Ouch...

UPDATE...PICS ARE POSTED..
Link on the side OUR FLICKR

I really should have posted once or twice while in Cali. It would have made this much easier. I guess i'll break it down by day...

Saturday-after mowing the yard and getting ready we hopped in plane to SFO. G would not take a nap and thank goodness we were on a big plane (airbus with two aisles) cause we occupied the aisle most of the way to SFO. What a little handful. Got to napa for the start of a week of feasts and some poker with the fam. Lasagna Dinner (one of my favorites best lasagna EVER)

Sunday- Fresh blueberry pancake breakfast with eggs saugage the works...Got to put the hiking backpack to good use. We went up to one of the insider spots in Napa, the Christian Brothers monastery. Went for a hike with a good amount of family and wandered through some old abandoned vineyards (some of these vines were easily 100+ years old). And that was just the start of that day. We had the family potluck over at house that evening where we celebrated the monthly birthdays. Go figure mine happened to be that week two. Basically all the all the extended family was over that night for dinner and boy was that hectic but fun.

Monday- Second morning in a row of pre-5am wake ups. G shared our room which made it tough for her to go back to bed. So Moe G and I got up ate a little breakfast and zoned out in front of the tv, watching lion king which she loved. Basically moe and i fell asleep on the floor/couch and g eventually joined in the pre-dawn nap. After that nap, when kids (bros and sisters, and for those of you who don't know me too well..i have 9 younger brothers and sisters youngest of which is 6) started waking up we went on a bike ride. Yep we gathered a total of 10 bikes up from family and friends and rode 6 miles to yountville. It was fantastic. My sister beth who is 8 even kept up. We had sandwiches and hung out at the yountville park before riding home...another 6 miles. I think my mom was the most impressed, impressed that i could get my entire family to go riding and that we made it without a rowles injury! Well we got back took a dip and then went to a GIANTS game. So it's August in Cali..you wouldn't think you would need pants right? Wrong...pants and a hoodie were no match for the cold biting wind of the San Francisico bay. Moe went through 2 or 10 hot chocolates trying to stay warm. Giants won...thank goodness.

Tuesday- Starting to become a blur due to the early wake ups and activities. I think this was the day we went to Benicia. I went on an early morning hike with Eric(maybe that was monday?) up to alston park with the dogs. Beautiful NorCal morning 65-70degrees. just beautiful. Then later the whole family went to this awesome park in Benicia with a 35 foot cement slide. Wow that thing was cool. Did a little picknik thing for lunch. And more feasts for dinner. Every night my mom made something amazing. I am blanking on what she made as i think i went comatose with over eating. It was ridiculous.

Wednesday- Was lazy day. We hung out all day did some swimming and hung out mostly. We went on a hike that night before dinner. Up the Westwood hills. You get some amazing views of the valley from here. Again took all the kids with us and we had a blast exploring some of the lesser used trails. Fajita Burrito dinner

Thursday- WE picked up Shan and her boyfriend Tom from the airport. Stopped for some In&Out. I know i am surprised i waited till Thursday also. G ate a whole cheeseburger....little fatty (not really but i think if i start calling her that she'll live up to it). Got back to the house went for a little wine tasting at our favorite spot.... Artesa. That place is amazing as many of my friends know. Then before dinner we went on another hike...another hidden gem in napa...so hidden most of my aunts and uncles who have lived their whole life in napa (and grew up not to far from this park) didn't know about it. Timber Hill. More beautiful views of napa adn some of the best blackberry picking around. Shan and tom didn't bring tennis shoes but we were able to round up some extra ones, i think they were a little skeptical of a "hike" but really loved the whole adventure...it's hard not to when you get rewarded with some of mom's kick butt cooking. She made a full turkey dinner. Whipped it up no problem and fed 8 adults 2 teen boys and 4 kids.

Friday- Off to Fresno for a weekend of wedding fun. Girls did some nails appointment thingy before the rehearsal. Tom and i got to skip out on this so we got a 12 pack and watched the olympics/tv. Then went to the rehearsal dinner. Holy cow. It was hosted by the Jura family at their beautiful Fresno estate. I had no clue there existed such a beautiful neighborhood in Fresno. Moe asked me on the way back if i would mind living in fresno... I said not if i could live there!

Saturday- Big day for our friends Nichole and Oskar. The wedding was amazing. They had the UD Collegium come and sing which was pretty amazing. Jenny and Vince were invited so we got to partay with them. Good times. The reception was located in downtown fresno at the Downtown club....beautiful. We had a great time, dancing drinking hanging out with the Jura Family and friends. Had so much fun it was tough to get going in the morning.

Sunday- A blur of hangover travel. Tough to get up in the morning and get going. We were supposed to be in napa for a brunch...well brunch turned into linner. My mom again came through with a massive spread too bad we were a couple hours late. Cold but good. Too bad Shan and Tom couldn't enjoy it. Well our flight was late 7.30 but g had just gone down for a nap a couple hours earlier so we did the responsible parent thing...and gave her some benadryl, to make sure napped on the plan and kept on schedule. That was funny, she was so drowsy but fought so hard not to give in, eventually she did and was sprawled out across both of us. We got in at 12.30....and didn't get home till 1.....
Ouch.

(pics to be posted soon)