Wow...has it really been a week since that last post??? I can't believe it! Time flies, even when you are stuck in the house wiping noses and have severe cabin fever!
So here are pics from the second half of our Thanksgiving trip in California. After visiting Doug and Denise near LA, we rented a minivan and headed north to visit friends in the Sacramento area. Our first stop was to visit Ed's former co-worker Lonnie and his wife Lori. Unfortunately that was a quick stop and we didn't get any pics, but we felt so fortunate to have seen them and had a few hours with them. They are such great people that we'll take what we can get. Lori loved and cuddled all of the kids. It was hard to leave after such a short visit, but we had places to be and beds that were calling our names!
After a long day, we finally arrived at Scott, Nichole and Nevaeh's house. We haven't seen them in exactly 3 years...the time it's been since we left Vegas to move to Wisconsin. At that time Sam was 4 months and Neveah was 1 year and 4 months. 
These two couldn't be more different, but they did have fun playing together! Sam is super shy and always wants me there or prefers to play on his own. Nevaeh is so outgoing and friendly, that it's hard not to want to join in with her. So she dragged Sam out of his shell and even got him to play dress up with her. Don' you love the construction jammies with a skirt and heels?
We visited Nichole's parents a couple times and Sam loved playing there too. On one evening Nichole threw a little surprise birthday party for Scott and I was so amazed that Sam even followed Nevaeh and her friends around to see what they were doing...without pulling me around too! He didn't join in a lot, but was a quiet observer. I was so happy to see this and we all had such a great time. It's always fun to be a part of a surprise party!
Nichole gave the girls lots of love while we were there. These girls got so many hugs and kisses...they definitely felt special:)
One day we took the kids to a huge trampoline playplace. I've never seen anything like this, but it was great! We had the place to ourselves and the kids soaked it up...or should I say bounced it up.
They enjoyed the foam pit too, which was also a lot of fun.
Mollie loved being bounced on the trampoline and would kick and squeal!
On another morning Nichole and I walked to the park with the kids. It was nice to enjoy a bit more of the beautiful fall weather. And it was great to see Sam and Nevaeh playing.
Our favorite unexpected memory was when we decided to take a last minute trip to Calaveras Big Tree State Park. They have sequoia trees at this park, something Ed and I have always wanted to see. We knew the weather wouldn't be ideal since there was higher elevation and most likely snow, but decided to go for it anyway. Okay, so I'll admit that I didn't do as good of a job as I should have checking the weather before we hopped in the car...I didn't see anywhere that the park was actually CLOSED due to snow:) But that didn't stop us from having some fun!
Pics are not good since it was dusk and since these trees are massive. But they were an amazing sight to see nonetheless. We REALLY want to go back here in better weather!
Scott braving the elements with bare hands!
Sam...ready for an adventure...or so we thought...
Until the snow and ice was too much for him to feel comfortable...poor guy. The girls were having fun though!
Maybe this is why Sam was crying...he knew what was about to happen. I decided to avoid the icy steps and go along the snowy side of the steps, only to have my leg go down in snow to my thigh. Can't believe I didn't lose my shoe and that Emmeline didn't cry. Nichole was laughing so hard (as was I:) she couldn't even get a clear picture! I had no perspective of how much of a drop off there was here because there was so much snow!
But we survived...with smiles:)
Nevaeh even made a little snowman!
We did make it out safely and did see a few sequoias and hope to see more in the future! It sure was a beautiful drive along the way too. We had some great adventures and some fun times just hanging out at the house...chatting and letting the kids play.
It was hard to leave, not knowing when we'll be able to make this trip again. We hope it won't be too far off in the future as we loved spending time with such great friends and would love to see more in the area. Thanks Scott, Nichole, Neveah and Nichole's parents for hosting us and making our trip so special. You guys are such great friends and we are so blessed to have you in our lives!
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