Northern California: Getting There and The Monteray Aquarium

My AMAZING older brother Jesse graduated from the fire academy in June.  All of  my family, except for Toby, went out to Northern California for it.  It was an awesome trip and I plan on posting several times because it was a LONG trip with LOTS of things to blog about.

So we start with our drive out.  Russell and I tagged along with Morgan and her family.  We had every seat filled in their Suburban.  It was actually quite comfortable.  Morgan's neighbor let them borrow a rack that went in their hitch.  This made it so we had space for all that both families needed.  BUT it rained for most of the day and all the stuff in the rack got wet.  This included ALL of the Somers' clothes and my sleeping bag.  We stopped to get a tarp and I think that saved us.  We didn't get on the road until the afternoon so we stopped and camped just outside of Reno.  It was a good thing that we stopped to get the tarp or we would have had to get a hotel.  I don't think it would be a good idea to camp with all wet clothes and a wet sleeping bag.

 Waiting for hot dogs.

 Cleaning up and getting ready to get back on the road the next morning.

 Brice is putting the tent away.

(Side story) When we went on vacation as kids my mom would prepare trip bag for us.  Every now and then we would get a bag with treats and toys (from the dollar store, nothing big or expensive) that would keep us entertained for a while.  I find that helped make our trips better and memorable.  I have just as many memories of the drives as I do the destinations.  When we were older my dad would add riddles to our in-drive entertainment.  Whoever got it right would get some sort of treat all to themselves (like a frosty from Wendy's)...in stead of having to share. Apparently it didn't take much to motivate us.  But I love what that did for the interactions between all of us kids and my parents.  I feel like we talked more and learned as well.  My mom would tell us about the landscape and any memories that her or my dad had about where we were.  I would LOVE to be able to provide the same memories for my kids instead of just putting on a movie so they could be zombies for the drive (that sounds tempting though).  I feel like they...well we all would really miss out of a lot.  Also they could see the great country that we get to live in.  It being 4th of July today I have to add that we live in a great country with so many opportunities and it would be a shame to miss seeing our beautiful variety of landscape.

For this trip I didn't have my mom and dad to provide entertainment for us and the kids but I did have my sister.  She used my mom's idea for this trip and she was so kind to include Russell.  So every couple of hours or so Russell, and all the kids, got a new toy to play with.  Also my sister read Little House in the Big Woods which provided entertainment to all of us.  It was awesome.  THANKS MORGAN!!

We still didn't get into Santa Cruz until 7 or 8 the next night because we stopped to look around a town by Tahoe called Grassvalley (Morgan and Brice are planning on moving there as soon as he is done with school.).  We looked at some houses.  I wish I got some pictures because it was beautiful.
We got to Jesse's house just as the babies starting to get over the whole being in a car situation.  But I would say all the kids did a great job.  

  The next morning the photo ops just poored out.  The kids all had a new place to explore and play.

 She is so silly.

 They play so well together.

 My brother has chickens.  I LOVED it.  Fresh eggs every morning.  I really want chickens now.

Russell is such an outside boy.  He loves being outside. Also Jesse has a piano so Russell was either outside or playing the piano.

My sweet brother was so kind as to let us ALL stay at his house.  Now his house is not what you would call large. It is a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom.  We smashed 11 people in that place.  It was...interesting.  Russell and I started out in the living room where we would blow up the air mattress every night.  Poor Russell didn't have a place to nap during the day so he was tired almost the whole trip.  After a couple of nights Russell and I moved out to the back yard in a tent...that made things a better.  It was nice out there and we had our own space.  But Jesse's house was so sweet and cozy.  I really enjoyed staying with them. Also being 3 blocks from the beach didn't hurt either.
  Anyway...the first day we were there we went to the Monteray Aquarium.

Jesse hates getting his picture taken but he is so photogenic...ok maybe not in this picture but you will see what I mean.  The whole ride out to California whenever we would stop Alaina would say, "Jesse's house?" All the kids love Uncle Jesse.  

 She had such a great time.  Just for your information she is wearing Russell's sweatshirt.

 Carmen is Jesse's fiance and we all just love her.  We are so happy to call her family.  I have to say my brother has good taste.  Love you Carrrrmen!! 

 So sweet.  Told you the kids love her.

 This is Carmen's mom and Alaina.  Alaina was with her the whole day!!! 

 For some reason Russell really liked this play area.

 Granddad opened this door and it made a noise. Russell would put granddad's hand on the knob to open it again and again.

 Russell got grumpy and here is Grammy totally over his attitude...Just kidding I just happened to catch her not smiling.   But he was grumpy.  She was happy to help me out though.

 This was a favorite of mine.  It was a dome and a big dump of water would flow over the glass.  It made you feel like you were in a wave. Cute kids.

Raelin really like it here too.  I'll be honest it was a long day for me.  It was so hard to wrangle Russell and take all the pictures that I wanted.  But it was a preview of what the rest of the week was going to be.  But it was worth it!!  Thanks to everyone who helped with Russell.  I really appreciate it.