"I have PINK ice cream", says Rhiannon
This last day was a special one because our friend Wes took Leann and I up in his Cessna for an early morning tour of the skies above Reno! It was a bit smoky from the fires in northern California, but it was still a great way to start the day. Thanks Wes!
Tomorrow we are off to Washington State where we will journey to Lake Chelan to meet my family and then continue the pilgrimage up to Stehekin at the head of Lake Chelan
We all went back to Bill & Liz's house for dinner. The trampoline kept the girls busy while the rest of us socialized. Here is Rhiannon with (l to r): Corrinne (8), Lillie's friend, Alyssa (12) and Lillie (13).
Anyone who has had the privilege of attending one of Bill & Liz's "feeding events" will recognize the warm happy scene that always includes martinis and fabulous food prepared by Chef Liz.
There is always lots of laughter when Bill is around
The laydeez: "Auntie Pat", me, Leann and Liz
There were dinosaurs that could be climbed on in a section that was kept cool with misty water raining down and there was also a dinosaur slide that was a big hit with the daddies!
Rhiannon and Casey got to ride on real horses for the first time!
After the thrill of petting goats, feeding grass to a donkey, riding horses and going down dinosaur slides, it was time to say goodbye. First we had a little rock-out session with rattles and marimbas in their awesome camper van. Rhiannon didn't want to leave! Here they are all watching Ruby the dog jump up into the front seat.
We went over to our friends DeeDee and Wes' house this afternoon for a BBQ on their deck overlooking downtown Reno and the mountains of Lake Tahoe (to the right in this photo).
Rhiannon took an instant liking to DeeDee's son Cody, and she was all smiles as they played together during sunset.
Shopping madness as Leann calmly navigates the huge store with 4 girls in tow. Here are Alyssa (13), Rhiannon, Jadyn (5) and Hannah (3). There are grand taxidermic displays of animals that once were alive and also a huge aquarium (with live fish), as well as a shooting range to keep the kids busy.
We also did hand print artwork as keepsakes for the occasion. Somehow the kids' clothes managed to stay relatively paint-free.
Rhiannon and Isabella got along so well during our stay. It must be hard to have your 'friend' come in to play with all your stuff and then not leave for a few days! There were a couple of conflicts, but nothing major. It was so great to see the two girls work things out for themselves. Both Isa and Rhii have the same doll, so they did a lot of babydoll related activities -- pushing them around in strollers, in shopping carts, feeding them cheese, and nursing them as pictured here. I guess Isa's baby didn't have a good latch here...
When Elke came over to play, it was all systems go on the play structure in the backyard.
Rhiannon did a lot of pushing and pulling vehicles around -- the shopping cart, the rolling suitcase/ backpack, the stroller, the lawnmower -- and usually she was trying to push and pull at least 2 or 3 of these items at the same time! She loved parking them all inside of the play structure and then bringing snacks inside to munch on.
We were the first ones on the plane and it was a lovely morning for flying over southern California.
We landed in San Diego, picked up our rental car, and headed to Denny's restaurant for a good ol' American breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast and pancakes. Then we drove straight up to Encinitas to settle in with our friends Lisa and Espi and their daughter Isabella (who is 1 day younger than Rhiannon). They had prepared for our visit with this friendly chalk greeting:
It was a very exciting afternoon and Rhiannon didn't sleep at all, but it was good in a way because she was able to explore all of Isabella's toys and books while Isa was sleeping. After Isa woke up, we walked to the nearby park and pulled the girls in a wagon.
While we were at the park, we encountered a drinking fountain. That made me realize that I haven't seen any drinking fountains in Norway! Lisa and I had to explain to Rhiannon how to drink from it and Lisa suggested that Rhiannon pretend she is a dog. So Rhiannon did big licks of the water as flew in the air from the spout. It was pretty funny to watch!
Then our family friend Wade came over. He is just a few days younger than Rhiannon so they had a lot to talk about in the frog wading pool. Then they figured out how to squirt water at each other so they had a good run around in the grass before nap time.
We went to Goleta Beach in the afternoon and met up with my friend Denise (one of my 3 best friends who is still in town) and her two kids Ava (4) and Liam (2.5). Liam is just a month younger than Rhiannon.
Tryfan ate a lot of sand after this picture was taken. He wanted to crawl around and put handfuls into his mouth. We tried to stop this but I think some sand made it past his lips.
Then we went to a UCSB Foresters baseball game for the first 2 innings. Such an American thing to do!
Here are Rhodri with Tryfan, Eric, Grandpa Carl and Rhiannon.
This was our last day in SB for the time being as we are off to San Diego tomorrow, but we will be back in early August after our "Western States Tour" is complete.
We visited my Dad's office after lunch and the ladies swarmed around Tryfan.
After lunch, my long lost friend Lisa and her two kids drove down from their olive ranch in San Luis Obispo to reunite for the afternoon. Here we all are with her two kids Mason and Maren.
That evening, I got to flee the nest and have a night out with my girlfriends. I am so lucky that all 3 of my best friends from elementary and junior high school still live in SB/Goleta.
They had a really cool "Lance" camper truck that was kitted out in such an efficient and fun way. Rhodri and I have always been more of a tent camping family, but maybe we should reconsider. Here are Tyler and Rhiannon eating yogurt in the camper truck first thing on Sunday morning.
4 grown-ups and 4 kids, reunited on the family couch.
Tryfan has been a little cling-meister. If someone else tries to hold him this is what he looks like, and you can imagine the sound that goes with it! 
Then Friday afternoon we walked around downtown Santa Barbara trying to get Rhiannon to take a nap in the stroller (didn't work) and then went straight to Goleta Beach for a family BBQ. Aunt Libby and her two little girls Ruby and Molly met us there too. Good ol' Goleta Beach. It hasn't changed much over the past 25 years or so.
We blew our travel allowance for the year on Business Class tickets for the 4 of us (3 seats) and it was sooooo nice. It was still a long trip but having 3 flat beds to sprawl out on made it tolerable and even quite enjoyable for the most part. Here is Tryfan in his "wired" stage.
Angels sleeping during the final 2 hours of the flight.
My Mom and brother Eric picked us up at LAX and then we drove through nasty LA commuter traffic for about 4 hours with Tryfan crying his tired eyes out, finally arriving home in Goleta around 7pm. Rhiannon has adjusted to the -9 hour time zone with no problem at all, but little Tryfan is still struggling. But a happy rested Rhiannon and a grouchy tired Tryfan is a much better combination than the opposite situation!
After yesterday's 11am high of 90 deg F, the afternoon weather came in big time. The temperature dropped 30 degress over a few hours and we had thunder and lightning along with lots of rain. The rain continued all night and all day today. But that didn't stop us! Rhiannon and I went to the self-pick strawberry farm at 9am this morning and joined the rest of the Norwegian nutters who were out at this hour on a rainy Sunday morning to do manual labor! We picked ~12 lbs of berries, although the "we" was actually just me. Rhiannon stood and watched the tractors move around and ate the berries that I had just picked, then proceeded to go socialize with our picking neighbors in adjoining rows until she declared she was cold and we left.
When Rhiannon saw Sofie go for a pee in the bushes today at the beach, she thought she would give it a go as well. I didn't hear the conversation (which was in Norwegian) but apparently Rhiannon was asking Sofie here if she could see any "tisse" (pee) come out. Us Mamas were laughing together about this scene, as you can imagine.
Another barnehage friend, Tora, showed up with an elephant water toy. She was kind enough to share with her friends
We are starting to get very VERY excited because in just one week from today, we will be flying to California! Yippiee!
