Coming up for Air

The official first week of school was a breeze for us, as we were down in California visiting family. But then the fun was over, and it was time to come back and get down to business with the school work and learning. The girls had started on their school work in August, but we did not do full days. I saved this until we got back. Being that this is our fourth year with WAVA, I really didn't think there was much to worry about. However, this week has given me a run for my money. I am finally, as the title says, coming up for air.

Here is a brief recap of our vacation.
Myles enjoyed being able to play and watch movies with Cash.
Elsa enjoyed the fact that shoes were not put out of her reach, and she seemed to have full reign of every one's shoes.
The kids enjoyed their many walks with Opa.
Aeva and Myles were excited to swim in Auntie Cullen's pool.
We enjoyed visiting with Christopher's mom, and Chris, Myles and Aeva went to visit her for a couple hours on Monday.
Chris got to go shooting with his brothers Adam and Robert, and also Peiling and Cameron. He had a great time. Then our last Friday night there Chris went to Robert's house with his mom, and Peiling treated them to a homemade and authentic Chinese dinner.
I think the kids all got to go to Powell's candy store about three times. They simply cannot visit without going there.


Oma and the kids had their annual tea party, and I joined in. I cannot refuse a good cup of herbal tea and, most importantly, cookies.


It is amazing how good family photos actually turn out when you've got a few extra people to help take them and make sure everyone is smiling and looking in the general direction of the camera. I think we got some pretty nice ones on this trip.

Wednesday we made a trip down to the city to see my Nana and Papa.

We were thrilled that Donna stopped in while we were there.

We all had a nice lunch and visit.

I love this picture.

Elsa sat still for a bit to rock with Papa.

The girls enjoyed one of Nana's great stories and learned a little something about jade.

They got some treats too.......fuzzy haired pencils.

My mom and Aeva took a walk to the Safeway nearby.

I think Aeva enjoyed the hike back up the street. It reminded me of when I used to got walking with my Nana.........always such fun!

Auntie Donna suggested we check out the Lucas studio.

I enjoyed looking at the houses out the car window on the way there.

My goodness there are some beautiful old houses in San Francisco.

Such architecture can't be found like that these days.

We headed out to find Lucas Studios, but got a bit turned around because the route we were going to take was closed.

It's a good thing that my mom at least had some sense in which general direction we should head. And thank goodness for cell phones because I felt like we were the epitome of lost tourists.

Aeva and I got out for a few seconds to catch this lovely view.

We were told to look for the Yoda Fountain.

We actually passed the studio twice. Third times a charm.

We pulled into the parking lot and were greeted by a very nice man at the security booth.

We told him we were lost, to which he replied "no you're not, you're here." He gave us a parking pass for 30 minutes and instructed us to park and proceed into the lobby for a nice treat.

Here are the kids at the Yoda Fountain. We made it!

Myles says, "My, how impressive you are!", in true Yoda fashion.

Say "Star Wars!"

The kids were so excited to see this replica of Boba Fett.

Darth Vader is one of Myles's favorite characters.

And I am laughing right now because Rhaevyn is having to spell

all the Star Wars names for me.

The kids were in heaven!

The grounds were just beautiful.

Here are us girls.

Donna, all I can say is, thank you so much for the heads up on this special treat.

I have at least four Star Wars nuts at my house :) and this truly was a highlight for them.

We wound up on the Northeast side of the bridge by going through a long, single lane tunnel. It was very cool.

Thursday we started off the day in Sacramento at Sutter's Fort.

It was very interesting to compare the set up and life at Sutter's Fort to

Fort Vancouver and Fort Nisqually.

Neither Sutter's Fort nor the two in Washington State seem like an easy way of life.

Rhaevyn said she likes Sutter's Fort best.

After we got done at Sutter's Fort we headed over to the Train Museum.

The moving train was by far the most popular and favorite among our little crew.

Chris took Aeva and Myles on it twice because they loved it so much.
One really gets the feeling they are on a moving train at night with the train lulling from side to side and lights whizzing past the windows.

It seems like a very classic and romantic way to travel back them.

Myles, Aeva and Rhaevyn got to try their hand at the xylophone in the Dining Car.

It was the job of one of the train employees to go from car to car playing certain notes on the xylophone announcing the the dining car was now open.

Myles loved this.

It is amazing how big the wheels are on the really big trains.

Upstairs in the museum there are several trains running on a track.

One of the workers approached an older gentleman and said something about how 99 and under can take a turn at running the trains by pushing various buttons.

Aeva only heard the number nine and was quite worried that if we ever made it back to the museum she would be too old to do this part again. I giggled and reassured her that she had plenty of years left, age wise, to come back and play with the trains.
This one was her favorite on the track.

We thought this paddle boat was pretty neat and think it would be fun to have lunch on it.

As usual there is always more that we want to do than there seems time for. Some things that we wanted to see were closed. I guess this is good because it gives us something to plan for for next time. I am not sure how we got to Friday so soon. Before I knew it it was time to pack the clothes and then pack the bags into the car. Then we were headed towards home. Thankfully the trip is not as taxing as it once was because we break the traveling part up(to and from) into two days. A big thank you!! (You know who you are).

Thank you, mom and dad, for feeding all of us and letting us take over your house for the week.

I know it is not easy to have a house full of extra people, more noise, and probably quadruple the laundry. We really appreciate you putting us up and putting up with us.