Driving up the 101...

After Disneyland we drove up to Mountain View to stay the night with Mark's sister Cathryn and her family.  They have 7 year old twins and Jared and Lydia loved playing with more cousins. We went to church with them Sunday then drove up to Mark's sister Laurie's house.  We ate lunch with them and had a good catch up and more fun with cousins. Laurie's middle son Ashton is in Chemo. for cancer and is doing so well. We were so happy we could visit with them some.

After that we drove up to my parent's house in Yuba City. It was so hot while we were there, above 100 degrees each day.  Colorado summers are something we have really enjoyed.  They are much cooler then what we grew up with in Northern California.  We did have some fun though.  A few months ago my Dad mentioned taking Jared fishing while we were there.  We told Jared and he got super excited!!  He would ask about it every now and then before we came out.  To Jared's delight my Dad found a little pond to take him to and he caught 11 fish!  (It was catch and release.) The pond was in the front yard of a man my Uncle Bill knows in Loma Rica.  My Dad called my Uncle Bill and arranged to go with Jared, Uncle Bill, his grandson Jarrod (who is 14) and my Dad.  Jared was so excited and had a great time.  He was so excited to use a net.  I am so glad my Dad took the time to take him on his first fishing trip. 

 Jarrod H and Jared S.

Row row row your boat. 

The thing I most wanted to do in Yuba City besides visit with my family was go to The Cookie Tree. I love their cookies. It smells so good when you walk in their shop.  They have been there forever.  Jared and Lydia were thrilled that we took them to a cookie shop.  They were delicious.  They were out of my favorite chocolate and peanut butter ones but had plenty of other delicious options. We enjoy them and then went to visit my Grandma Marge. She was so happy to see us. 

She kindly shared a piece of her cookie with me. 

We spent one morning at Hillcrest Park (where my Mom took us a lot when we were kids) before it got too hot then headed over to Yuba City's Water Park after naps.  Jared and Lydia were cute and fun, they love water.  Sadly they were both too short to go on the big slide but had fun on the play structure and crawling around like alligators. I also took a little trip down memory lane and stopped by my High School one morning.  I don't think I have been there since I graduated. High school was certainly not the best time of my life but I had great friends and some good times there. It was fun to walk around.  They have made some changes to the public areas like the front and quad but it felt just the same.  Let's go Honkers! 

West Business Hall. I had my locker here all 4 years. Right next to Sophia. 

It was nice to visit with my parents.  We hadn't been to Yuba City for 2 years and my Mom has really redecorated the house so it was great to check it out. Mark and I played some pool in the rec room and I got to go running in my old hood.  It was nice to just take it easy and not be rushing all these places and to sleep in a house instead of a hotel.
Enjoying Marmee's cheesecake:

Next stop: Medford Oregon!