A couple weeks ago, we all went on a trip down to California! (1)
We flew down to San Francisco on Friday, June 12th. San Francisco is a couple hours further away than the Santa Rosa airport, but the tickets were 60% cheaper and we figured it would be a good deal even with renting a car to drive up. It actually ended up being about the same amount each way (the car was expensive!), but at least we got the benefits of an extra 5 hours of travel including leaving our house at 5:10am getting to see the Golden Gate Bridge and eat burritos in the Mission district.
Everyone was very excited to see us when we arrived. Gale and Aria picked us up at the car rental agency where we dropped off our car, and they couldn’t believe how big Seth has been getting. Skyler and Carter came running out of the house as soon as we showed up, and couldn’t wait to surround Seth with toys.

Betsy’s parents also came down - they had driven down from north of Seattle, starting back on Wednesday, and they came into town a few hours after we got there.
In the evening, we all went out to a local park where a band was playing some rock/blues/country music. Being back in a small town again was fun, as everyone at the park seemed to know each other, and Gale kept running into people who she needed to show off Seth to. We were pretty tired after a long day of travel, and collapsed as soon as we got back home.
On Saturday, we packed up some food and headed out to a local winery where the farmer’s market was set up. We met a large group of friends and had a big breakfast picnic under the trees on the grass while browsing through the market. I picked out a gorgeous walla-walla onion and some green garlic for Sunday’s dinner, and grabbed some stone fruits for Betsy to make dessert with. Kids were running around playing and Gale got in some extra cuddle time with Seth.

Around noon, we met up with Ethan in town. It was Betsy’s parents first chance to meet Ethan, and they really hit it off. We went to a local restaurant for lunch, and by random luck, Ethan’s parents happened to be eating at the same restaurant. They spent time with us and held Seth while we ate, and we all got a chance to catch up with each other.

That evening, we returned to the house for Cuisine Night, a regularly-occurring potluck organized around a different region’s cuisine every time. This week was Thai night, and there was a huge amount of amazing food served up. There was also a huge amount of amazing people in the house, and I was a little worried that Seth would get overwhelmed with all of the excitement and people and noise and smells. Seth did great, though, charming everyone and having fun.

On Sunday, we attended Ethan’s church, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then headed over to Ethan’s graduation party. We got to meet a good number of relatives and friends and well-wishers, and watched a slide show of Ethan growing up.

Seth was starting to get a little cranky, so we took advantage of the fact that Betsy’s parents had a hotel room in town. We retreated there and the three of us took a nap together while Betsy’s parents went out and did a little more sight-seeing. When they came back, Grandpa got a little bit of extra play time with Seth.

In the evening, Gale’s mother and great-aunt came over to visit, and I cooked a big pile of Greek food for everyone. It was a pretty relaxed evening, compared to the big parties of the last few days, and it was nice for everyone to just get to hang out and chat a little bit. Of course, we had to get an updated picture with Ethan, Aria, Betsy, me, and Seth.

On Monday morning, we said our goodbyes, and I flew back to Seattle so I could get back to work. Betsy, Seth and her parents took the more leisurely route, driving up Hwy 101 through the redwoods and along the Oregon coast, getting back home on Wednesday.

The trip was a lot of fun, and we can’t wait to come back down and eat mission burritos visit everyone again!
Even more pictures are available here.
(1) - “Wait,” you say, “I thought from your previous post that you were living under a freeway bridge, huddled together in a pile of rags, skewering rats on a old wire clothes hangers and cooking them over a flaming garbage can. And now you are going on lavish vacations?” Actually, our financial situation isn’t that dire - we have fairly substantial cash reserves and no consumer debt. We just see that our total savings are going down each month, and that we can’t sustain that indefinitely. But don’t worry unduly about us yet. Also, our lodging was free, and almost all meals were cooked at home, so there were little expenses beyond the plane tickets, which weren’t that bad. Obviously, we can’t do this every weekend, but we thought it was worth the splurge.