California Crusade

Last weekend, my parent's and I ventured to Mountain View, CA (aka Silicon Valley) to see my newest nephew. He was born at the beginning of March. During this trip, we also celebrated his older brother's 2nd birthday. I can't believe that he will be 2 this week!

I've never been to this part of California before. We made plans to visit San Francisco, and see some of the Redwoods. It was a wonderful trip full of good memories and laughs.

Here are some pictures of of outings and musings:

Here is my nephew with one his newest friends - Grandpa. He soon discovered how much fun grandpa can be:)

We went to San Francisco and hung out at Pier 32. Here is a picture of me with a lot of sea lions in the behind me. There were a LOT of them, just laying around - it was very relaxing to watch.

Some of us sampled the fresh seafood cuisine there. I was told it was the best fish they had ever had.

We went on this really cool drive around San Francisco. Here is the Golden Gate bridge.

We stopped at walked around the Golden Gate park. This is similar to Central Park in NYC. Calvin and Trevor had fun in the Rose Garden area :)

They had a few redwood trees at the park that we were able to see for the first time.
On Saturday, we celebrated my nephew's 2nd birthday. Part of this celebration was a picnic at one of his favorite parks. The weather was perfect!

I was amazed at all he could do at the park. He loved the swings, ball, slides... eating took too long...

Grandma brought some "big bubbles" to play with as well at the park.Here is a picture of my newest nephew showing us his infamous smile. He is so cute!
Here's his brother showing his contagious smile as well. He LOVED the chocolate chip pancakes his dad made for him for his birthday breakfast.
My sister did an outstanding job of cooking the most amazing meals. She made an incredible salsa that was talked about the entire weekend! She really knows how to cook.

One of my nephew's favorite birthday presents was a basketball hoop and ball. He was happy playing that from the time he woke up, till the time he went to bed. He was also great at sharing it was everyone.

We sang to him with some homemade brownies. He was great at waiting till the end of the song to blow out the candles. I think his mom had been practicing with him. I helped out by making the brownies. I lined the pan with foil, for easy cutting and cleaning.

On Sunday, we went to church and saw my nephew receive a beautiful blessing.

After church, we went on a very long walk, where I was able to see the area where they live. It was beautiful!

On our way to the airport, we took a detour (3 hours), and saw some redwoods. It was amazing the beauty and peace that can be felt in those areas.

Here is my nephew with one of his favorite aunts :)