California Trip - Last day: Trip to the beach!

The day before we flew back home to Washington D.C., the weather was exceptionally well - no fog in the morning - and we decided to make an afternoon trip to the coast. We went to an area close to Half Moon Bay (30-45 min drive from Steve's grandparents' place), more specifically San Gregorio State Park, our favorite beach in the area. Of course, the water was too cold to swim in (although there were people who did go out in the waves in their bikinis....brrrrr) and the waves too big in my opinion, but we had a blast just wandering along the beach and exploring together with Anika. Anika didn't like the big waves but she eventually was ok with walking by herself along the beach (I think after she saw other, younger kids do it).

Our girl loves hats!

Anika has a thing for shoes and hats. Here she is trying on pappa's new bike hat. Isn't she cute?

California Trip - Napa III and other pics

Finally, some pics of the rest of the crew, including family friend Carla who was so very nice and let us stay two nights at her and husband Al's house outside Santa Rosa. It is always good to have local guides when you visit a new place, and Carla and Ram made our weekend trip to Marin County/Napa Valley the best weekend in a loooong time (although I was a natural designated driver and baby sitter during the wine tasting :)

California Trip - Napa Valley II

Here are some pics of our little princess enjoying herself in Napa.

California Trip - Napa Valley I

Ram took us on a wonderful day-trip to 6 wineries in Napa Valley. While the boys spent most of their time inside tasting one wine after another, Anika and I were outside enjoying the nice weather and the cool fountains, hillside paths and koi ponds at the various wineries. These were the 6 wineries we visited: 1) Domain Carneros 2) Heitz 3) Robert Sinskey 4) Stag's Leap5) Pine Ridge 6) Dariousch

California Trip - Redwood forest

We spent a few hours hiking into a gigantic forest of Redwood trees, some over 1000 years old! And some are over 300 feet/100 meters tall, it looked like they were grown into the sky... Magical!

California Trip - Roadtrip north to Napa Valley/Sonoma Wine Country

After a few days in Redwood City (30 min south of San Fran) we headed north to Sonoma County/Santa Rosa, where family friend Carla lives. Below is a select few pictures of Golden Gate Bridge, the "Golden Hills of California" (green for the season), the coastline, and medicine...

California Trip - Grandparents

Hi there, We spent 7 days in California in April/May so we could meet up with Grandpa Jim, Grandma Shirlie, and Virginia in Redwood City (south of San Fran), and uncle Ram and Carla in Marin County/Napa Valley. We had a great time, and the weather was fantastic the entire trip. Apparently California has had months of rain and cold weather this spring - until we got there :)

I have tons of nice pictures, so i will have to post them in batches of five. Here is the first round of pictures, of grandparents Jim & Shirlie.