Berkley Kite Festival

 We love our adventures with Uncle Mark and Aunt EJ.  This time we went to Berkley Marina for the Annual Kite Festival.  It was awesome!  We loved looking at all of the colorful kites and then flying our little tiny kites along with the hundreds of others around us.  When the kids started to get tired, we bought some kettle corn and sat on our blanket and admired all of the kites.  It was a fun day.  We tried to get pictures of some of our favorite kites.

Saturday Hike to Avery's Pond

We took a hike to Avery's Pond a wonderful hike for kids.  We all enjoyed it and loved the scenery.  It is about a mile and 1/2 each way and the views are beautiful. The trail starts along the north section of Folsom Lake. Daddy runs these trails a lot so he was pointing out interesting  things along our hike.

 We came to a watering hole someone had built around a natural spring.  We didn't drink the water, but it is a refreshing spot to put your hand and feet in to get cool.  It is mostly used for the many horses that come along the trail and need a cool drink of water. 

 We picked blackberries all along our hike.  The kids love this.

We made it to Avery's Pond!  The pond was built by a farmer that owned the land a long time ago.  He would use it to water his orchard.  It was very peaceful and beautiful.

 We hiked a little further along the trail to where the lake turns back into the American River.

 There were some fun swimming holes, but the water was too fast for kids.  If it was adults it might be okay, but Mom was nervous, so Dad lead the troop forward away from the swimming holes.

On our hike back, Daddy explained the dangers of Mountain Lions.  These ominous signs remind us we are still in the wild. 

It was a fun hike, no complaints from the kids.  Mom and Dad are impressed with what good hikers we have.  They love to explore and run the trails.  Wonder who they inherited that gene from?

Bodega Bay on 4th of July Weekend

 Daddy had an extra day off of work between the 4th of July and the weekend, so we decided to take a day trip to the beach.  We picked Bodega Bay since we had never been there and it was pretty close.   It had been 110 degrees for almost a 5 days solid and we were looking forward to cool weather by the ocean.  To our surprise it was really cool!  67 degrees.  We froze.   Daddy and Alex wrapped up in the towels and fell asleep on the sand in the sunshine.  Sarah, Mommy, and Lily went for lots of walks  and explored the bay and tide pools.  It was a really fun day.  It seemed to warm up while we were there, or we just got better acclimatized to the cold.  On our drive home we drove through Napa Valley which takes the same amount of time as going along the upper bay.  It was really beautiful with vineyards as far as the eye can see.  It was a fun trip.  When we got home we started planning our next trip to the beach with warmer weather.