California Trip - Part 2

On Friday, Feb 10, Holly and Jeff flew back to Iowa and Michael had to work, so Mallory, Madie, BJ's family and I all went to the Oakland Zoo. It was a perfect overcast day - days that we don't get very often living in Arizona. I miss the bay area fog that rolls in about 3:00 and cools everything off - oh, how I miss it!

 Sam looking at a very large tortoise

 Madie brushing a goat

 Hannah not sure what's going on!

 Brodi petting a goat

 Madie and Brodi riding in a car together at the zoo

After the zoo, since we were so close to the Oakland Temple, we decided to drive over there and take some pictures. It was so beautiful! I forgot how beautiful it is there and how fragrant the star jasmine is all around the grounds. I love being able to walk up the steps to the roof terrace of the temple and look out over the whole bay. I'm so glad we took the time to drive there. Here are a few pictures.

After this peaceful experience, we were able to be reminded of why we're glad we don't live in the bay area. It was rush hour traffic time when we drove back to Michael and Mallory's and it took a very long time. However, when we got back, Michael had made pizza for us and it was delicious. Here are Brodi and Madie eating their pizza on the twister game plastic.

BJ and Shannon stayed at a nearby Marriott and I stayed with Michael and Mallory.

The next morning, Michael, Mallory & Madie and I went for a walk. It was very peaceful and nice.

Then, we met up with BJ's family and headed for Monterey for the day. We actually all got rooms at the Marriott in Morgan Hill (thanks, Bruce/Tiff/Marc, for hooking us up) so we could stay there Saturday night and go to church in our old Morgan Hill Ward on Sunday. So, we checked into the hotel and then headed to Monterey. We drove along the coast and stopped over by Spanish Bay (my favorite place in Monterey!)

This is Happy Sam, until a wave came along and soaked he and Brodi! Luckily BJ and Shannon got it all on video. I was sitting in the car with sleeping Hannah, but I saw it all happening from the window. Luckily, BJ and Shannon brought extra clothes along and they got changed and warm again.

 These are some of the people you might run into in California! These guys were having some sort of initiation I suppose, but you never know.....

 We decided to do something different and take a sunset sailboat ride for an hour. It was wonderful! I'm so glad we did it - such good memories.

 Here are the kids in their life vests - ready to go!

So much fun!

After this, we went to a restaurant on the wharf and had clam chowder bowls. What a great day!

It was fun going to our Morgan Hill Ward on Sunday. Since we know a lot of people from both Morgan Hill Wards, we went to one Sacrament Meeting at 9:00 and another one at 10:30 - that way we were able to see more people. We love our Morgan Hill friends and we miss them terribly. 

After church, Michael and Mallory & Madie headed back to Livermore and BJ, Shannon, kids and I took a drive to Mt. Madonna Campground. It was lush, green and so pretty. We used to go camping there as a family when we lived in Morgan Hill and it's only about half an hour from where we were. Unfortunately, most of the campground was closed because there was some sort of disease in a lot of the trees. But, we were able to park and hike around a little bit and enjoy the peacefulness of the campground - even more peaceful since the campgrounds were closed and there weren't any people around.

I visited with my friend, Debbie Woodland on Sunday night and we headed for Arizona Monday morning. It was such a fun trip. Thanks to BJ and Shannon for letting me tag along with them - and thanks to Bryan for holding down the fort at home so I could go. I only wish Bryan could have been with us.