California, Part 1

Are you ready for a million pictures from our trip to California?

Originally we had planned to go to California for Christmas, but then the plane fares were so outrageous that we decided to wait until January. It was absolutely the right thing to do.

Jen and her kids came from Dallas to join the party, so Nate's whole family was in town.

One of the big outings together was a walk on the bottom of Folsom Lake. California is in the middle of a drought and a lot of the water has been let out of the reservoir to make up for the lack of rain. The receding waters have exposed Mormon Island, a mining settlement from the 1840s.

It was pretty surreal to be walking on the bottom of the lake. We saw remains of old structures as well as artifacts, like broken crockery.

With the weather unseasonably warm, (It was in the 60s and 70s every day. I never wore socks.), we were even able to get out onto Lake Natoma for a little paddling. This is something we like to do every time we come to Sacramento. Nate's been going there since he was young, and he took me out to the lake the first time I visited California with him when we were dating. Felix insisted on sitting on Nate's lap the whole time. He was nervous. Aaron had a boatload of kids in a yellow canoe.

One really fun thing about this trip is that we had all the 2012 babies together right near their birthdays. Dorothy put together a little party for them. Hazel loved her party hat. Felix loved the balloons. Leo is up for anything.

My only picture with all the cousins.

 On one of our last days in California we went to the Folsom Zoo. This outing was a huge hit. The Folsom Valley Railroad run right by the zoo, and it was open! Both the boys were ecstatic.

A family picture taken by the engineer who used to teach college level photography classes.

Felix, especially, also loved the zoo. He pointed at every animal. We knew he liked dogs, but apparently his enthusiasm extends to all creatures. 

Day kindly measured Beckett.

Brace yourself. There's much more California to come.