I was hoping to keep up with this blog on our vacation, but unfortunately about two weeks of pictures are stuck in a broken computer. The kids were playing with the laptop on a bed and it overheated. Now we don't know the password (the initial password before the Windows screen). I hope some computer sleuth can help us out. There are fantastic pictures of Napa Valley, San Francisco and all of the tourist attractions, Santa Cruz, and sadly, Yosemite.
After we went to all of the above-mentioned places, we rented a cabin for a week about 1-1/2 hrs away from Yosemite, which also happened to be 5 miles from my aunt and uncle's place, so we had a great visit with them.
Here we are at Pinecrest Lake - a gorgeous lake with great swimming/boating. We spent two full days there and enjoyed great barbeques (to you Southerners - we enjoyed "grilling" our meat - lol).
Notice Caboose's war paint - lol.
I'm sure glad dh took Brown Eyes swimming for the months before vacation. It paid off!
Uncle Fred bought a used boat right before we came and so we were able to use it while we were there.
This picture was taken at dusk and it really is darker than it appears in the picture and yes, it's blurry, but the kids had a blast walking on these logs.
Another new family favorite is Mexican Train. My aunt taught us and we spent quite a few hours playing it.
These 2 were inseperable the whole time. It was actually pretty funny. They are both math brains and have quite a few similarities. They were like two peas in a pod.
And here we are right before leaving - dh took the picture.
There's more vacation to come!
Our favorite meal is the grilled salmon dinner: Caesar salad, fruit salad, seasoned oven-baked potatoes, bread, strawberry lemonade, and the most delicious salmon EVER!!!
For the third year in a row, my parents came along. It's great for the kids to have those special memories with grandparents. 
I love my Mom's face here!
We've had quite an amazing summer. My dh had his 8-wk sabbatical and so we have been doing lots of traveling and playing. We finished up our travels with our yearly homeschool family camp in Whidbey Island, WA and had a blast. The weather was sunny and in the 70s all week. It doesn't get much better than that for WA! 
