots of wonderful family time.