Visitors, Lake Tahoe and Oregon

Back at the beginning of July, when Tom and I were promoted, I could not post any pictures with Grandma and Grandpa because they were planning to surprise Chris when we went up to see him.  So, now I can catch up with some pictures from their visit...

It was really great to have them here for our promotion day.  It has been 16 years since they were at one of my Coast Guard ceremonies, and I have always been a little envious of the folks who get promoted, or advanced or get an award and have their families there with them.  For this one, I was going to have family there either way, but having my Mom and Dad made it extra special.

Mom and Dad putting on my CDR shoulder boards.

O and I putting on Tom's shoulder boards.

Tom's crew.

 We had a really nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa overall.  Over the weekend of the fourth, we went to the parade and hosted a small picnic here. Then on the fifth, we drove up to Napa to see Chris and Peggy.  I  had arranged with Chris for the three of us to drive and see them while they were on their motorcycle trip from Spokane - we got to surprise them with the extra visitors too.  It was a great day - in fact, I enjoyed it so much, I never took any pictures!  O definitely had a blast swimming in the hotel pool with Uncle Chris.

Before Grandma and Grandpa left to go back to PA, we took an evening ferry ride over to San Francisco for dinner.  A trip to visit us would not have been complete without a stop at a winery on the way to the ferry...

At Rosenblum Cellars waiting for the ferry.

After our visitors left, we had a few days to get ready for our camping trip to Lake Tahoe and the follow-on trip to Portland, Oregon.  Lake Tahoe was amazingly beautiful.  I have only ever seen water that clear and blue in the tropics.  I did not take many pictures, but that is OK, we are going back in less than two weeks.

O got to try out stand up paddle boarding on our trip.  He was unsure at first, but after a few minutes, he really enjoyed it. 

We flew up to Portland after Tahoe to visit Adam and his family.  I don't have any pictures from that camping trip due to a minor camera battery malfunction, but it was also incredible.  We went camping outside of Eugene and spent our days at the Triangle Lake Rock Slide.    You should check out the video and pictures on the link, it pretty much captures our days in Oregon.  All three kids loved the pools and rode the slide in an inflatable boat.  

We are back in Alameda, but not for long.... in two weeks, Lake Tahoe, here we come!