Visit with the Burger's in RENO

I had the chance to visit our dear old friends Nic and Ryan and meet their brand new baby Ewan who is three months old. Joel stayed with the kids in CA. It was my first trip away from Ethan and only second away from Evie. It was happy to take the time but nervous about Ethan after his accident. Joel said he did great. He kept them plenty busy. He was even brave enough to take them to Lego Land solo.

Nic gave me the grand tour of her work at Patagonia. It was easy to be impressed. The picture above is only a small aisle of the repair department.

Nic, being her cute self is in front of the sample rack. If a customer calls and has any questions about the product employees can quickly pull samples and verify color, style, etc.

Just a few boxes. Nic's location provides Patagonia to our global world. That means there is a lot of fantastic clothing out there.

I had such a fun time just chilling with Nic and little Ewan. She and Ryan are quite the smitten parents and rightfully so, Ewan is an adorable bundle of joy.

Ryan and his little sweetie

Too cute!

Sadly my trip went all too fast. I lost a lot of time my first evening being stuck in the airport with a cancelled flight through San Francisco. I was re-routed but didn't get in until 10:00pm. A day later we are on our way back to the airport for my evening departure.

On our way Nic took me on a tour of the biggest little city in the world.

As we drove by this little soup shop Nic said they had the best tomato bisque soup ever. It was funny as we both looked at each other and decided to stop for a quick dinner. The soup was yummy too.

They had a lot of good choices to choose from. I tried the tomato and a crawfish gumbo...they were both great.

Downtown LA and Jessica

We hit downtown LA to the jewelry district to get a ring made for Dylan in Taiwan's fiance.

Evie giving her shout outs in front of the city library.

Stopping for a drink on our way to the jewelry store. I just want to squeeze Ethan's face off...

Evie saw the 7-eleven and was excited that they have them in CA, just like they do in Taiwan.

It was nearly two hours getting the ring for Dylan. Ethan slept in the stroller and Evie was so fantastic just looking at the jewelry and being such a good girl that when we left we told her we would get her a special treat. She chose ice cream.

She was so sweet and shared it with Joel.

After we left LA we visited Jessica and Bryce in Costa Mesa. It was fun to check out their new place. I just always wish we could have more time together. Our visits always seem short. The kids had fun with the snails, as gross and slimy as they were.

This one traveled all the way up Evie's arm.

Jessica and Ethan

Jessica and Bryce with Ethan behind doing some fantastic splits

Picking berries with Jessica

We spent the afternoon with Jessica on Sunday. We picked lots of fruit from grandma and grandpa's yard. It was also nice to see Bryce and meet her friend Shelly.

Yummy black berries! Not so good for my diapers though.

Saying goodbye to Gonzaga Bay

We did have a good time in Gonzaga, considering Ethan accident. I didn't post much with everything that happened. I'll try to post later if I get time.

Ethan is busy trying to work the mic on his headset and Evie is moments away from a nap. She was asleep moments after take off. Ethan took a nap too but unfortunately not at the same time. I could have taken one too.

Ethan saying it's bright as we walk to the plane after fueling up in Mexicali.

This is looking at the border between CA and Mexico. The farm fields are CA. I'm not sure if you can see it but their is a fence in the wash which is the border.

Just as we started our flight away from Gonzaga

Leaving Gonzaga. Goodbye Smith family; see you in Riverside.

Evie, our little princess is helping Ryan-the-pilot cook steaks for dinner. You can't see it but he is wearing her headband. Ryan is Ashley's fiance and a fantastic guy. He is super nice and easy going. The kids love him. We all love him.

Evie was up at sunrise. We enjoyed a morning walk down the beach collecting seashells and making sand angels.

Our last morning in Gonzaga.

Ethan's stitches...

Ethan had an accident while he and Evie were jumping off a docked jet ski onto the sand. The metal stand fell and hit Ethan in the forehead. He was a trooper but it was a scary night for all of us. The cut was deep and needed about 40 stitches when it was done. We are hours away from a hospital and because it was evening we were not able to fly out. Luckily there was a doctor on the beach who was able stitch Ethan up and who happened to have her surgical box because she had a young daughter with her. We are so grateful she was here. She was driving home the next morning at 6:00am so our night would have been very different if she wouldn't have been here. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that Ethan is okay and we'll be heading home and meeting with a family doctor of the Smith family to make sure Ethan is okay. So far today his eyes are swollen and black and blue but he is in good spirits.

This is Ethan and Evie the next day. Ethan was in good spirits considering the ordeal he went through only hours before. They had fun finding crabs on the beach.

This was the next morning. We has a really rough night but Ethan had a good day, considering. He is sporting his jammies that say "chicks dig scars" Just randomly.

This is our hero Lynn who stitched Ethan up. She is a doctor who happened to be on the beach and leaving the next morning at 6:00am so we feel really lucky that she was here to help us. She has medical boxes that had most of what she needed to fix up Ethan. The other option of driving 8 hours to the nearest hospital was frightening and since it was dark we couldn't fly out.

Ethan after his stitches. He has almost 40 of them since his cut was sooo deep. He was a good boy and held surprisingly still.

The operating room - the living room at Casa Azul...

The neighbors who came to help. Word traveled quickly up and down the beech so everyone who thought they could help tried to. People quickly brought their first aid kits and were very kind.

Gonzaga Bay

We are on our way to Gonzaga Bay, in style. Ashley's fiance Ryan is a pilot and we were able to take his cousin's plane. Joyce and Malcolm drove the 10 hour drive with all our food, etc. The closest grocery store is hours away so we pack everything in. We even flew out of Riverside airport so our day was as easy as it gets.

Ryan and Joel.
Were on our way.

The little strip you see is where Grandma and Grandpa's house is at Gonzaga Bay. The strip you see is only about 150 feet wide from water to water.

Morning sunrise looking at the bay. It was about 5:00am when Ethan started squawking. He was back asleep soon after but I couldn't fall back asleep.

Joel and Ethan are off to explore for a bit.

We are on our way to the local market to buy a few things. When we were here two years ago the market was this tiny whole in the wall where you could basically get gas siphoned into old soda bottles...and now it's a regular gas station with a convenience store. Business is good for them. They are the closest store within a few hour drive.

Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Malcolm checking out the whale in the back bay.

Pretty unreal. I know pictures don't show the scale but it was about 16' long. It was really cool to see the side fins and tale up close.

Ethan is tuckered from his adventurous day. He is snoozing on a bean bag on the beach...not a bad place for a nap...

This was one of our stops on our adventurous day trip by watercraft. This was a pumice island. The kids had fun playing in the stones.

A stop for lunch at a cove on another island. We saw lots of seagull and pelicans babies.