Sacramento...

Logan, Carsyn, & Maren at the State Capitol

Before retuning home, we went to Sacramento to see the Capitol. It was a very impressive building and grounds. Unfortunately, the "Governator" wasn't in town. But, we did get to go in his office. We also at the "capital" of our favorite restaurant...the Sacramento C.P.K.!

Wine Country Tour

We love going to Napa. This time was even more fun because we were able to share it with our Dad. We went to the Michael Andretti Foundation benefit at the Andretti winery. It was so awesome. All the AGR drivers were there--even Danica--we didn't talk to her. We chit chatted with Tony and congratulated him on his son that will be born in about a month. We had our pictures taken with Tony, Marco, Mario, Michael, and even Mary Hulman-George. It was a ton of fun. (Check out our link to indycar.com to see all our pictures).

Maren enjoying herself at the Winery...

a Tony Kanaan sandwich...

While in Napa we also went over to Fairfield, CA to the Jelly Belly factory. It was so cool. We got to go on a tour of the factory and see how the jelly beans were made. We even got free samples--yum!
At the Jelly Belly Factory!Of course we did some shopping at the great outlets up there too. We also went to historic downtown Sonoma and went to a few little shops and the Mission.
Logan in downtown SonomaCarsyn and Daddy outside
the Mission in SonomaOn Sunday, Maren went to her first Indy Car race--the Indy 300 at Infineon. We had hoped for a better outcome, but it was still cool to see. We sat right behind the pits, which was awesome because #1) we got to see Ashley Judd up close, and #2) we saw Danica stall her engine!

Maren at her first Indy Car race (when Dario was still winning)We had a super-fun four days in wine country.

A San Francisco Treat...

Supporting the Cubbies in San Fran...
We had such a blast in San Francisco. It was a pretty short visit, but it was a good time. It was so pretty and the weather was amazing--much better than the 100+ that we left in Lemoore. We went to Pier 39 and ate, and we went to the Mission. We also went to two Cubs vs. Giants games at AT&T park. The Wednesday night game was good, we won in extra innings. But, the game on Thursday was not as fun. However, we did get to see Carlos pitch! It was a fun two days, but we're heading to wine country...

Logan, Dad, & Carsyn @ Pier 39

Maren and Mommy at AT&T Park

Welcome home, Daddy!

Finally! It was a very long seven months, but we're so glad to have our Dad home. Now it's off to the Bay area!

Logan's first day of Kindergarten!

Logan on her first day of school...

Wow! Logan is now a Kindergartener! She was so excited to start her first day of school. She has a new backpack and tons of new clothes and shoes (no uniforms this year). There are lots of kids from our neighborhood in her class and she's made a lot of new friends.

Let her eat cake...

Maren's first Birthday Cake!

Maren absolutely loved her cake. Neither Logan nor Carsyn enjoyed their first birthday cakes as much as Maren did. She immediately dove straight in. She like tasting it and playing it and cried when she had to get out of her highchair and into the bath tub.

Maren had fun opening her presents too. Of course Logan and Carsyn probably like this part more. The evening was topped of with the world premier of HSM2--we were not disappointed.

Happy Birthday to Maren!

Wow! It's hard to believe that a whole year has already gone by and our little baby Maren is one year old. However, she thinks she's even older than that. She's such a sweet little girl though. She is one of the fastest crawlers we've ever seen. She's very good at pulling up and "cruising", but she makes no attempts to walk on her own yet. She has six teeth and a pretty thick head of hair. She loves to look at pictures. She thinks every picture is of either "Mama" or "me" and points to herself. She seems to be right on track. Now if we could just get her potty trained!

Only 1 more day...

Oh my goodness! We are so excited--only one more day! 'Til what, you ask? Are we so excited that the girls' dad is coming home pretty soon? Or that it's Maren's birthday Friday? Those are both good guesses, but the real reason we're so thrilled is that High School Musical 2 premiers tomorrow!!! We're excited about the other stuff too!

what's in bakersfield?

not much...

we traveled down to bakersfield to see old friends. mrs. harrison and her husband were in central california to watch their daughter, molly compete in the usa water skiing nationals. she is ranked 8th in the nation for age group and gender for trick skiing--pretty awesome. after the competition we were able to visit with them and go out to dinner. we went out to eat at the girls favorite restaurant: cpk--check another one off our list! it was a really nice time. logan and carsyn absolutely loved molly and mrs. harrison. maren warmed up to them very quickly too. it was great to see old friends from home and catch up a little.



Logan, Mrs. Harrison, Carsyn, Molly, Maren, & Megan