California!

We went to California in March to visit Rebecka, Todd and Annika, and Tyler and Nathalie. It was a 4-day trip which accomplished several crucial goals:

-- We emptied the storage bin that Steve has had in San Francisco since 2001. We steeled ourselves for a day of misery, unloading the bin, packing up post office boxes, sending the stuff home . . . and then it only took 2 hours start to finish. Steve had the happiest look on his face when seven years of worrying about it was over!

--We initiated our plan of doing U.S., 3-day weekend travel while the baby is young, since it's a good opportunity to take shorter trips and really explore locally. (Ok, California isn't exactly local, but the rest applies. . . )

--We spent really wonderful time with friends, eating good food, drinking good wine and generally enjoying ourselves. Even the bug got in on the action, as you can see here!

(Somehow, tragically, there are no photos of us with Rebecka, Todd, or Annika, which is a shame since Annika was incredibly sweet with Ben, holding his hand in the car when they were both in car seats and singing songs to him. . . )

Here are photos of Tyler and Nathalie with Ben, and a pic of Steve and the Bug, with Scott and Calista. Calista had learned to walk just a few days earlier and you can see Ben, below, worshipping at the older woman's feet. . .