Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th everyone! Hope you all are having a relaxing weekend, which thankfully isn't over yet.

We celebrated by heading up to Lake Almanor, where Jeremy's grandpa smartly purchased lakefront property and built a house with (and for) his kids many years ago. Almanor is near the red bluff/chico area, and about a 4 hour drive from our house. I've been lucky to marry into a family that has a few family vacation destinations such as this one.  Almanor is a big cabin that can fit a good chunk of the Wallace clan. This weekend there were 14 of us who celebrated the 4th together. Its so refreshing to be up in clean mountain air and to catch up with family. This trip was especially fun since we got to introduce Mackenzie to a lot of her relatives she hadn't met yet. M did great with all the new faces and even learned some names, and let people hold her. I think she loved the fact that she could walk around and demand "up" of anyone and get held as much as she wanted.

Playing at the beach with Jeremy's old toys

Judy & Jer 

Papa (M's name for her Grandpa) and M share some raspberries. This is Jeremy's old high chair!

Loved waving these flags around

Daddy gets a smile out of her

Snuggling up before baby bedtime

We eat very well in Almanor, in large part due to Jer's dad's bbqing abilities. Checkout the plate of ribs!

Beautiful sunset on the lake last night

Jer, Judy and M with Bob, Judy's dad

M shows me how to properly use a Q-tip




We are continuing to settle in in our California home. It hasn't been nearly as strange being back as I thought it would be. I think the perks of space, and being near family again, not to mention fun weekend trips like this past one, are still outweighing my "home"sickness for New York.  There's still a lot of stuff to organize but we're mostly functional at this point. My kitties have been very happy to get let outside in our yard. And M doesn't seem phased at all by having had 5 (!!) different places to sleep over the past month (my parents, maui, our house, jer's parents and almanor) She seems to be a very adjustable baby.

Have a great week everyone!

Love
Kathy