Fresno Frenzy and Stanford Memories!

Skyler's family decided to get everyone together one last time before Mom and Dad took off for Russia. It turned out to be a great week full of fun with cousins (22 in all, with 2 more on the way)!  We started the long drive at about 3 in the morning on Saturday, July 3rd (it makes for a much quieter trip!)  We stopped in Bakersfield to visit our friends, the Howards, and we joined them for their neighborhood parade.  The kids had a great time - cotton candy and snow cones for breakfast, what could be better!

 

Then off to Fresno to meet up with the family! We stayed at Logan and Jamie's. We filled up their house with our clan. We had 10 kids between us and 9 of them were boys!  Taly was even more out numbered than usual! (picture of our kids with Logan and Jamie's kids - what a lot of boys!) 

 

We got together with everyone that evening for dinner and then headed over to Kenz's.  The cousins were so excited to be together.  Some of them hadn't seen each other for almost a year! They played soccer, did sparklers, and the dad's set off some fireworks!

 The next day, we all gathered together for dinner and a 4th of July program.  Each family participated by sharing a patriotic song, skit, or poem.  McLane and Kim were the stars of the show with their portrayal of 'Betsy Ross and the making of the flag'!  Grandpa led the kids in a march around the house, and there was plenty of dancing -  the likes of which had not been seen since Grandpa's and Grandma's 'Merry Christmas Polka'!

On Monday, we spent the day at the lake.  The kids had a great time boating, swimming and riding the tube and wake board! 

 Later that week, some of us took a little road trip up to Santa Cruz!  We had a great time relaxing on the beach and enjoying the sun!

 We decided to stay overnight and spend the next day at Stanford.  The kids and I haven't been back since Skyler finished law school 8 years ago!  When we moved there, Gavin was 2 and Cort was 6 months.  We were there for about 3 years.  When we left, Taly was 8 months old.

So....bear with me while I reminisce.  I dug up some old photos from our time there.  It was so fun for me to see how much our family has changed.

This is Gavin and Cort while we were living at Stanford.

Here are the kids on the same playground outside our old backdoor (the only thing that has changed is that all the swings are now blue - even most of the plastic houses and toys are still there!)

Here is Taly right before we moved away and now standing by the same swing.

Here is our family when Sky graduated.

 

And here is our family now...standing in front our our old apartment.

 The boys and I (year 2000)

The kids now in the same spot.

We had so much fun walking around and remembering our time there. We went by the Law School...

 

Mack was in heaven when he found the hat section of the bookstore!

I had forgotten how beautiful it is there with all the wonderful architecture, flowers, and palm trees!  We realized how much we miss it!

We then headed back to Fresno to pack up and say goodbye.  The kids had so much fun with their cousins, it was hard to leave.

My favorite picture of the week! Mack and Scarlett demonstrating their love/hate relationship!

 

The hardest goodbye of all was to Mom and Dad.  Although I'm sure we will see them in October, knowing they are so far away will be tough.

We had a wonderful time last week, and the kids have been going through withdrawals ever since we left!