Making up for last trip

We're back! Did you miss us? :) I actually wrote the last three posts on Wednesday, and then they automatically posted while we were out of town...I knew you would want to have a few pictures of the kids while we're gone, and since we aim to satisfy (and since I had easy topics to post) I posted in advance.

Where did we go? We left Thursday for a wonderful trip to visit my sister Rose and her husband Gary at Hume Lake, and this time we were all healthy (Natalie had a little runny nose, but nothing like the plague that struck Tom and me during the last trip).
To make up for high gas prices, I packed a lunch that we ate at Fort Tejon on the way up. We had a very nice picnic lunch and stretched our legs (or rolled around on a blanket for the six-month old in our family). Lukas loved pretending to be in the old jail (let's hope this is the only time that ever happens!), and Tom got a great shot of Lukas with the 1850s U.S. flag (not as many stars as we have now).

Friday we walked around the lake (with Lukas inspecting all the culverts...his favorite thing to do, anytime, anywhere) and then hung out on the back deck of their house. Here's Natalie next to the Giant Sequoia that they planted in their back yard (50 feet from the house, so it will be a hundred years or so before it will be a problem). Lukas is already shorter than this tree, and he will never catch up!

In addition to inspecting culverts, Lukas built a "Roxaboxen with water" with stones in the back yard, in tribute to one of his favorite books. He also learned how to identify all the Cs on Aunt Rose's piano and played many songs on her electric piano (played, as in "pushed a button and a pre-recorded song came out"). BTW, you CAN hear Eine kleine Nachtmusik too many times (but Lukas can't)!


Saturday we took one of our favorite hikes in Sequoia/Kings Canyon: Redwood Canyon. Lukas did great, walking; Tom carried Natalie in the pack and I carried Konrad in the Baby Bjorn. Gary and Rose kept Lukas distracted looking for things on the trail so he wouldn't ask to be carried. We'll probably still be carrying two children during the next two summers on hikes, but hopefully in three years, everyone will be walking.

Natalie loved playing with Uncle Gary...she couldn't get enough of it. She showed him a couple of the signs she has learned and he promised to learn a few to keep up with her. ;) Konrad ate the first solid food in his life: Tom fed him some vanilla yogurt, but Konrad wasn't too sure of the taste. I have not been eager to give him solid food because nursing is SO EASY and this is just one more thing for a busy mother to do: bring baby food, bring utensils, clean up messy baby and floor, change stinky diaper (right now his poop doesn't smell as bad as it will in a few days!) But I plan to give him some cereal this week and start introducing foods...not as quickly as I did with Lukas (at 5 months) but much more quickly than Natalie did (at 14 months?) I wouldn't mind waiting a few more months, but he's ready to eat, so let's start.

On the way home, we stopped to eat at an outlet mall and I snagged a few more shoes for Natalie at amazing prices from the Stride Rite outlet...yikes, she's going to be a "shoe horse" in no time at all!

What a wonderful trip! We had such a great time and feel so rested. Thanks again, Rose and Gary!