Caldwell Park

The picture that I posted for Wordless Wednesday got a lot of attention. I want to thank my husband for editing the photo. He did a fabulous job. Jeff was also the man behind the camera. I appreciate that. Not only because he is truly gifted with a camera but because while he was snapping away I was playing with my children.


These photo's were taken on the first day of our Christmas Vacation in the middle of our 12 hour road trip to California. We stopped at Caldwell Park in Redding so the kids, dogs, Jeff and I could run and play. I have very fond memories of this park. This is the second time we have stopped here. I think it will be a place that our children remember because once or twice a year we will continue to stop here.

Do you have any places like this from your childhood. A place where you visited infrequently, but is filled with memories? A place that sticks in your mind and as an adult you seek it out so you can see if it is as spectacular as you remembered.

My childhood place is Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey, California. When I was a child my aunt lived in Salinas. When we visited her she would take us to this park. If you are ever in the area, you should visit. It is truly as wonderful as I remember.

Caldwell Park in Redding does not have a great playground like Dennis the Menace Park. Caldwell Park has open spaces with old trees. It is a place where the four of us bind together as a family with the singular objective of having fun. It is a place where we stick together and create our own adventure. Our experiences at this park define our family. We love each other and we enjoy our time together.

When I look at these pictures I realize that I am living the life I always wanted with the family I dreamed I would have.


*This last picture was taken on our July visit.

Home, Sweet Home

We arrived home last night from our rather lengthly vacation. When we walked through our door Belle said to me, "My house! I thought I would never see it again!"

We had a wonderful time, rather than bombard you with all the details, I present...

Vacation Statistics:

We were in California for 11 days.
Drove 1753 miles with 2 kids and 2 dogs.
Visited with 24 different families in 8 towns.
And recorded the adventure with 1061 pictures on our new SLR digital camera

The drive home on New Years Day was accomplished on 3 hours of sleep, took 14 hours, and included 5 doses of cold medicine for the children.

I now have access to the internet, so I can sort through the 259 unread items in my Google Reader. I hope to start posting again soon, but for now I leave you with Picture number 857.

Over the River and through the Siskiyous....

It's 10 pm. The car is packed, the kids are asleep, the dishes are washed, the coffee maker is set to start brewing at 3 am. Everything is in order for our early morning road trip. This is our third time making the 10 hour drive to California. We have it down to a science.

I hope that this trip goes better than our last one. After the last trip, we vowed to never return to California again. Obviously that vow was short lived. It's a hard one to keep considering the number of people we love that live in that God-forsaken place. God-forsaken is a little harsh, but let me tell you what happened last trip, and then you can be the judge.

I know you are all busy with your Christmas preparations, so I will reduce it to a short photo essay.

Our car DID NOT look like this when we embarked on our journey.

Nor did it look like this.
To be honest, I don't have any pictures of our beloved 540i before we drove it to California, but I can tell you it was pristine, as you can see from the parts of the car untouched by the accident.The good news: Jeff was the only person in the car at the time of impact.
The bad news: The car was totaled. The accident happened 12 hours before our vacation ended, and we spend a obscene amount of money on plane tickets so we could all fly home. Not exactly ideal when the reason we drove in the first place was to save money.

But that is in the past and what are the chances of something like that happening again? Wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know.

**Update - As I was falling to sleep I realized the my California readers may not appreciate the good-natured way in which I referred to their state. So I would like to say, ah hem...California has many great features which I love. For example Santa Cruz, the Bay Area, Monterey, the San Francisco 49ers and the Sacramento Kings. My gripe with California lies only in the cars that occupy the roads, and in particular Hwy 99 between Turlock and Elk Grove and the car that ran the red light in Modesto.**