My brother Jim, sister-in-law Diane, and nieces and nephews Addie, Kenny, Rachel, and Josh left this morning. They arrived on Friday, just in time to witness my cooking frenzy. I made guacamole and taco salads for the whole crew. It was both a challenge and fun to cook for such a large group--but the food was done surprisingly quickly and it was good to eat and talk at the same time. They had just spent a couple of days at Disneyland, so they had lots of stories to tell about their trip. We played games and took a walk that evening. It was a nice, relaxing day.
Yesterday, we drove up to King's Canyon National Park to see the giant sequoias. Diane had visited Fresno during my first year here, and we'd made the same trip. She wanted her kids to see these enormous trees. I loved when we saw the first sequoia as we drove into the park. The kids oohed, aahed, and wowed, obviously surprised by how amazing these trees are.
We walked around the Grant Grove, admiring the trees and clambering on the rocks.
The kids crawled through tree crevices.
And gathered enormous pine cones.
We were all impressed by the General Grant tree, the third largest tree in the world, and the widest tree at 40 feet across.
We stopped at a fruit stand on the way home, trying different varieties of plums and nectarines. I wish I'd taken a picture of Kenny eating his first plum ever. This picture will have to do.
And Addie ate fruit all night, labeling her crisp white paper bag of fruit unmistakably as hers.
Last night, we made pizza, looked at pictures of Norway and San Francisco, and danced to disco music. You read that right. Jim and Diane did the swing in my living room. The kids did the worm and other impressive dance moves. I played the DJ and danced a little myself. It was a surprising turn of events--and so much fun. I wish we all lived closer to each other so this could happen all the time. I need more practice with my dance moves. Oh, and I really love my family!
