Our Family Vacation Comes to an End - A Synopsis of the Trip

Audrey loves to have her photography displayed. Here we are in Western Nevada on our way out to Sacramento.

Breakfast at Grandma & Grandpa Round's normally means many meals out under the covered patio. Here are the girls having their first vacation breakfast. Both of their expressions make me chuckle!


Apparently I turn violently in my sleep. This carving fell from the headboard/bookshelf and smacked me in the head during our first night at the Rounds. If you look closely, you can see a tiny red mark above my right brow, that would be your left! Hey, it really hurt! (This is another photo taken by Audrey)

The girls spent many hours out in the pool. Audrey logged more hours than anyone swimming. Due to the neighbors tree, the pool stays shaded the majority of the day and often stays rather cool. Amazingly, Audrey seemed to be immune to any cold. She just wanted to SWIM!


Here's proof that Kate actually spent some time in a swim suit. You'll note, in the photos below, that she's normally sporting a diaper - that's all! No wonder she came back with the best tan!

Grandma kept the girls busy, most of the time playing with them. Here she's Kate's life-size doll. Pucker up!

Grandma reading the girls bedtime stories. She not only put them to bed, but got up with them every morning, letting Sarah and I sleep in. This was a real vacation! Thanks Mom!

Grandma set up easels for the girls, passing on her love of painting.

Kate got a little carried away. While not pictured here, Audrey added to Kate's living body canvas with some of her own paint later.

Here the girls are playing with Grandma's jewelry. They loved all the sparkly baubles and trinkets. Audrey even came home with a few - with Grandma's permission.

We haven't had a family photo taken, minus the one in the Old Sac post, since Kate was born - we're slackers. We asked Rod if he'd take some of us, he obliged, and we went out to Folsom and the scenic grounds of the LDS Sacramento Temple. We'll post his work in a forthcoming blog.

Since there really wasn't anyone in the parking lot, I decided to give Audrey a short driving lesson. Fortunately, there weren't any paparazzi around to leak this to the tabloids.

After the photo shoot, we went to Leatherby's for lunch and ice cream. Here are a few more examples of Audrey's amateur picture taking. I included this one of Sheryl so that you could contrast it with mine. Someday I may actually smile for Audrey when she's taking my picture.


The girls pigged out on ice cream. Kate happened to get a little on her shirt, and arm, and face, and oh, you get the idea! If you look closely, Audrey is at the beginning of some type of ice cream soup concoction that when offered to the rest of us, was flatly refused. Notice in the photos of Kate's craze Audrey's creation.

Apparently the ice cream got to Kate because she was being so silly! She started swinging her head back and forth and biting her shirt, all while cackling like a maniac. Then she started pulling her shirt up over her head. She definitely had the attention of everyone around us - my little goofball!


Tradition at Grandma & Grandpa's house is that you're measured against the wall. I'm there from my first visit back in 2001, when Sarah and I were just dating. For the grandkids it's a mark for each time that you visit. It's fun to look at the wall and see how much they've grown over the years. Audrey is just sprouting while this was Kate's first mark on the wall because she was just an infant last summer.


Grandma & Grandpa threw Audrey an early birthday party. I love her look of anticipation here.

So, I have to admit, I've seen the commercials for this product and wondered to myself, "Who would buy that?!" Yeah, Sarah's dad - that's who! They bought Audrey a Barbie doll with a dog that you feed pellets to and that it poops out later! Audrey didn't believe us when we told her, we actually had to demonstrate.

So, we had some camera, ceiling fan, and placement issues - this is take 2. Oh, and we're terribly off key!
We had an amazing time visiting Sheryl, Rod, and Pixley (their dog). Because things were going so well fate decided to throw us this obstacle. 60 miles west of Sacramento our back tire blew out. For an unfortunate situation, conditions couldn't have been more ideal. I felt something before it blew and began to slow down, it happened near an off ramp, the tire was on the passenger side away from traffic, and the place where we bought the new tire had one in stock and on within 10 minutes.

Sarah took this picture and told me she was proud to see "her man" at work. She also added that she was impressed with my change time - Nascar here I come!
We made it home without further incident. We appreciate the generosity and hospitality of Sarah's parents. We'll miss being spoiled as much as the grandkids!
1 comment:
Wow, it looks like a nice trip! Can I visit the Rounds too? I'm jealous of the Redwoods. That is on my list. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it so much.
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