David's Mario Cake

David's 9th-birthday Mario cake!

Charlie's First Soccer Game

A nice shot from Charlie's first soccer game.

Charlie's Car Wash Cake

We celebrated the Fourth of July by inviting everyone over for Charlie's birthday party!

Bubble Machine

Today was Charlie's birthday, and we celebrated with a trip to Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt and a ride through the Bubble Machine! Charlie's not afraid of car washes anymore!

Vacation - Day 9

The plan for the day was to drive until we got to central California, then find a motel to spend the night. Those plans would change!

We got a bit of a late start and headed out of Crescent City with our sights on the Samoa Cookhouse in Eureka. I had eaten there with Grandpa back in the '70s, and we were looking forward to their home-style, lumberjack-sized breakfast. Unfortunately, we had to stop along the way due to a false I-peed-my-pants alert, and we missed breakfast by minutes. Still, we had a very nice lunch of salad, soup, roast pork, and mashed potatoes, and David got the hot chocolate that he'd been looking forward to.

The rest of the day was mostly driving. When we got close to San Francisco, we took the impressive 5.5-mile-long Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, which spans the upper arm of the bay, and we lucked out 'cause we were headed in the non-toll direction.

By the time we had cut across east to Interstate 5 south of Stockton, it was close to 7:00 p.m. Sherry and I looked at each other and said, "Should we just try to drive all the way home tonight?" So that's what we did.

The Padre game was coming in clear on XX Sports Radio 1090 AM (which I sometimes can't even pick up in our house), so listening to that kept me busy during the mostly uninteresting drive. They were playing the Dodgers, and the teams were nice enough to take the game into extra innings. The Padres eventually won just after we entered Los Angeles County.

Sherry and I swapped driving duties a couple times. Unfortunately, Sherry was behind the wheel when we got stuck in a huge traffic jam south of Burbank (somebody had flipped their vehicle), but once we got through that (around midnight) it was smooth sailing. David tried to stay awake the whole way, but fell asleep with about a half hour left on our trip. We pulled into the driveway sometime after 2:00 a.m.

Great trip!

Vacation - Day 8

Today was a big day as we took in the sights of Crescent City and its surroundings.

After a quick breakfast, we headed down Highway 101 to the Trees of Mystery. Out front were huge statues of Paul Bunyan and his ox Babe. (Sherry and I remembered his ox's name as being Blue, you know, on account of he's blue. No. It's Babe.) The rest of the attraction included a short hike passing many huge and unusual redwoods, followed by a sky ride to the top of the mountain.

A little farther south on 101 we hit the Tour Thru Tree, a giant redwood that you can drive your car through (perhaps so named because there's already a Drive Thru Tree). Not a bad deal for the owners; they collect your five bucks and you drive through their tree.

Next we headed back north and ate lunch at a seafood restaurant called The Beachcomber. What a great place: a small, casual, older restaurant, right on the beach, with a nautical motif. Something you might expect in New England (if you're like me and have never been to New England).

It was time for the kids to burn off some energy, so we headed to Kidtown, a large, all-wooden playground in the middle of the city. Sherry and I agreed it was one of the best (if not the best) playgrounds we'd ever seen. David and Charlie had fun of course.

Afterwards, we headed back to camp to rest (first making a quick stop to buy fireworks). Then we hopped back in the car and drove to the Battery Point Lighthouse; we had to wait until low tide because the walk across to the lighthouse is covered in water the rest of the time. The kids were more interested in the tide pools than anything else. David and Charlie picked up sea stars and hunted for crabs.

Back at the campground, David and Charlie attended an ice cream social. Then it was fast asleep after a busy day.

Vacation - Day 7

Today was Driving Day. After a quick breakfast in the hotel, we hit the pavement for the long drive to Crescent City.

It rained more than half the trip, but we made pretty good time. We lucked onto a McDonald's with a PlayPlace outside Portland so the kids could get some exercise. When we arrived at the KOA Kampground, it was still light outside. This was our favorite Kampground of the three we stayed at. Our Kabin was far from the highway, nestled amongst the redwoods.

For dinner, we figured it'd be hard to beat our favorite die-hard Denny's. There was a motorcyclist sitting across from us who had driven straight through from Bakersfield to Crescent City. He asked us what the weather had been like for our drive down from Seattle, as he was heading that way the next day. He wasn't pleased to hear about all the rain.

After dinner, we walked through the drizzle over to a Rite-Aid to buy some candy and gum. Then it was back to camp for some shut-eye.