Anderson Family Blue Grass - Reno, NV

As part of Eric's bday week we drove to a Blue Grass Festival between Reno and Carson City to see the Anderson's. We left at 7am on Sat morning and got there around 11. It was hot out but the festival was in a park with lots of trees so it was so pleasant. The festival was not very big so it was a nice intimate setting. Unfortunately the crowd was kinda lame, super relaxed and not very responsive to the musicians. There were some great groups. Of course the highlight was the Anderson's. We chatted with them a little before they went on stage. Christy, the mom, and I were so surprised to see each both wearing fracture boots, on the same leg even. Poor Christy tore her Achilles tendon and other tendons and it was a very painful and limiting injury. We saw them in SF in Feb and the kids look older. They sounded great. Paige, the 19 yr old will continue writing music and is putting together a tour for next year. We hung out for about an hour after they played. Josie and Daisy Mae played together. Of course Josie didn't want to leave. 

Festival Petting Zoo - we asked at the tent where the animals were and it turns out it was an instrument petting zoo so Josie got to try out some different instruments. Glad I didn't mention to her there was a petting zoo.

 

First seeing the Anderson's before their concert. Amy with Josie and Christy and I showing off our boots. 

Ethan and Mark jamming. Daisy Mae on Dobro, Christy on bass, Amy on fiddle, Paige on guitar, Ethan on mandolin and bass and Mark on banjo. All the kids are on vocals.

 Amy 17, Ethan 15, Paige 19 and Daisy Mae 12, holding Josie

 Paige and Josie

We left around 6 and ate some great pizza in Reno and then spent the night at the Hut. It was dusk as we arrived and bed time by the time we got all organized with the air beds and teeth brushed. It was fun to wake up in the woods. We pretty much left right away to drive home but Eric and Josie did get to explore a little. Lots of driving in two days but worth it. 

Eric and Josie digging for the hide-a key

Daddy's birthday! Wed Aug 14

 Celebration #1

Eric got woken up on his birthday with our tradition of breakfast in bed. He requested a bacon, cheese, green onion omelet and a Swedish pancake with ligonberries. Fortunately we had frozen Swedish pancakes from Ikea. They're pretty good. He also got some fresh strawberries. We sang happy birthday and he blew out his candle. 

Celebration #2

We went out for dinner on the Friday after his birthday with Dave and Tia. We ate at Mountain House on Skyline. Great food and fellowship. We were there close to 3 hours and it wasn't crowded so it was fun to get caught up with our friends. Usually we have kids with us so it fun this time to be child-free.

Celebration #3

We had a family celebration at Shirley and Rich's on the Sunday after. We had pizza and salad and ice cream cake. Great evening with family.
Cousin Rebecca, from 29 Palms was visiting her parents for the weekend so she could see Sophia & Lori and was also able to celebrate Eric's bday.

Summer Vacation

We left for our vacation on a Sunday morning and drove to Shasta and stayed over night in a KOA camping cabin. It had a bunk bed and double bed. It was super cute. It was also super hot out so Eric slept on the porch on one of the mattresses. We all started there then Josie and got chilled and went inside. Then we had to switch and bring the double size mattress back in and the single out and Eric slept on that.

 There was a very fun playground.

We made our way to Crater Lake and what a treat. The views were gorgeous.

 I used the panoramic option and got Eric starting at one end and then at the other end walking with Josie

Next Stop Sunriver, OR

We rented a condo through Airbnb.com and it was a perfect place. Studio apt with a Murphy bed and a couch that pulled out to a bed but Josie just slept on the couch. It was easy to get around being on crutches since it was small but also adequate for what we needed. Sunriver is a cool resort especially if you can go swimming and ride a bike both of which I couldn't do. Maybe we'll be back next year. We had a great time with Eric's family.

 Josie had fun with the teenager cousins. 

Carter, Kirsten, Grace, Matt, Josie, & Spencer

 One of the Washington families brought some fresh crab they had caught. It was yummy. Josie couldn't get enough of it. I finally made her stop. She was eating it plain with no butter.

Josie did  a little bike riding but spent more time playing with her bike. She decorated it with hair bands and clips and it was a house for her ponies and naked Barbie. Endless fun.....

One morning a group of us went canoeing. I put my shower bag over my cast and stayed totally dry. Very calm river and lots of family fun.

 One of the teens found a tiny frog and let Josie hold it for awhile. It's crawling on her hand.

 Kirsten gave Josie a ride on her paddle board. She didn't want to get off.

 2nd cousins

 1st and 2nd cousins

The whole gang

 

We left Sunriver, after 4 nights, on Friday July 26th our 5th anniversary. We drove back to Shasta area and stayed in the mountains where we had our wedding. We stopped by on our way up to say hi to the owners John and Beth and to see the place and they invited us to stay on our way home. They aren't renting it out this summer but instead working on it and relaxing. It's gorgeous up there and beautiful weather compared to Dunsmir below where it was high 90's. 

On our way we stopped for a picnic lunch at a logging museum. Big pieces of equipment, and log cabins and other stuff that E & J saw while I sat and read at the table.

 Sitings of Mount Shasta on our drive south

 Fun memories...

 

 What a view.

 

 The outhouse and cabin we stayed in for the night which did have a bathroom.

 

Saturday morning we awoke to a beautiful day. Eric worked around the place for a few hours after they fed us a delicious breakfast. We headed out around 1:00 and got home that evening. 

Great vacation! When's the next one?

3 1/2 years old

Last night as we were lying in Josie's bed talking she asked, "Did you used to work at the pool at PCC?" I said yes, a long time ago. She said, "How come you changed your mind and starting working at Stanford?" It seemed like such a grown up conversation. I'm often amazed by the things she notices, she's very perceptive and has great questions. We've started reading chapter books like Little House series. Not the original but shorter books called Little House Chapter Books and they're around 70-80 pages with no pictures or maybe one pic per chapter. It's fun how much she loves reading. She says she's going to learn to read soon. She often wakes up wanting to play immediately, especially with daddy. When he gets home from work she wants to play with daddy.

We heard Andy Z at the library with Kaira.

Josie, Kaira, and the moms went berry picking at Webb Ranch. We weren't too successful with me on crutches and Josie dropping the basic of raspberries multiple times but we ate a bunch and had fun with our friends.

Josie and I saw Charlotte's Web put on by Peninsula Youth Threatre 6-12 yr olds. I was so impressed with the advanced skills of the kids. It was outstanding and look forward to seeing more of their performances. Josie was engaged for the whole 2 hours. A couple weeks later we listened to the book on cd on our vacation, which is pretty long. We also listened to another EB White story on CD, Stuart Little.

Fun at the library computer in Redwood Shores. Picked out her clothes that are new hand-me-downs from Katie.

We happened to be at Redwood City downtown library getting books for our vacation and there was a craft project Josie had fun doing.

Josie pulled out this outfit from the storage bin under her bed, a hand-me-down from Gaya (that is still a couple years away from fitting) and asked if she looked like the Statue of Liberty. Love her serious face.

Josie has come a long way in her swim lessons and it's fun to watch her progress. Soon she'll be swimming on her own more than a couple feet.