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Two great weekends in a row.

First: Sonoma! The Glotzbachs, Dholakias, Weiss', and Dodsons bravely headed up to one house in Sonoma for the weekend. Julie found an awesome place with beautiful grounds and enough room for 9 adults and 6 little girls...HS! Even without perfect weather the entire time (though a little cold better than blazing hot) we had a great time. Lots of playing in the water, a boys/kids trip to Train Town, more Trivial Pursuit than was healthy, and some great food thanks to almost everyone but me. We left only wishing we could do it more often (and that one of us owned a place like that). On Sunday Team Dodson headed up to Rocklin, above Sacramento, for Andrew's office picnic. Odd location I know, but we were the guests of one of Andrew's portfolio companies--a wetlands mitigation banking company. It was AWESOME. It started with a presentation of wild animals--from a bald eagle to a beaver and a baby bear--and went on to include pony rides, a great lunch, a bounce house, a tractor ride around the land, balloon animal making, and a balloon toss. C and D were overwhelmed...every time something new showed up it was "I want to do that!" It appears C and D are "tryers" and nothing could make me happier.

Then last weekend we headed down to Carmel for the 4th of July weekend. We had great weather and more of a great time. D's first words in the morning and after nap were "I'm ready to go swimming now." Tehama had a 4th of July party that was just about our speed (and included the most incredible balloon maker and face painter I've ever seen--I'd show pics but it turns out that face painting is one thing c/d have no interest in 'trying.') Lots of fun with Gram and Sam and Andrew and I got some nice breaks (which even included seeing a movie--I made Andrew see the Hulk because I have an odd Edward Norton obsession. Unfortunately there was too much Hulk, not enough Ed Norton).

Here are some videos of the Sonoma weekend and pics from both weekends. In the first one the part of the annoylingly loud mother is played by me. It seems I am playing that part way too often lately.