Nick's birthday and pumpkin carving

 This year we combined pumpkin carving and a celebration of Nick's 5th birthday. We started the evening with the birthday taco pinata while we still had a little daylight. The taco proved to be a tough target and we had to go several rounds and include a few adults before it finally gave up the treasure.

Once the candy was gathered from the pinata there wasn't a great deal of interest in a healthy meal of pizza, so we breezed right through that to pumpkin carving.

We had a bountiful harvest of pumpkins this year. Which were quickly turned into fantastic creations.  Clare and Garrett did their own carving this year. Nick, Sylvan and Ingrid required a little help.

And we finished off the evening with birthday cake.  We were happy to send the sugared up grandkids home with their parents.

Long weekend in Santa Barbara

Last week we made a long weekend trip to Santa Barbara.  The weather was warm, the beach was delightful and we got to have lots of fun with the Wrights.

We had a couple of beach trips on beautiful days. A highlight of the trip was a bonfire on the beach one evening.

Calvin built a "mud kitchen" that required some painting and assembly.  There we lots of willing helpers.

We also enjoyed an evening playing "Go Fish" with Alice while Jay entertained on the guitar and a fun block party with great dancing and music.

Napa River and Lake Natoma

 A few weeks ago we got tired of living in smoke and decided to take a quick trip to anyplace that had good air quality.

 Napa fit the bill, so we loaded up the kayak,Calvin's bike and took off.

In the morning while Calvin biked I took a walk along the Napa River.  About four different bay area trails converge at J.F Kennedy Park where we launched the kayak.

We tried to time our trip so that we would be paddling around high tide, but we didn't account for the strong wind blowing up river.  On smooth water we can go at a pace of 15 to17 minutes per mile.  We made it one mile down the Napa River and it took 25 minutes.  We turned around and just let the wind blow us and it took 25 minutes to return.

There wasn't a lot to see in the way of wildlife on the Napa, but the air was clear and it was a sunny day which made it worthwhile.

We did see the remains of the Basalt Rock Company, which started out as a mining operation in 1920, but switched to building boats for the Navy during World War 2. The remains of the loading pier are still standing

On the way back to Reno we stopped at Lake Natoma in Folsom. It is a five mile long extension of the American River behind Nimbus dam.  It is a very urban lake and has a speed limit for motorized craft of 5 miles per hour, so it is heaven for SUP and kayak paddlers. We saw lots of seagulls, and ducks and a few turtles when we paddled into the wetlands. The lake actually extends all the way to the border of Folsom Prison, but we didn't get that far.

It is fun exploring new places, but Lake Tahoe is still the favorite.

The last of the reunion pictures

 It is probably time to finish the reunion pictures.  This year we reinstated the tradition of the "kids dinner out" which means we babysit the grandkids while their parents enjoy a little sibling time.  We weren't brave enough the last couple of reunions to watch all  11 kids when we had so many babies and toddlers, but this year with a lot of help from the older cousins we tried it again.  We decided to take a walk along the shoreline.  We ended up walking about 2 miles and the kids were pretty tired by the time we got back.  Pretty quickly our little group started stretching out along the trail.  I was busy counting little heads and when I came up with just 10, I realized that I wasn't counting grandson Zach, almost 13, on the adult side of the count.  He was a big help.

The girls dressed up in matching dresses for the walk

I'm not exactly sure what they were doing in the bushes

After the walk, most of then were content to watch a little TV until their parents came home. The three little boys were on the beach with Calvin

We have a few cousins with mini me's

Austin and Jmaes

Zach and Sylvan

Two special friends

And a couple of photos just for fun

Beach and pool time

One of the best parts of our family reunion was being able to just walk to the beach and pool.  There was just a lot of fun cousin time.