California Adventure

Kyle and I went on another California adventure to visit my old roommate Rachel and her husband Ryan. We originally planned on bringing Jason along, but when we saw how much fun our friends were having on child-free vacations, we decided to ask the grandmas to help us out. They generously said yes and split the time.

We visited Rachel and Ryan three years ago in San Francisco, and we decided it was time to go again. Rachel invited us to stay at her house, which served as a good home base to see lots of sights in Northern California.

We started out with Big Basin State Park, which had some of the amazing redwoods. And then we visited the boardwalk at Santa Cruz, but we didn't fork out any money for rides.


Friday we went to Monterrey where we saw the awesome aquarium and cannery row. We went on the 17-Mile drive by accident (our GPS took us that way), which was quite scenic, and we enjoyed walking through the sand of Carmel-by-the-Sea. Lastly, we hurried back north to catch a baseball game in Oakland: Oakland Athletics vs. San Francisco Giants. They are rivals and so I found myself watching the fans more than I should have.




Saturday we went water skiing in a delta, bought belly-flops from the Jelly Belly Factory, drove through Napa Valley, and had a delicious BBQ with Rachel's family.



Sunday after church we got to visit some of my cousins, most of whom I hadn't seen in over 5 years, so it was good to see them. Later in the evening we got to ride around in Ryan's bug and walk through the golden hills of California.


Monday, our last full day, we spent in San Francisco. I love this city! We always manage to bring good weather with us. We'd already seen a lot of San Francisco three years ago, so this time we decided to try something new: biking along the coast, around the Palace of Fine Arts, and across the Golden Gate Bridge. We were really glad we did. But we couldn't leave the city without also doing the usual driving down Lombard Street, eating clam chowder from sour dough bread bowls on Fisherman's Warf, putting quarters in old arcades at the Mechanical Museum, eating free chocolate samples from Ghiradeli Square, and driving through China town. One other new thing we did was visit the Cable Car Museum. In this museum you could see the cables being turned under the street.




A visit to Rachel and Ryan is not complete without Chinese Hot Pot, and they did not disappoint.


Tuesday morning we visited Google campus. The campus itself is not that exciting-- just a bunch of buildings. The only interesting thing is the Google bikes. They are scattered throughout the campus so employees can jump on them to get to other buildings quicker than walking. We took a short ride around on them.

Thanks Grandmas for watching Jason! And thank you Rachel & Ryan for letting us crash at your place for the week!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Happy Birthday, Dad! I'm glad we did a surprise adult-only dinner party in addition to the family BBQ. I think we should do it more often. Thanks for being such a great dad.

Pure Luck

We seem to be on a lucky streak. Do you remember when I asked you what you would do with an extra $50? Well now I'm asking you what you would do with an extra $100. Kyle's mom found an envelope with "Kyle's money to deposit at Credit Union" written on it. Inside was $100 in cash. We don't know how long it was waiting to be deposited, but it has finally made its way back to Kyle. We couldn't believe that both of our mom's found our long-forgotten money within the same month.

Thomas Karren Reunion

My totally awesome brother planned a Memorial Day reunion in which we visited the grave site of our pioneer ancestor, Thomas Karren. I am so glad I'm not a pioneer, but Thomas was a pretty awesome one. After visiting the grave site we had a BBQ, but I didn't take any pictures there.

Uncle Steve telling us about Thomas (notice the little green legs just to the left of Steve-- that is Jason):

Jason thinks cemeteries are super fun. Just look at this giant pin-wheel. LOADS of entertainment.

Artichoke Night

We have a tradition where we buy a real (not canned) artichoke once a year and eat it. We do it in the spring, since that is when they are in season. This year Valerie and Sean joined us for the annual artichoke tasting. It was Valerie's first time, and she was quite intrigued, as any first-timer should be. Who figured out how to eat an artichoke?

Ward Talent Show

For our ward talent show Kyle and I did our "Eleanor Rigby" routine. I played the cello, Kyle sang and played the guitar, and Heather played violin. We had a lot of fun doing it. Thanks so much, Heather, for helping us out. Our current ward has a serious lack of violin players.



Getting ready to walk to the church:
Jason wanted to carry something as well, so we let him briefly hold the camera bag.

Happy Mother

Kyle and I paid tribute to our great mothers by having them over to eat at our house. Linda came for lunch on Saturday and we had all the Hunsaker clan over for Sunday dinner. With all that hosting, Mother's Day was not particularly restful for me, but my big reward came Sunday evening as we were putting Jason to bed. We finished reading stories and Kyle told Jason to "Give mommy a hug and say 'Happy Mother's Day'". I was sitting on the floor across the room and Jason came running at me like a linebacker and tackled me with a hug while saying "Happy Mother." Awwww. Yes Jason, I am a happy mother.

Thanks to my sweetie for doing most of the cooking. It was delicious! And thanks for my new hymn book. I also loved our family hike on Saturday; it was a perfect family outing. And Jason wore his hat the whole time!